Milk
In 1999 New Zealand had a total of 14 400 dairy farms. The "average" New Zealand dairy farm was 90 hectares, milking 230 cows to produce 708 000 litres of milk containing 59 200 kilograms of milksolids. In the last twenty years, the number of dairy farms has fallen, but the average farm and herd size has increased. Productivity per hectare and per cow have both been substantially improved.
The main dairy farming area of New Zealand is in the northern part of the North Island. There are 6400 herds in the Auckland/ Waikato/ Bay of Plenty region, 2500 in Taranaki and 1500 in Northland. These are warm areas, with fertile soil and reliable rainfall.
The vast majority of New Zealand dairy herds (96 percent) supply milk seasonally for manufacturing. Cows are milked in spring, summer and autumn, but dried off in winter when pasture production is lower. The rest of the herds supply milk year-round for the domestic liquid milk industry. The seasonal milk production system relies predominantly on highly productive, rotationally grazed pasture and herds of high genetic merit. It is this system that enables farmers to produce milk at substantially below average world costs, giving New Zealand its advantage over competitors world-wide. The warm climate and productive pastures enable herds to graze in pasture year-round, thus avoiding the need for indoor housing and expensive feed supplements.
The majority of New Zealand dairy farms are owned and operated by farming families. In addition, there is an established sharemilking system, under which a sharemilker is contracted to milk the herd and carry out a range of farm duties for a share of the milk income. This system is world-class, bringing trained, progressive young people into the industry and allowing them to build equity and proceed to farm ownership.
Sharemilkers milk 36 percent of New Zealand dairy herds. Two-thirds of them are in a 50:50 agreement, the sharemilker providing the cows and labour in return for 50 percent of the milk revenue.
Contact for Enquiries
Web Manager
Corporate Information
Pastoral House
25 The Terrace
PO Box 2526, Wellington
Tel: +64 4 894 0100
Fax: +64 4 894 0720
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