Dairy numbers grow

The dairy industry's continuing growth is borne out by the latest statistics which show the country now has 6.7 million dairy cattle.

That's an increase of four per cent from 2013, according to figures released today by Statistics New Zealand.


New Zealand now has 6.7 million dairy cattle.

'Generally, good pastoral conditions since the previous June contributed to the increase,” Statistics New Zealand agriculture manager Neil Kelly says.

Dairy cattle numbers have been consistently growing year-on-year since 2002. Conversion of former dry stock farms to dairy production has been rapid, particularly in the South Island, and is continuing in the central North Island too.

Whether or not the recent drop in Fonterra's forecast Farmgate Milk Price for the 2014/15 season, from $5.30 per kgMS to $4.70 per kgMS, will have an impact on dairy cow numbers remains to be seen.

However, the country still has far more sheep than cows, with sheep numbering 29.6 million, down 1.2 million or four per cent from 2013. In the same one-year period, (June to June) sheep, beef and deer numbers fell.

These provisional figures are from the 2014 Agricultural Production Survey, which Statistics NZ conducted in partnership with the Ministry for Primary Industries.

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