NZ Sheep ratio falls

December 3, 2004

It may be time to retire the sheep jokes.

Statistics New Zealand this week broke the news that the national flock had fallen to a mere 39 million at June 30, its lowest since numbers peaked in 1982 at 70.3 million.

For the record, there are just over 4.06 million humans in New Zealand, meaning there are now less than 10 sheep for every person.

By comparison, Australia had 103 million sheep at the end of June - also near historic lows - and an estimated population today of 20.23 million, leaving Australians outnumbered by sheep five to one.

New Zealand's ovine population has long made it the butt of jokes.

"When I was growing up in the '70s we were known as the country of 60 million sheep and three million people," said Graeme Peters of the Federated Farmers of New Zealand.

The federation says the elimination of agriculture subsidies in the 1980s is behind the decline.

"Prior to 1985 ... it didn't really matter what you produced as long as it had four legs," North Island lamb farmer Ian Corney said.