New Zealand may be small in size, but our dairy industry is big in the world of dairy exports, being amongst the top 10 largest dairy producers globally.
With only 5 million people and around the same number of dairy cows, that leaves a lot of dairy to export, and we send it many places around the world. Our high-quality dairy produce is New Zealand’s biggest export earner.
New Zealand’s temperate climate is well suited to a low cost, high quality grazed-pasture dairy system. The seasonal calving system that’s been a feature of the industry for more than 100 years, cleverly matches home-grown feed supply with the herd’s nutritional needs.
This seasonal calving system works with nature rather than against it, allowing the cows to access grazed pasture as their main feed source all year round.
Many of our international dairy farming customers have adopted this seasonal calving system, adapting it to their local conditions, and are seeing positive results from focusing on milking cows to their pasture growth curves and keeping costs low.
New Zealand dairy industry
New Zealand farms just under 5 million dairy cows in about 10,000 dairy herds. They brought in $NZ 27 billion in dairy export revenue for the year ending June 2025.
Dairying is spread across 1.7 million hectares of land and plays an important role in every regional economy.
Our dairy sector is highly integrated, modern, science based and innovative and is a global leader in pastoral dairy farming.
The industry commitment to ongoing improvements is strong, covering areas from people to pasture and from animals to environmental sustainability. Scientific research, later adopted as on-farm practices, and farmer collaboration characterise the industry.
LIC is a part of that improvement ethos, with our strong commitment to research and development keeping us at the leading edge of the dairy farming industry.
Read the New Zealand Dairy Statistics 2024-25 for more facts and figures on the New Zealand dairy industry.Â
New Zealand farms & cows
Under our seasonal pasture-based farm system, highly fertile, easy care, productive and profitable cows are essential. Most cows are calved in late winter/early spring to match feed demand with the rapid spring pasture growth.
Spring is a busy time in New Zealand.
Across the world, our farmers are looking for the same type of cow, one that suits their grass-based system.
Most cows calve within a 12 week spring calving window, with 86% of the herd, on average, calved by week 6 of calving. That’s more than 4 million cows calved in just 6 weeks. The national herd calving interval of 368-370 days is the shortest in the world, and it’s been at this level for many years.Â
New Zealand dairy cows are also renowned for:
High fertility
When we use the word Fertility, we are referring to a cow’s genetic ability to get back in-calf within the first six weeks of mating compared to the 2015 genetic base. In other words, her Fertility BV (breeding value).
On average, cows that have a higher Fertility BV will get back in-calf better and earlier than those with a lower Fertility BV. The New Zealand national average cow Fertility BV was 1.6% and the top 10% was 5.4% in March 2026. This is good news as it means a large proportion of the New Zealand dairy herd is in a positive position for Fertility BV and this positive trend is ongoing. Phenotypic trends are also positive; in 2024/25 the mean calving interval was 368 days, and 70% of lactating cows with detailed herd reproductive information were back in calf within 6 weeks of their mating start date.
Longevity
Herd life of cows in New Zealand is one of the longest in the world, averaging over 4.5 lactations per cow and unlike most countries, the phenotypic trend is for increased herd life.
Production efficiency
Production per kg/ liveweight continues to climb; modern New Zealand cows produce 37 kg milk solids more per year than the cows of a decade ago, despite being similar in size. High genetic merit cows are more profitable for farmers.
Environment & welfare
High genetic merit animals partition more of the feed eaten into milk solids, and less into waste. This means more nitrogen is being converted into protein in cow’s milk rather than being excreted as urine or faeces. LIC’s HoofprintTM Index enables dairy farmers to select bulls based on their predicted ability to generate offspring with a lower environmental impact.
Learn more about how we are helping farmers face climate challenges.
It’s not hard work all year in seasonal calving systems. After the spring rush, cows settle down to a daily rhythm of grazing and milking. At the end of the lactation the cows and farmers get to take a well-earned rest over the winter.
Herd improvement
Genetic improvement is a concept well understood by farmers all over the world.
In the 2024-25 season, to identify and breed the best cows to elites sires, New Zealand dairy farmers milk recorded 3.84 million cows and mated 3.8 million to elite AI semen.
This results in a superior line of replacement calves who will enter the milking herd at 2 years of age.
A 2023 study showed long-term users of LIC bulls for artificial insemination are achieving 19gBW per annum, well above the industry average of 10BW.
Farmers are seeing measurable increases in on-farm performance:
- 37 kg more milk solids per cow over the last 10 years and cow size remaining constant
- 40% of this production efficiency is attributed to improved genetic merit
- Improved production efficiency reduces the environmental impact per kilogram of milk solids produced
- Genetic trends for non-production traits such as fertility, longevity, health, conformation and udder traits also continue to trend favourably.
Future of the New Zealand dairy industry
Historic genetic trends show NZ farm and cow performance improving and set to continue. It’s fair to say that both the NZ and other industries understand the importance of responding to a changing world, seeking new and innovative ways to create competitive resilient systems that are better now and keep improving.
LIC continues to be a part of this, with our ongoing genetic research and involvement in larger industry research projects such as:
- Methane emissions research – identifying a genetic link between a bull and the amount of methane it produces, so farmers can breed lower methane-emitting cows.
- Resilient Dairy research programme – utilising disease management technologies and genomic advances to enhance the health, wellbeing and productivity of the national dairy herd.
- Heat tolerance breeding programme – enabling farmers to breed more heat tolerant cows.