Sheep dip for another year
New Zealand used to be ridiculed for the size of its sheep population but the jokes could become irrelevant as the national flock continues to shrink.
At ‘‘peak sheep’’ in 1982, the country had 22 sheep per capita. New data from Stats NZ shows that has now fallen to just five sheep for every person.
As of June 30, there were 26.2 million sheep, down 700,000 or 2 per cent from the previous year, according to provisional figures from the 2020 agricultural production survey.
Ana Krpo, Stats NZ agricultural production statistics manager, said sheep numbers have been in decline since 2012.
‘‘Dry summer conditions in several North Island regions contributed to this year’s decrease.’’
However, the value of sheep meat exports is on the rise, reaching almost $4 billion in the year to June, up from $3.8b in the previous year.
Lamb prices per head rose in 2017, with annual average levels higher than earlier in the decade.
The national dairy herd is also in decline, falling by more than half a million since numbers peaked at 6.7 million six years ago. There are now 6.1m dairy cattle, including 4.7m in the ‘‘milking herd’’ made up of animals in milk or calf.
Despite the smaller herd, dairy export volumes have held relatively steady in the past five years, Krpo said.
‘‘The annual value of dairy product exports shot up to almost $16b in 2014 when international prices were high, before falling back to about $12b in the following few years.’’
This year, New Zealand’s dairy exports again topped $16b.
While numbers of sheep and dairy cattle continue to fall, the country’s beef cattle herd has increased for the fourth year in a row, up 2 per cent to 4m.
There were 1.2m steers at June 30, an increase of 180,000 or 18 per cent since 2016.
In the same period, the beef breeding herd increased by 111,000 or 12 per cent, and total beef exports were worth $3.8b, up from $3.3b the year before.
‘‘Compared with 2016, when the beef cattle herd started to increase, annual beef exports have grown by $700m,’’ Krpo said.