WELLINGTON, April 16 — New Zealand’s beef cattle rose in 2025 while sheep and dairy herds continued to shrink, Stats NZ reported Thursday.
Figures from the department’s 2025 agricultural production survey showed beef cattle up 4 percent from a year earlier to 3.8 million as of June 30, 2025.
In contrast, dairy cattle numbers dropped by 1 percent to 5.7 million, and sheep fell by 1 percent to 23.3 million. The country had 7 million hectares of grassland on June 30, 2025, little changed from a year earlier.
Over the past decade, however, sheep numbers have fallen by 20 percent and dairy cattle by 11 percent, while beef cattle have increased by 8 percent, statistics showed.
Despite fewer dairy cattle, total export volumes of dairy products rose by 10 percent over the decade to 3.3 million tons in 2025, Stats NZ’s agricultural statistics spokesperson Tehseen Islam said.
Agriculture remained New Zealand’s key export earner, with total goods exports valued at 80.5 billion NZ dollars (47.63 billion U.S. dollars) in 2025, Stats NZ said, adding that China accounted for 25 percent, followed by Australia with 13 percent and the United States with 12 percent. (Namibia Daily News/Xinhua)
