Canterbury lamb gives way to dairy
Canterbury has seen a 42% increase in livestock per hectare in the past 15 years as the region farms more dairy cows over sheep.
The prices received by dairy cattle farmers (up 28%) and paid by dairy product manufacturers (up 22%) were key influences to the increase
“Higher farm-gate milk prices contributed to the September 2016 quarter rises,’’ Statistics New Zealand business prices manager Sarah Williams says.
The forecasted farm-gate milk prices for milk solids rose to $5.25/kg in mid-September 2016, this compares to $4.25/kg in May 2016.
If farm-gate milk prices had remained constant during the September 2016 quarter, both producer output and input prices would have risen 0.3% in the quarter.
