From 2013 to 2014 there was a 3% drop in the national flock which fell to 29.8m, a 3% increase in dairy cows to 6.7m, a 1% drop in beef cattle to 3.7m and a 5.5% drop in deer numbers which fell below 1m for the first time since 1990.
AgriHQ analyst Chris Taylor said the steady decline in the number of breeding ewes had not recovered from the shift to dairying in about 2007 when numbers fell from 28m to close to 24m in 2009.
The Statistics NZ data showed the breeding ewe flock fell 2.2% from 2013 to 2014 to just under 20m but more hoggets were being mated. Two million hoggets were mated in 2013, a 3.7% increase on the previous year.
The lamb kill was likely to be about 20m this year, similar to last year, but Taylor said the lambing percentage had stalled at less than 130%. It was 127% in 2012 and 2013 but 123% in 2014.
The biggest decrease in sheep was in Canterbury which fell 255,000 (5%) and Waikato 227,000 (12%).
The South Island dairy herd increased 148,000 or 6% from 2013 to 2014 and now accounted for 40% of the country’s dairy cows compared to 27% in 2005. In 2005 the South Island herd numbered 1.455m but by 2014 it had grown to 2.719m.
The number of cows in Southland grew 85,000 or 14% between 2013 and 2014, in Waikato it increased 77,000 (4%) and Manawatu-Wanganui 33,000 (7%).
Big declines in beef herds in Northland (46,000), Canterbury (46,000) and Waikato (32,000) were partially offset by increases in Gisborne (17,000), Wellington (17,000) and Otago (17,000).
NZ exported 196,000t of frozen beef to North America worth $1 billion in the year under review and 9000t to the European Union worth $82m.
Deer numbers had fallen below 1m for the first time since 1990 after two years of prices below the five-year average, largely caused by continued weak European markets. There were 20,000 fewer hinds mated in 2013 than 2012.
Taylor said the hind kill remained high and many deer farms had converted to dairy or dairy grazing.
“Farmers generally need a price closer to $8 a kg or at least $7 a kg compared to the $6.40 a kg they are getting now to be sustainable and profitable.”
Chris Taylor
AgriHQ
“Farmers generally need a price closer to $8 a kg or at least $7 a kg compared to the $6.40 a kg they are getting now to be sustainable and profitable.”
Taylor said companies were trying to reduce reliance on Europe but it was still the dominant market.
The South Island has 70% of the deer herd with the south of the island the major deer farming region with Canterbury having 253,000 animals, Southland 223,000 and Otago 139,000.
In the 2014 financial year the wheat yield off 48,000ha was 8.6t/ha while the barley yield off 59,000ha was 6.8t/ha. Both cropping areas were back 3% on the previous year.
There was 22,000ha of maize grain grown in the year, up 16%, virtually all in the North Island.
Hawke’s Bay and Tasman accounted for 86% of the 8420ha of apples grown during the year, down 5% on 2012, but the 325,000t exported was worth $536m. The volume was 2% higher and the value 13% greater.
The 640ha of cherries planted was 7% greater than 2012 with 82% of the planted area in Otago. A third of the crop went to Taiwan, 20% to China and 16% to Thailand.
In the year to March 31, 2014, 26.4m cubic metres of exotic forest timber was harvested off 50,000ha.
Just 4000ha of new forest was planted for the period, a drop of 60% on the previous year and the replanted area of exotic forest fell 5% to 41,000ha.
