SHEEP POPULATION

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 29241, 11 October 1940, Page 10

SHEEP POPULATION

LOWEST SINCE 1936 MORE IN AUCKLAND DISTRICT (By Tplcrranh.—to Time*) WELLINGTON, Thursday The number of sheep in the Dominion at April 30 was 31.062,875, the lowest figure since 1936, according to the annual sheep returns tabled in the House of Representatives by the Minister of Agriculture, the Hon. W. Lee Martin. The total represents a drop of 834,216 below the previous year’s return, although the Auckland figure shows a slight rise. Stud sheep and flock rams decreased by 11,082 to 188,556, while breeding ewes declined by 226,852 and lambs by 307,328. There was a decrease of 337,908 in the sheep population of the North Island, the grand total being 17,075,056, while the number in the South Island dropped by 496,308 to 13.987,819. Sheepowners increased from 32,143 to 32.287. The largest number is in the Otago district, which has 8051 sheep farmers, Canterbury-Kaikoura comes next with 6252 owners and figures for the other districts are:— Auckland, 6057; Poverty BayHawke’s Bay, 3914; WellingtonWest Coast, 5208* Marlborough-Nelson-Westland, 2705. The sheep population in the various districts was as follows, with the previous year’s figures in parentheses:—Auckland, 3,791.988 (3,746.768); Poverty Bay-Hawke’s Bay, 6.894.159 (7,002,579): WellingtonWest Coast, 6,388.909 (6.663.617); Marlborough - Nelson - Westland, 1,479,860 (1.548,923); CanterburyKaikoura, 5.532,073 (5.9G7,075); Otago, 6,975,886 (6,968,129).