Perhaps the most dramatic example can be seen in the sheep muster. The days of the 60 million flock are long gone; down from 67.5 million in 1987 to 48 million today. The decline in beef numbers has been less significant over that period; 4.9 down to 4.5 million. Sheep and beef farmers are using less land: 13 million hectares in 1987; just over 10 million in 1996. The size of sheep and beef units has not changes significantly, nor has the stocking rate per hectare, but the proportion of sheep to cattle has fallen from 70:21 in 1987 to 74:26 today.

The bottom line has suffered. Although sheep and beef farms have had an annual gain in the total assets employed of 5.3% over the last 10 years, most of this is due to increased valuation of land and buildings.

Over the last 10 years the average cash surplus has been $58,500 in real (1993 base) terms, and from that figure interest, principal, machinery, tax and personal drawings have to be financed. After those deductions, the sheep and beef model shows a surplus in only three years, and consecutive losses in the last six. In addition many properties has deteriorated in their productive capacity through reduced spending on repairs and fertiliser.

Contact for Enquiries

Manager
Monitoring and Evaluation
MAF Policy
PO Box 2526
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND
Phone: +64 4 894 0623
Fax: +64 4 894 0741
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