Sheep numbers have continued to fall, dairy cow numbers are rising and grain crops increased markedly, latest agricultural production figures show reports The NZ Herald. According to the data published today by Statistics New Zealand (SNZ), dairy cattle numbers hit a record high in the year to June 2009, with one milking cow for every New Zealander. Total dairy cattle numbers hit a record high of 5.8 million in 2009, 4 per cent higher than in 2008 and up 76 per cent from 3.3 million in 1989. At 4.6 million, the 2009 milking herd, identified as cows and heifers in milk or in calf, was 250,000 larger than in 2008. The expansion was due to both dairy conversions and growth in the number of milking cows in existing herds, SNZ said. The national sheep flock was 5 per cent down on 2008 to 32.4 million in 2009. "Numbers were below half the peak of 70 million reached in 1982. In 2009, New Zealand had fewer than eight sheep per person," said Dunnet. Numbers in the sheep-breeding flock had declined since the 1980s. In 2009, 23.9 million ewes and ewe hoggets were mated, slightly more than half of the 42.5 million mated in 1989. The fall in the national breeding flock was partly offset by a rise in the lambing percentage.
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