New Zealand's dairy herd grows 6 percent in 2008

New Zealand's dairy herd increased 6 percent to 5.6 million in 2008, according to the latest agricultural production survey.

The national dairy herd included an estimated 4.3 million cows and heifers in milk or calf, up 172,600 from 2007. The number of dairy replacement cattle was estimated at 1.2 million.

Ratio between the replacement herd and the milking herd has increased to 26.9 percent last year, up from 22.5 percent in 2005.

In contrast, beef cattle numbers fell 6 percent on-year to 4.1 million in 2008. Numbers in beef breeding herd also dropped 8 percent to 1.1 million.