Zela Vitamin Plus

industry

Dairy farming is part of a long and proud agricultural tradition in New Zealand. Dairy cattle were first imported by European settlers in the early 19th Century to provide milk, butter and cheese for local consumption. The introduction of refrigerated shipping enabled New Zealand to develop a substantial dairy export trade to the United Kingdom, which remained the largest export market until the 1970s, when Britain joined the European Union.

Refrigerated shipping, New Zealand's temperate climate and a highly innovative and efficient dairy industry based on farmer-owned co-operative dairy companies has enabled dairying to grow into New Zealand's most important industry. Since the 1970s there has been significant diversification in both dairy products and markets. Now China and the United States represent our largest markets and the UK has been surpassed by Japan and several other Asian markets that barely existed 30 years ago.

New Zealand produces about 2% of total world production at around 17 billion litres per annum but, unlike most other countries, around 95% of it's dairy produce is exported rather than consumed by the domestic market. Today, dairy is New Zealand's largest industry, contributing approximately 27% of total merchandise export earnings ($NZ13 billion in 2012).

New Zealand is the world's largest butter exporter and accounts for about 44% of all traded butter. New Zealand is also an important exporter of skim and whole milk powders, contributing about 27% and 38%, respectively, of world trade.

New Zealand also has the two largest milk powder plants in the world, these being in Hamilton and Taranaki.

New Zealand has 11,618 dairy herds and 4.25 million dairy cows and heifers in milk in (2008/09). The number of herds increased to 11,735 in 2010-2011, the number of dairy cows to 4.5 million in 2010-11.

In 2010-11 dairy companies processed 17.3 billion litres of milk, with total milk-solids processed increasing from 1.44 billion kg in 2009-10 to 1.51 billion kg. This is an average of 334kg of milk (comprising 190kg milkfat and 144kg protein) per cow.

The temperate climate is perfect for Dairy Farming and 95% of milk production is from grass. No cattle are wintered indoors. The only crops given are green turnips. Maize is given out as silage or green food.

The dairy industry has been successful at diversifying both its product range and the number of markets it exports to, building an international reputation as a leading edge supplier of dairy products. These range from high quality basic products such as milk powders, butter and cheese to specialty foods such as ice-cream and highly specialised food ingredients like spray dried milk proteins, protein hydrolysates and freeze dried biologically active proteins.

A growing trend is the development of functional foods such as low-fat, high-calcium and high-protein milk; and the development of biomedical and biohealth products, such as colostrum-based health supplements and products made from organic milk. New Zealand dairy products and ingredients are premium quality, with the industry complying with rigorous health and safety standards.