New Zealand: Livestock and Products Annual
With the dairy sector in the doldrums dairy cattle numbers are still being reduced to right size herds outweighing confidence in the beef sector where farmers have increased numbers. By the end 2016 total cattle numbers will have dropped 130,000 head to sit at 9.9 million head which is where they are forecast to stabilize at by the end 2017. Beef production will come off the high in 2015 of 690,000 metric tons to be 649,000 metric tons in 2016. For 2017 it is forecast there will be further reduction to 635,000 metric tons.
