Falling Lamb Numbers

Reprinted with permissio frm ACP Media (Farm Trader).

The 2007 Lamb Crop figures have confirmed the predictions of industry commentators lamb production was well down, with 1.7 million less tailed lambs compared to last spring.

The 32.4 million lambs is an overall decrease of -4.9 per cent, according to the annual Meat & amp; Wool New Zealand Region Manager survey.

Based on the number of lambs tailed, the export availability for 2007/08 is estimated to be down 1.44 million (-5.6 per cent) on last year to 24.44 million. This includes the need for fewer lambs to be kept for replacements due to the expansion of the dairy herd onto sheep and beef farmland.

Meat & amp; Wool New Zealand Economic Services Executive Director, Rob Davison says the decrease in lambs this spring in the North Island occurred as a direct result of the severe East Coast drought from autumn into winter.

The ewes were in light condition in this region and so conception rates were down, and this was compounded by the de-stocking of farms as feed supplies dried up.

Lambs tailed in the North Island East Coast region were down 1.2 million (-15.6 per cent), reflecting both lower ewe numbers (-3.6 per cent) and a decrease in twinning. This resulted in the number of lambs born per 100 ewes falling from 120 last spring to 107 this spring. This is a 13 percentage point decrease.

One third of all East Coast farms reported a lambing percentage decrease of more than 20 percentage points.

North Island lambs from ewes were down 1.5 million (-9.6 per cent) to 14.4 million.

South Island lambs from ewes were down -0.7 per cent to 18.0 million.

print