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Lamb numbers have dropped dramatically because of last summer's drought and the expansion of dairy farming, says Meat & Wool New Zealand.
Lamb numbers for the season, which started on October 1, are down 15 per cent at 27.3 million.
Meat & Wool New Zealand Economic Service director Rob Davison said the decrease was due to a smaller breeding-ewe flock, a drop in the number of lambs born and fewer lambs from ewe hoggets.
The breeding ewe flock was down 9.5 per cent to 23.6 million and the lambing percentage - the number born per 100 ewes - fell from 118 to 113 per cent. Export lamb numbers were expected to fall 23.2 per cent to 20.36 million this season, although heavier carcase weights were anticipated.
"Last year a large number of lambs were slaughtered when normally they would have been retained to replace older ewes," Davison said.
Export lamb meat in the year ending September 30 totalled 437,000 tonnes and was worth $2.2 billion. A better exchange rate saw lamb prices up 33 per cent during the first six weeks of this season compared with last year and Davison said it would probably exceed $2.2 billion.
