livestock numbers in 2016

Key findings

 Increasing trend in dairy cattle and total cattle

 Decreasing trend in beef cattle, sheep, and deer

Dairy cattle increased 68.9 percent, from 3.84 million in 1994 to 6.49 million in 2015.

• New Zealand farmed around 29.1 million sheep, 10.0 million cattle (6.5 million for dairy), and 0.9 million deer in 2015.
• In 2015, Waikato had the highest number of dairy cattle (1,761,949), followed by Canterbury (1,253,993), Southland (731,209), and Taranaki (541,931). 
• Dairy cattle numbers increased 539 percent (616,831) in Southland, 490 percent (1,041,501) in Canterbury, and 368 percent (302,806) in Otago between 1994 and 2015.

Reference: http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/environment/environmental-reporting-series/environmental-indicators/Home/Land/livestock-numbers.aspx