Get Fitt Application Form - Beef + Lamb New Zealand

Commercial scale The average size of a sheep and beef farm in New Zealand ranges from around 200 hectares for fertile, highly-productive farms to over 1,500 hectares in the hill country of the South Island.

Sheep farming in New Zealand is extensive in nature, with sheep being farmed on the high or hill country at stocking rates around 7–12 sheep per hectare, mostly with no supplementary feed and no housing.

Beef + Lamb New Zealand Ltd is the farmer-owned, industry organisation representing New Zealand's sheep and beef farmers. We invest farmer levies in programmes that grow the sheep and beef industry and provide sustainable returns now and for future generations.

There are 16,000 sheep and beef farms in the country which has made the country the world's largest exporter of lambs, with 24 million finished lambs recorded every year.

As of June 2022, there were approximately 25.14 million sheep in New Zealand, a decrease from the previous year in which there were around 25.73 million sheep in the country.

In 2019, there were approximately 49,000 farm holdings, irrespective of size or location, with an average area of 271 hectares. Approximately 92% of commercial sheep and beef farms are owner- operated. Sheep and beef farms contain 25% of the total native vegetation in New Zealand, comprising 2.8 million ha.

Farm profit before tax for 2023-24 is forecast to average $88,600 per farm – however, after adjusting for inflation, this is equivalent to $54,800 per farm in 2004-05 terms, a 15-year low and 25 per cent lower than in 2004-05.

Sheep and beef farming is an agricultural staple in New Zealand. There are approximately 23,400 sheep and beef farms throughout New Zealand, covering 45% of our total agriculture area.