New Zealand's milk output per cow maintains growth as production stalls

New Zealand milk production has stalled over the past eight years but has not “peaked” and will grow again when farmers get the right market signals. So says Coriolis consultancy principal Tim Morris, who pointed to the annual 1% increase in milk per cow, which he described as occurring like clockwork over the past 50 years. “Look at other countries, like Israel, and see that NZ is nowhere near the biological limit and at some point the decline in cow numbers will stabilise and milk per cow will continue to grow. “Price signals to increase production have been muted recently, while at the same time, input costs have been growing faster than milk prices.” Morris also points to longer-term farm consolidation and milking platform size increases as trends. Effective hectares per farm have increased at 2% annually since the 1980s and the trend towards larger farms means lower costs per cow and per hectare. “Global demand and consumption have not stalled – this is primarily a New ...