New Zealanders outnumbered by cows

[size=1.0625]National statistics office survey shows there are 1.5 million more cows than humans


A recent survey shows there are 5.8m cows in New Zealand and just 4.3 million people. Photograph: Ulrich Perrey/EPA






[size=1.0625]Adam Gabbatt
[size=0.75]@adamgabbatt
[size=0.75]Tue 9 Feb 2010 18.44 GMT

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[size=1.0625]New Zealanders have long endured jokes about the extent to which they are outnumbered by sheep.

[size=1.0625]But now Kiwis can expect more variety in the gags, with the country's national statistical office announcing that the population has also been overtaken by that of dairy cattle.

[size=1.0625]Statistics New Zealand's agricultural production survey, released today, reported that the cows' numbers soared to 5.8 million in 2009. New Zealand has a human population of 4.3 million.

[size=1.0625]The number of sheep in the country has provided fodder for endless jokes. In the HBO television series Flight of the Conchords – about two Kiwi musicians living in New York – a New Zealand tourism poster can be seen in their manager's office bearing the slogan: "New Zealand, ewe should come".

[size=1.0625]In the preceding BBC radio series the duo are mockingly bleated at while performing a gig, while an Australian character speculates that Jemaine Clement's first girlfriend was called Flossy.

[size=1.0625]In 1982, the national sheep flock peaked at 70 million. The number has since more than halved. "In 2009, New Zealand had fewer than eight sheep per person," explained agriculture statistics manager Gary Dunnet.

[size=1.0625]The annual survey showed the number of beef cattle was also close to that of humans, with 4.1 million recorded last year. The number of deer, at 1.2 million, fell by 6% compared with 2008, but that was still a huge increase on the mere 42,000 in the country in 1972, after huge growth in the deer farming industry over the last 30 years.

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