DOMINION’S SHEEP

Taranaki Daily News, 11 October 1929, Page 12

DOMINION’S SHEEP

NUMBER OVER 29 MILLIONS. WHERE THE LARGEST FLOCKS ARE. i Wellington, Oct. 10. The annual sheep returns disclose' that there are 29,051,382 sheep' in New Zealand, as against 27,133,810 in the previous year. All classes of sheep, have increased in number.- Stud sheep entered in the flock book number 396,325, as compared with 371,187 in the previous year. Sheep of a distinctive breed, but not . entered in the flock book, total 7.,481,791, an increase of. 115,466. Crossbred and other sheep total 21,1:3,266, as against 19,396,298 in 1927-28. . The Napier-Gisborne district tops the score, with 6,793,339 sheep, Otago is next with 6,178,413. The Wellington-West Coast district has 6,058,934, CanterburyKaikoura 5,827,573, Auckland 2,734,171, and Marlborough-Nelson-Westland only 1,450,952. Tho tables show that Hawke’s Bay county, with 1,363,635 sheep, has to take second place among the counties to Southland, which has 1,600,088. Other counties with over one million sheep arc: Rangitikei, 1,220,057; and Ashburton, 1,106,166. There is an increase of 1,91:,572 sheep in the Dominion, but the number of owners has gone up by only 730. Otago, with G 424 owners, heads the list. Caii-terbury-Kaikoura, with 5773 is second, and then come Wellington-West Coast 4569, Auckland 3917, Napier-Gisborne 3629, and Marlborough-Nelson-Westland 2400. Thus it will be seen that the NapierGisborne district, with 0,795,339 sheep (the greatest number in any one sheep district) has larger flocks and fewer owners than anywhere else in New Zealand. In Auckland, tho majority of owners have from 50 to 1000 sheep, and only three have more than 10,000. In Gisborne, however, there are four owners with more than 20,6'00, and the position is similar in the Hawke’s Bay district, where from 2000 to over 5000 is tho average .flock, ? ’ •.