After a decrease in 2015, dairy cattle numbers increased 2 per cent to 6.6 million last year, Statistics NZ said last week.
However, this was not back to the 2014 level (6.7 million).
The North Island dairy herd increased by almost 250,000 cows last year. In contrast, the number ofdairy cattle in the South Island fell more than 100,000 in the year to June 30, 2016.
In the year ended December 2016, exports of dairy products were worth $12.8 billion - more than 26 per cent of all exports and a value of almost $2500 for every milking cow. Sheep-related exports were valued at $3.6 billion.
