Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
Sheep numbers continue to fall due to land conversion to forestry.
New StatsNZ figures show the national flock dropped by 3 percent in the year to June 2023 to 24.4 million sheep.
The decline in sheep numbers followed a two percent drop the year before.
With a population of about 5.3 million people - it now meant there was just 4.6 sheep per person.
The latest stats also show beef cattle numbers have fallen by 4 percent to 3.7 million while dairy cattle dropped by one percent to 5.9 million.
StatsNZ agricultural statistics senior manager Stuart Jones said the dropping number of livestock was linked to a long-term drop in the total area of grassland.
"From 2011 to 2023, the total area in grassland (excluding tussock) fell by 12 percent (942,000 hectares), the total number of total sheep fell by 22 percent (6.8 million), and the total number of beef cattle fell by 5 percent (192,000).
"This is a large area of grassland to lose from farming - it's about the size of 15 Lake Taupō. Some of the land that was being used for grassland farming is now planted in forest," Jones said.
The area in pine and other exotic forest (excluding native forest) increased by 11 percent (179,000 hectares) between 2011 and 2023 he said.
