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How Many Sheep?
Sheep Numbers in New Zealand, 2005
Common as well as Rare and Minority Breeds
In 2005 the Rare Breeds Conservation Society of New Zealand compiled the following table of sheep numbers in New Zealand, obtaining the data from the sources given in the references beneath the table. Variations in numbers may, in many cases, be due to what they actually represent – ranging from full flock estimates to counts of registered ewes mated – and to differing dates of publication. By May 2006, some of the websites referred to below were either no longer available or no longer contained the figures quoted here.
| Breed | New Zealand
Wool Board 1 | Sheep Breeds of
New Zealand 2 | Meat & Wool
Innovation 3 | New Zealand
Sheepbreeders 4 | Other
Sources | Rare Breeds
Estimate9 |
| Arapawa | — | — | — | — | — | <1,000 |
| Awassi | — | 19 (in 1995) | — | — | — | <200 |
| Border Leicester | 500,000 | 110,000 | 110,000 | 6,990 | — | — |
| Borderdale | 500,000 | 516,000 | 516,000 | 1,275 | — | — |
| Campbell Island | — | — | — | — | — | <100 |
| Chatham Island | — | — | — | — | — | <100 |
| Cheviot | 11,000 | 98,000 | 12,000 | — | 2,0005 | — |
| Clarence | — | — | — | — | — | <20 |
| Coopworth | 7.5 M | 4.9 M | 7.3 M | — | 29,3916 | — |
| Cormo | — | 65,000 | — | — | — | — |
| Corriedale | 2.7 M | 2.8 M | 2.8 M | 11,358 | — | — |
| Diggers Hill | — | — | — | — | — | <200 |
| Dohne | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Dorper | — | — | — | 1,583 | — | — |
| Dorset Down | 15,000 | 51,000 | 51,000 | 10,277 | — | — |
| Dorset Horn | — | 3-400 | * | 516 | — | <1,000 |
| Drysdale | 200,000 | 600,000 | 600,000 | 651 | — | — |
| East Friesian | — | 1,200 | 1,200 | 452 | — | — |
| English Leicester | 15,000 | 15,000 | 15,000 | 927 | — | — |
| Finnsheep | 5,000 | <5,000 | <5,000 | 322 | — | — |
| Gotland Pelt ** | — | 300 | — | — | — | <600 |
| Hampshire | 6,000 | <4,000 | <4,000 | 2,569 | — | — |
| Hokonui | — | — | — | — | — | <500 |
| Herbert | — | — | — | — | — | <100 |
| Karakul | — | <150 | — | 57 | — | <200 |
| Lincoln | 45,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 920 | — | — |
| Merino | 2.5 M | 3.3 M*** | 2.3 M | 22,014 | — | — |
| Mohaka | — | — | — | — | — | <500 |
| NZ Halfbred | 2 M | 1.8 M | 900,000 | 1,539 | — | — |
| NZ Romney | 27 M | 25.5 M | 25.1 M | — | — | — |
| Oxford | <500 | 400 | 400 | 473 | — | — |
| Omahaki | — | — | — | — | — | <100 |
| Perendale | 4.75 M | 3.1 M | 1.9 M | — | — | — |
| Pitt Island | — | — | — | — | — | <1,000 |
| Poll Dorset | 85,000 | 23,000 | 12,000 | 22,935 | — | — |
| Poll Merino | — | *** | — | 1,594 | — | — |
| Polwarth | 60,000 | 160,000 | 160,000 | 1,328 | — | — |
| Polled Wiltshire | 5,000 | 2,000 | — | — | — | — |
| Raglan | — | — | — | — | — | <100 |
| Ryeland | — | 500 | 500 | 303 | — | — |
| SAMM | — | — | — | 99 | — | — |
| Shropshire | — | <500 | <1,000 | 197 | — | <500 |
| South Dorset | 5,000 | 5,000 | 58,000 | 343 | — | — |
| South Hampshire | — | — | <10,000 | — | **** | — |
| South Suffolk | 70,000 | 94,000 | 94,000 | 8,860 | — | — |
| Southdown | <5,000 | 165,000 | 22,000 | — | — | — |
| Stansborough Gotland | — | — | — | 508 | 1,000 7 | — |
| Stewart Island | — | — | — | — | — | <100 |
| Suffolk | 60,000 | 55,000 | 55,000 | 18,468 | — | — |
| Texel | 10,000 | 420,000 | — | 13,433 | — | — |
| White Headed Marsh | — | <500 | — | 494 | — | — |
| Wiltshire Horn | — | <300 | — | — | 99 8 | <700 |
| Woodstock | — | — | — | — | — | <100 |
The symbol < is used in the above table to mean "fewer than"; M stands for million.
REFERENCES AND NOTES:
1 Figures from New Zealand Wool Board website on 5.1.2005 – probably taken from 1996 Agricultural Census Survey.
2 Figures from Sheep Breeds of New Zealand by Graham Meadows, Reed Books, Auckland, 1997. Many (but not all) of the figures are the same as on the New Zealand Sheepbreeders Association website (on 5.1.2005).
3 Figures from Meat & Wool Innovation website on 5.1.2005. The New Zealand Sheepbreeders Association website (on 5.1.2005) lists similar figures for many of the same breeds, but is not as comprehensive.
4 New Zealand Sheepbreeders Association, Newsletter 7 – registered ewes mated in 2003.
5 Cheviot Sheep Society of New Zealand, personal communication 2004.
6 Number of ewes mated in 2003 from Coopworth Sheep Society of New Zealand website (on 5.1.2005).
7 Flock number given on the Stansborough website on 20.1.2005. (Although originally registered as Stansborough Gotland, these sheep have subsequently been referred to as "Stansborough Greys.")
8 Registered ewes in New Zealand Flock Book, Volume 100. New Zealand Sheepbreeders Association, Christchurch, 2004.
9 Estimates based on numbers given to the Rare Breeds Conservation Society in 2004-2005. For feral breeds, the estimate is of the number in domestication.
* Dorset Horn is included with Poll Dorset in the Meat & Wool Innovation figures (note 3 above).
** Stansborough Gotland are not included with Gotland Pelt – see separate listing.
*** Poll Merino included with Merino in Sheep Breeds of New Zealand (note 2 above).
**** The South Hampshire breed was withdrawn from the New Zealand Flock Book in 1992 because of the decline in numbers.
For descriptions of breeds that are not available on the New Zealand Rare Breeds website, try Sheep 101 Info.
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