Livestock numbers continue to decline

Posted 3 years ago by Patrick Hipgrave Less than a minute to read

We've just updated our 'Number and density of livestock' indicator, which sits in the 'Water quality' domain. Here's the key facts:

Livestock numbers declined by more than a quarter between 2002–2020. Dairy cattle were the only livestock type whose numbers increased during this period.
Though sheep numbers decreased by one third between 2002–2020, sheep still outnumbered all other livestock types combined by a factor of almost three to one as of 2020.
The Manawatū-Whanganui region had the greatest concentration of livestock, possessing 403.2 animals per square kilometre of farmland in 2020