2024/25 Dairy Statistics: NZ dairy farmers boost production with fewer cows
According to the New Zealand Dairy Statistics 2024/25 report, New Zealand dairy farmers are achieving more with fewer cows.
Farmer co-op LIC will pay $18 million in dividends to shareholders after a strong full-year result.
The 12.75c/share dividend represents a gross dividend yield of 22.7% based on the current share price of 78 cents. Last year, the co-operative paid a dividend of 11c.
The breeding and automation company recorded a net profit of $17.5m, down 21% over last year’s $22.2m net profit, mainly due to a $7.2m decrease in the bull team valuation. However, total revenue was up 3% to $254m and underlying earnings up 16% to $22.7m.
LIC chairman Murray King says the strong result was in line with market guidance and achieved despite the impacts of drought and Covid-19.
“The strong result enables LIC to deliver a significant dividend to shareholders at a time when every dollar counts on-farm,” says King.
LIC reported that despite a challenging season, farmers continue to move up the value chain, investing in the latest genomics and other genetics products, driving revenue up.
“The increasing uptake of these products demonstrates the value on-farm of LIC’s ongoing investment to enhance our core genetics business through world-leading genomics to drive genetic gain in dairy herds and high-valued premium genetics products like A2 and sexed semen,” says King.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says withdrawing from the Paris Agreement on climate change would be “a really dumb move”.
The University of Waikato has broken ground on its new medical school building.
Undoubtedly the doyen of rural culture, always with a wry smile, our favourite ginger ninja, Te Radar, in conjunction with his wife Ruth Spencer, has recently released an enchanting, yet educational read centred around rural New Zealand in one hundred objects.
Farmers are being urged to keep on top of measures to control Cysticerus ovis - or sheep measles - following a spike in infection rates.
For more than 50 years, Waireka Research Station at New Plymouth has been a hub for globally important trials of fungicides, insecticides and herbicides, carried out on 16ha of orderly flat plots hedged for protection against the strong winds that sweep in from New Zealand’s west coast.
There's a special sort of energy at the East Coast Farming Expo, especially when it comes to youth.

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