Both the 21.2 billion total litres of milk and the milksolids produced were just a tick under New Zealand’s biggest season in 2014-15.
The DairyNZ and LIC annual joint publication of dairy industry statistics show the average milksolids a cow was 381kg, compared with 368kg in the 2018 season and matching the 2017 record.
The average milksolds a herd was 165,674kg, a more than 4% increase on the previous season. That record was helped by an increase in the average herd size of four cows milked to 435.
As dairy farmers continue to put more emphasis on productivity and efficiency the number of cows in the national herd went down by nearly 1% to 4.946m and the number of herds was down 218 to 11,372.
DairyNZ chief executive Tim Mackle said the days of significant growth in cow numbers might be over but the industry continues to evolve.
“Farmers have been focusing on improving their environmental management in recent years while stepping up their on-farm efficiency to produce more milk from fewer cows.”
“More efficient milk production has benefits in areas such as greenhouse gas emissions and nutrient losses.”
The report shows milk production has trebled in size since the data series began in 1984-85 and doubled in the past 20 years, during which the average herd size has increased by 200 cows.
But NZ milk production has been in the range 20-21b litres annually for the past six years.
Farmers have made increased use of herd improvement services, seeking higher-performing, healthier and more efficient cows through the use of herd testing and artificial breeding.
LIC chief executive Wayne McNee said it showed farmers’ commitment to improving the quality of their herds to drive better sustainability and productivity.
“NZ farmers are farming with improved precision and taking advantage of herd improvement services to produce more with less.”
Herd testing was done on 3.67m cows, up 1.6%, and 3.59m were mated to AB, up 1%.
The average production a hectare was 1081kg MS, higher than the previous three seasons.
The distribution of higher-producing cows showed 38% of herds having greater than 400kg MS/cow compared with 31% in the previous season while 7% of herds recorded over 500kg/cow.
The North Island has 58.4% of cows and Waikato 22.6% of the national total.
The South Island has an average herd size of 639 on 215ha effective, compared to 354 cows on 129ha in the North Island.
