New Zealanders overwhelmed by cow explosion as sheep plummet

Tom Phillips - 9th February, 2010

For decades, New Zealanders have been the butt of jokes about being outnumbered 20-to-1 by sheep. But now they have a new animal to worry about, as figures reveal they're now also outnumbered by cows.

A record 5.8 million dairy cattle were counted in the year to June 2009, Statistics New Zealand said on Tuesday - well more than one animal for each of the country's 4.3 million citizens.

In contrast, sheep numbers declined to some 32 million in 2009, less than half the peak of 70 million reported in 1982.

'Increased numbers in the milking herd have resulted in there being one milking cow for every New Zealander,' said farm statistics manager Gary Dunnet. 'In 2009, New Zealand had fewer than eight sheep per person.'

.New Zealanders have long been teased about their country's sheep overload, often by Australians - but have also joked about it themselves. In the popular TV series Flight of the Conchords, a tourism poster hangs in the New Zealand consulate showing a flock of sheep staring out and the slogan: 'New Zealand - Ewe Should Come'. And the 2006 movie Black Sheep made fun of the disparity in a dark comedy about genetically mutated sheep who turn on their owners on a New Zealand farm.

http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/812369-new-zealanders-overwhelmed-by-cow-explosion-as-sheep-plummet