New Zealand’s dairy cattle numbers continue to grow with latest figures putting the head count at 6.6 million.
Statistics New Zealand said that the past year’s increase continues a trend which started in 2006 and means there are now 1.5 dairy cattle for every New Zealander.
Compared with recently released population census figures over the same seven-year period, the dairy cattle population has grown over five times faster, says agriculture statistics manager Hamish Hill.
While the increase over the last survey year appears more modest than increases in the previous two survey years, longer-term growth has seen the dairy herd grow by 27 percent since 2006.
Other livestock numbers showed slight declines in 2013, again continuing long-term trends seen in recent years. For example, the number of sheep fell 358,000 from 2012, with the national flock standing at just under 31 million.
Source: Agriview
