Farming sectors
Map of New Zealand farming regions
Choose a sector: Dairy | Beef | Sheep
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Dairy
Dairying is New Zealand's largest industry and one of the fastest growing. It is a significant employer and contributor to much of the wealth that underpins New Zealand's standard of living.- Key points:
- The dairy season runs from 1 June to 31 May each year.
- The NZ dairy herd comprises of 3.5 million predominantly Fresian and Fresian-cross cows.
- There are over 13,000 NZ dairy farmers, producing 1.25 billion kilograms of milk solids annually.
- 95% of all NZ milk produced is exported.
- NZ produces some 15% of world dairy products but controls over 42% of world dairy exports.
- The average herd size has more than doubled in the last 20 years.
The distribution of dairy farms is as follows: Northland 9%, Waikato/Bay of Plenty 43%, Lower North Island 24%, Canterbury 12%, and Southland 11%.
New Zealand has a very temperate climate with relatively small seasonal variation. This allows pasture to grow readily eliminating harsh environments that can hinder growth of flora and young animals.
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Drystock - sheep & beef
A large proportion (52%) of New Zealand's total land area of 268,000 km2 is devoted to grazing of livestock on pasture, cropping or lies fallow. Of these three land uses, grazing livestock occupy the majority of land-use.There are a little over 9 million cattle in New Zealand and some 44 million sheep. These 9 million cattle represented 0.69% of the world's cattle population in 2001 and 1.04% of production of beef. Importantly, New Zealand contributed to 7.5% of the worlds beef trade (on a weight basis) in that same year.
The export emphasis is even more pronounced for products from sheep, New Zealand's 44 million sheep contributed 4.2% of the worlds total numbers in 2001, 9% of world sheepmeat production.
The major export markets for beef and lamb products are Australia, USA, Japan, United Kingdom and The Peoples Republic of Korea.
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