New Zealand reaches 'cow peak'

New Zealand is approaching a so-called 'cow peak'. As a result of short periods of higher prices, the dairy cow herd grew strongly. However, in the last few years the sector has also been paying the price, because in New Zealand the regulations surrounding the environment are also starting to increase significantly.

Apart from the increased regulatory burden, a cultural change is being seen among dairy farmers. Instead of focusing on growth, dairy farmers are increasingly looking at an environmentally friendly and sustainable way of keeping livestock. Finally, the farms that wanted to switch to dairy cattle probably all did so.

Also highlight in milk pee?
As a result of the expected development, the milk lake has probably reached its peak. Although, if we only look at growth through keeping more livestock, something that is supported by Fonterra. That party already indicated that it was taking into account 3% to 4% less milk. "Over the last 23 years, the number of cows has grown by 100.000 per year," said Malcolm Ellis, general manager of LIC (New Zealand's Cooperative Livestock Improvement Organisation), in an interview with a New Zealand trade magazine.

"I have been critical of the idea that milk production is 90% achieved by feed and 10% by genetics. Although nutrition is important for utilizing opportunities, there is also genetic potential that can be better utilized." Ellis considers it unlikely that grass will compensate for the 13% loss in production (as a result of the remediation of the residual product from palm oil production). The European Union (EU) uses soybean meal, but New Zealand always used palm meal as a supplier of protein. Since 2017, the use of palm scrap for milk production has been boycotted.

Dairy tree and herd growth 
During the dairy boom, when the size of the national herd increased rapidly, little attention was paid to genetics. “It didn't matter how much a cow produced, as long as more cows were milked.” It means that growth in the milk pool can simply be achieved (by replacing low-productive cows). 

He does not yet see a major decline in the number of dairy farms, if only because of the large size of the outstanding loans. "The question is also who would want the companies." In concrete terms, New Zealand is working on the transition from more growth to better cows and a more environmentally friendly approach.