Tuesday, 15 December 2015 11:01

First drop in dairy cattle since 2005

Written by 
The number of dairy cattle has dropped for the first time since 2005, says Statistics New Zealand. The number of dairy cattle has dropped for the first time since 2005, says Statistics New Zealand.

The number of dairy cattle has dropped for the first time since 2005, says Statistics New Zealand.

Latest figures show a total of 6.4 million dairy cattle at the end of June 2015.

"We have 300,000 fewer dairy cattle than in 2014, which is a reversal of the trend of increases in the last 10 years," business indicators senior manager Neil Kelly says.

"Both the national dairy milking herd and the replacement herd have declined. This comes at a time of falling international prices and lower milk solid payouts."

In the same one-year period, sheep, beef, and deer numbers also fell. The number of sheep declined by 300,000, to a total of 29.5 million as at June 2015.

These provisional figures are from the 2015 Agricultural Production Survey, which Statistics NZ conducted in partnership with the Ministry for Primary Industries.

More like this

MPI: Primary sector exports hit record $60B

A blockbuster year and an exciting performance: that's how Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) Director General, Ray Smith is describing the massive upsurge in the fortunes of the primary sector exports for the year ended June 2025.

Featured

Brendan Attrill scoops national award for sustainable farming

Brendan Attrill of Caiseal Trust in Taranaki has been announced as the 2025 National Ambassador for Sustainable Farming and Growing and recipient of the Gordon Stephenson Trophy at the National Sustainability Showcase at in Wellington this evening.

National

Machinery & Products

Farming smarter with technology

The National Fieldays is an annual fixture in the farming calendar: it draws in thousands of farmers, contractors, and industry…

RainWave set to cause a splash

Traditional spreading via tankers or umbilical systems have typically discharged effluent onto splash-plates, resulting in small droplet sizes, which in…

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Misguided campaign

OPINION: Last week, Greenpeace lit up Fonterra's Auckland headquarters with 'messages from the common people' - that the sector is…

Fieldays goes urban

OPINION: Once upon a time the Fieldays were for real farmers, salt of the earth people who thrived on hard…

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter