Lamb numbers rebound

And, like last year, it will leave the sector short of meeting all its export market requirements.

A total of 26.5 million lambs were tailed this season. While this is a 7% increase on the previous year, it comes off last season's all-time low of 24.79m. This season's national average was 119 lambs born per 100 ewes (119%) compared to 110% last season. North Island lamb numbers are up by 7.3% to 12.41 million, while South Island lamb numbers are up by 6.7% to 14.10 million.

Beef + Lamb New Zealand director economic service Rob Davison, who conducted the survey, attributes the improvement to reasonably good weather for lambing and particularly during the peak of lambing compared with last year – where it was just a case of "bad luck because we were hit by storms at the peak lambing period".

This year there have been better conditions over most of the country, although Southland, in the early stages of their lambing had a particularly cold wet period and early lambing down there was pretty tough, Davison says.

Federated Farmers says its gutting the best trading conditions in a decade correspond with our second smallest lamb crop in 55 years. Meat and fibre chairwoman Jeanette Maxwell wants farmers to maximise value from their stock.

"We know from Beef+Lamb NZ and from our processors, that we've got the markets it's just that we don't have the available product.

"We're now feeling the latent impacts of the Gisborne and Hawke's Bay droughts, as well as the 2010 spring storms that struck the Manawatu, Southland and South Otago. In some key sheep farming areas, flocks are still in the process of being rebuilt."

As farmers start to consign lambs for processing, Maxwell wants them to talk with their companies.

"This is to ensure the best return for the processor and for us as farmers."

While the smaller lamb crop will affect our international trade, Davison says the lift in the lambing percentage is great in terms of productivity.

"You only have to go back to 1990 when we were only getting 100 lambs per 100 ewes and at the time that wasn't bad," he told Rural News.

"But nationally we are coming back to the 119% to 120%. This is showing the improvement in fertility. So there's been a lot of management change, breed change and technology applied and management skill that's lifted our lambing percentage and we still have to work with nature to achieve this," he says.

Of the 26.5m lambs tailed this season, just over 20.5m will be destined for our export markets.

While there has been an increase, it is revealing to note that 2011-12 will be the second lowest export lamb slaughter in 49 years. Only last season was lower. Davison says while in theory New Zealand may like to produce more lambs for export, the ability to do so is limited given land use changes.

"A lot of our prime land for finishing lambs and prime cattle on has been converted to dairy farms in recent years. The sheep and beef land is down in our estimation by about 24% since 1990, which explains why a lot of the sheep flocks have declined," he says.

Another significant trend to show up in the survey is the weight of lambs.

Davison says last year New Zealand was hard pushed to supply its export lamb markets and even though the total tonnage of lamb will be up 5.3% on last year it's still not huge in terms of world markets.