The total number of sheep in New Zealand decreased 0.8 percent (by 199,000 head) to an estimated 25.83 million while beef cattle numbers rose 2.5 percent to 3.98 million, according to Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ)’s annual stock number survey. The decline in sheep numbers was across both breeding ewes, down 0.5 percent to […]
sheep
WOMOLife Wins Wool Harvesting Training Contract
Kaiaka Wool Industry Training NZ has awarded the contract for its new $1.8 million pilot training programme to multi-format training provider WOMOLife. Kaiaka will train up to 270 shearers and wool handlers and create 150 new jobs. At least 70% of new employees will be Māori. Kaiaka will also establish two wool harvesting (shearing and […]
Animal welfare clock ticking on shearer border decision
Federated Farmers and the Shearing Contractors Association are looking for an urgent decision from the government to allow experienced sheep shearers into the country. “We’ve been reminding the government since late winter we are going to have increasing urgency around the need for shearers this summer,” Federated Farmers immigration spokesperson Chris Lewis says. As the […]