Source
https://beeflambnz.com/knowledge-hub/PDF/hill-country-sheep-and-beef-farms — original source (opens in a new tab; the file is not redistributed)
Beef + Lamb NZ — Hill Country Sheep and Beef Farms (June 2020)
The NZ primary behind CR_043's 7.5 SU/ha stocking rate
Beef + Lamb New Zealand Insights fact sheet (MW8220), June 2020. Sources: B+LNZ Sheep and Beef Farm Survey, NZIER, MBIE, Stats NZ.
Summary
A Beef + Lamb NZ fact sheet on New Zealand hill-country sheep and beef farms — over 4,500 farms (about half of all NZ sheep and beef farms). It provides the national-average hill-country stocking rate (7.5 stock units/grazed ha), the farm-class structure, and the low-input pasture-management profile, and is the NZ primary for CR_043’s livestock stocking-rate figure.
Key claims
- claim: "NZ hill-country sheep and beef farms: over 4,500 farms (~half of all NZ sheep and beef farms), of which ~900 are on 'hard hill country' in the North Island. Land is a mix of flat (11%), rolling (32%) and steep (40%). In 2019-20f there were 4,595 hill-country farms on 4,035,000 effective grazed hectares (down 37% in farm number and 25% in grazed area since 1990-91, partly from dairy conversion). Hill country provides 52% of prime lambs for export processing and is a key supplier of young livestock to finishing farms."
source_location: "Fact sheet p.1 (intro; Hill Country Farm class table — farm numbers + effective hectares 1990-91 vs 2019-20f)"
- claim: "Stocking rate (the headline figure): 'Averaged across New Zealand, hill country farms run 7.5 stock units per grazed hectare; 4.1 of these are sheep stock units and 3.3 are cattle stock units. Grazed hectares exclude forestry and non-grazed land.' (The fact sheet does NOT state a kg-dry-matter-per-stock-unit conversion — that convention must be sourced separately.)"
source_location: "Fact sheet p.1 (stocking rates paragraph)"
- claim: "Low-input extensive grazing: hill country sheep and beef farms apply low nitrogen — on average 12 kg/ha elemental N on pasture (vs 20.6 on finishing country; 38 for UK non-dairy farms; 126 for NZ dairy 2015-16) — and ~20 kg/ha P on pasture. Productivity/efficiency gains since 1990-91: sheep numbers down 53% but lamb production down only 9% (heavier lambs +31%, lambing percentage up to ~127 lambs/100 ewes via genetics/management); GHG emissions down 41% (sheep) / 6% (beef cattle)."
source_location: "Fact sheet p.1-2 (nitrogen/phosphate use; environmental efficiency)"Neobiome Intelligence relevance
The authoritative NZ primary for the hill-country stocking rate (7.5 SU/ha = 4.1 sheep + 3.3 cattle) used in CR_043 and the food model’s livestock/protein module (RT_277). For Neobiome: grazed hectares exclude forestry/non-grazed land (so apply the rate to genuinely grazeable land only); converting SU to animal head or to feed/land needs the kg-DM-per-SU convention, which this fact sheet does not provide (confirming CR_043’s caveat). The low-N (12 kg/ha) extensive profile aligns with the project’s regenerative/low-input food scope (D_001).
Notes
Beef + Lamb NZ Insights MW8220, June 2020. data_quality high (industry-body farm-survey synthesis).
Connections
Links to
Sources (1): CR_043
Referenced by