Sheep in New Zealand

The first sheep were landed to New Zealand by Captain Cook in 1773. The Sheep population grew to 70.3 million in 1982 but now it has declined to 43.1million. There are 36,000 flocks of Sheep with an average flock size of 1400. The main breed farmed in New Zealand is Romney, an English breed and it gives a lot of meat and a very strong wool (25% of the world's total). This type of wool is used mainly in interior textiles such as carpets. It is also used for hand knitting yarn and blankets. In the South Island sheep farming is the main form of pastoral (grazing land) agriculture.

Grasslands have been developed to the extent that the best sheep farms can carry up to 25 sheep per hectare throughout the year.

Romney:

The Romney, which originally came from the lowland of England, is New Zealand’s most popular breed. When introduced to New Zealand during the 1850’s it was farmed on the wet lowland regions. Today 25 million Romney graze the hills producing both meat and wool. Its wool, which can reach a length of 18cm, is course and creamy in colour. It is an ideal carpet wool and is also used in other hardwearing materials such as furnishing fabrics blankets, and knitting yarn for heavy sweaters.

Drysdale:

About seventy years ago, a scientist from Massey University did a series of experiments of the Romney sheep. He found that some Romneys carried a powerful gene, which produced a long course straight fleece (a kind of wool) The fleece was also "hairy" or heavily- an excellent property for giving carpets lots of bounce. This scientist, named Dr Francis Dry, found that this "hairiness" factor was passed on from one generation to the next so, with careful breeding, he was able to build a flock of hairy sheep - the Drysdale. There are more than 200,000 Drysdales in New Zealand and unlike their Romney cousins; both rams and ewes have horns. Today carpet makers pay a premium for this wool.

Perendale:

The Perendale was developed in New Zealand over 40 years ago by Sir Geoffrey Peren, a professor at Massey University. He crossed the Cheviot (name of a kind of sheep) and Romney to get the best qualities of both breeds. Since 1960 the Perendale has become very popular and now just over 5 million Perendales graze the steep hard hill country of New Zealand. Perendales are known as easy care sheep. It can grow between 3.5 and 5 kg of wool a year.

Merino:

The Merino is the oldest and most numerous breed in the world. It is thought to have come from Spain or North Africa. The Merino was New Zealand’s first sheep and today there are just over 2 million of them. Most Merinos are found in South Island hill country. The wool is very fine and soft and although the outside looks grey, inside it is quite white.

III. Did you know?

Did you know that, in New Zealand, there are 12 sheep for 1 human? The actual population of humans in New Zealand is 3.6million whereas the population of sheep is 41.3million

Sheep World - Sheep Photo

Today, the wool exported from New Zealand is used for sheepskin rugs, for clothing, for fasion, for footwear, for underwear, for under blankets, for luxury knitwear etc.