NEW ZEALAND'S FLOCKS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19832, 30 December 1927, Page 8

NEW ZEALAND'S FLOCKS.

The number of sheep in New Zealand reached the record of 26.538,000 in 1918; four years later it had fallen to 22,222,000, the lowest since 1907. Since then there has been a steady recovery, every annual return having shown an increase, until at the last enumeration the flocks comprised 25,619,000 sheep. Thus, in five years, the grasslands of the Dominion had placed upon them 3.427,000 more sheep, a substantial addition to • its productive assets. The most satisfactory feature of this consistent expansion is that it has been chiefly in breeding ewes, the number of which has each year constituted a new record, for whereas there were 13,022,000 in 1918, this year's enumeration showed a total of 14,831,730. Returns compiled by the Department of Agriculture from reports by stock inspectors of the season's lambing are now available. The compilation reveals a record number of lambs, 12,866,840, as compared with 12,069,680 lambs tailed last year. In both islands, fhe average lambing has been higher than in either of the two preceding seasons, the total for the Dominion representing 86.76 per cent. From these figures, it is apparent that the enumeration of flocks next April will reveal a further substantial increase to a total exceeding 26,000,000, which frill be higher than in any other year than 1918, and actually not far short of that year's record, which was in fact inflated owing to abnormal conditions curtailing the drafting of sheep and lambs for export. This progressive increase in the country's flocks is a gratifying indication of recovery in the primary industries, for, while the phenomena] expansion of dairying probably at tracts greater public attention, it must not be forgotten that the older pastoral industry makes a vastly larger contribution to the national wealth.