The sidebar in this article indicates the number is now 48 million. John R., what is the deal? That is quite a dropoff.With no subsidies to allow them to keep over-producing stuff at high cost, the farming sector has to respond to the market. Basically there is better and more reliable $ to be made in dairy. The days when a farmer might derive 40% of income from shearing are gone- today the farmer might receive a few $ for the wool off one sheep. Meanwhile vineyards also do well (you may be aware that a NZ Sauvignon Blanc label is now the biggest seller in the US market) and there's good $ in flowers or perfectly shaped fruit for the Japanese market.
Despite the loss of interest and to keep things in perspective, NZ still accounts for >75% of the world lamb trade.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
