Maintain quality, farmers told

With lamb numbers nationwide at their second-worst in 55 years, a Wairarapa spokesman says production is also about quality.

"You're better off having a better animal rather than a lot of animals," Federated Farmers Wairarapa Meat and Fibre chairman Stephen Pound said.

Mr Pound was commenting on Beef + Lamb New Zealand figures showing 26.51 million lambs at tailing this spring, ahead of last season's record low of 24.79 million.

Mr Pound said Wairarapa was in line with the rest of the country in its improvement on last year's lambing result - the worst since 1956.

Storms at the peak of lambing last year were blamed for that disastrous season, with this year's recovery due to better lambing weather and higher birth rates - 119 lambs to every 100 ewes rather than 110 lambs last year.

However, Beef + Lamb New Zealand service director Rob Davison said the increase was offset by a 2.5 per cent drop in the number of breeding ewes.

"This reflects the continuing expansion of the dairy herd and last season's strong mutton prices."

Mr Pound said most Wairarapa properties were not lambing this year when snow fell in mid to late August - with many inland farms safely through lambing, and eastern properties yet to begin in earnest.

However, "there were some pockets that did get hit".

Mr Pound said farmers "might be a bit reluctant" to restore stock numbers to the levels they were before 2005 when Wairarapa began a spate of bad seasons that continued until this year.

"People are a little more comfortable running at slightly lower levels of stock," Mr Pound said.

"Now it's about production; you're better off having a better animal rather than a lot of animals."

Mr Pound said farmers had been reapplying fertiliser this year after some years of holding back.

Currently farmers are happy with the amount of rain, and holding out for some warm spring weather for grass growth, Mr Pound said.

"And get rid of this wind."