Milking cows outnumber people by nearly three to one in the combined Wairarapa-Tararua district and numbers are growing at a much faster rate, latest statistics show.
A herd count by DairyNZ shows Wairarapa-Tararua has 164,720 dairy cows producing 52million kilograms of milksolids a year but, despite popular opinion, the numberof dairy herds in the district has fallen in the past decade.
Ten years ago there were 608 herds being milked, but now there are 470. However herds are larger with 7500 extra head being milked now than was the case a decade ago.
That equates to a growth rate cent of 4.8 per cent, well ahead of the human population growth.
Tararua is by far the dairy capital of the combined district with 312 herds against 158 in Masterton, Carterton and South Wairarapa.
Masterton is a small dairy area with fewer than 20 herds but although Wairarapa has fewer herds, the ones being milked are, on average 100 cows larger, than those in Tararua.
To carry statistics a step further DairyNZ has released details of the effective hectares being dairy farmed.
