In spite of diminishing flock sizes and the loss of land to other industries, genetics, production and business innovation have enabled New Zealand farmers to produce more lamb from fewer sheep.
The second Beef + Lamb New Zealand sheep industry awards were held in Invercargill last month. They followed last year's successful pilot event and recognise farmers who are contributing to the $8 billion the country's red meat industry earns each year. In addition, wool export earnings contribute $746 million.
The top breeders were drawn from the Sheep Improvement SIL database and another five awards were made to publicly nominated individuals or businesses, assessed by a panel of sheep industry experts.
Changes in land use have brought a large expansion of dairy production, and sheep and beef land has diminished with the growth of forestry and, in recent years, more lifestyle blocks.
The good news is that, in spite of the loss of prime land, production has improved dramatically in the past two decades. Lambing percentages are 20 per cent higher than 20 years ago, and lamb carcass weights up 25 per cent.