Southern land-owners have consistently been considering
converting farms to dairying.
The Otago Regional Council has in the past year given
assessment reports on eight farms within Otago whose owners
were considering converting to dairy.
A council spokesman said those conversions could occur at any
time, provided all other regulatory requirements were met.
At least three farms are in the process of preparation to
convert for next season.
Two years ago, the number was closer to 12.
Environment Southland has also had applications from eight
farmers who may convert farms before next season, well down
on the 102 who converted two years ago and the 99 last
season.
Statistics provided by DairyNZ and LIC reveal that in
Southland the number of herds grew from 710 to 809 between
2007-08 and 2008-09, and the number of cows by 65,000, from
353,323 to 418,337.
The average herd size has increased from 498 to 517, the
average effective hectares per farm from 183ha to 192ha and
the average number of cows per ha from 2.72 to 2.73.
In Otago, there were 355 herds in 2008-09 - 3.1% of the
national herd - compared with 331 herds in 2007-08,
representing 2.9% of the national total.
Over that same period, the region has gained about 12,000
more cows, 182,411 compared to 170,629, at an average herd
size of 514 and an average stocking rate of 2.73 cows a ha.
Comparative figures a year earlier were 515 and 2.92.
The number of herds in the South Island rose from 2386 in
2007-08 to 2620 in 2008-09 and in New Zealand from 11,436 to
11,618.
The latest statistics reveal the South Island was home to a
third of New Zealand's 4.25 million dairy cows, although the
2620 herds account for less than a quarter of the total
number of herds.
North Canterbury has the largest average herd size of 723
cows and the highest stocking rate at 3.28 cows a ha.
South Canterbury was marginally behind that stocking rate at
3.25.
The average South Island herd size was larger than those in
the north - 546 compared with 314 - and southern farms were
more productive, with North Canterbury having the highest
average production per effective ha of 1187kg of milk solids.
South Canterbury (1158kg), Otago (1053kg) and Southland
(1017kg) were the only other regions to have production of
more than 1000kg a ha.
The North Island average was 892kg a ha and the South Island
was 921kg a ha.
Those same regions led production per cow statistics.
Southland had the highest at 374kg a cow, followed by Otago
367kg and North Canterbury at 364kg.
For the season under review, milk companies processed 16
billion litres of milk containing 1.39 billion kg of milk
solids, with each South Island herd contributing on average
2,209,209 litres and 191,663kg of solids - nearly double the
volume from North Island farms.
Otago and Southland farms on average each produced more than
180,000kg.
