New Zealand's cattle slaughter forecast to rise slightly in 2025

Published 2024년 10월 3일

Tridge summary

The USDA FAS/Wellington report forecasts a slight increase in New Zealand's slaughter numbers for 2025, reaching 4.645 million head, with the dairy industry's new strategy of retaining non-replacement calves contributing to this increase. This strategy results in more heifers and steers being finished for slaughter, as opposed to being seen as waste. The shift towards more cattle and fewer sheep and deer is also expected to result in a higher average carcass weight and more efficient feeding. Furthermore, the report highlights a global demand for beef and veal, with an annual growth rate of 0.3%, and anticipates that New Zealand's beef cow numbers may stabilize due to government easing restrictions and making beef operations more feasible in forestry areas.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

FAS/Wellington forecasts slaughter numbers for 2025 MY to total 4.645 million head, which is just a 5,000 head increase on the current forecast for the outgoing 2024 MY, according to a recent US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) report. Factors causing this increase in slaughter include changes to the dairy industry’s approach to the retention of non-replacement calves on farms. This results in more slaughter of more heifers and steers as calves historically regarded as wastage are now being finished at a mature weight. Therefore, FAS/Wellington maintains the number of other cattle (heifers, steers, and bulls) slaughtered, despite a decrease in cow slaughter numbers. This retention strategy of calves changes the national pastoral livestock farming herd. New Zealand has a history of being heavily sheep-centric, to now, where the sheep and deer herds are decreasing at a rate more than twice that of the cattle herd. As a result, this ...

Source: The Cattle Site