<h3>Quick facts</h3>
<ul>
<li>Forty-nine percent of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture.</li>
<li>At the same time,&nbsp;more than 38%&nbsp;of New Zealand's merchandisable exports come from agriculture.&nbsp;</li>
<li>New Zealand's beef, wool and sheep meat industries contribute eight,&nbsp;27 and 75%&nbsp;respectively, to their world marketplaces.</li>
</ul>
<h3>What's changed in the beef &amp; sheep sectors since 1990 in on farm practices?</h3>
<p><strong>Beef</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Reduction in breeding herd numbers</li>
<li>Increased number of finishing cattle -&nbsp;use of dairy origin&nbsp;animals for&nbsp;finishing</li>
<li>Feed management strategies</li>
<li>Pasture management strategies</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Sheep</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Breeding and flock testing for animals with improved genetic merit (gorwth, reproduction)</li>
<li>Use of pregnancy scanning</li>
<li>Hogget mating</li>
<li>Pasture management (growth quality)</li>
<li>Optimisation of stock numbers&nbsp;to pasture growth</li>
</ul>
<h3>What's the impact of these on farm changes&nbsp;on productivity?</h3>
<p><strong>Beef</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Faster growth rates</li>
<li>Increased finished weight of animal</li>
<li>Increased meat yield per hectare (kg&nbsp;meat/ha)&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Sheep</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Increased lambing percentage</li>
<li>Increased number of offspring per ewe</li>
<li>Increased&nbsp;finished&nbsp;weight of animal&nbsp;(lamb)</li>
<li>Increased meat yield per hectare (kg&nbsp;meat/ha)</li>
</ul>
<h3>What's the effect of these changes on emissions intensity?&nbsp;</h3>
<p>Emissions intensity of New Zealand beef and sheep sector is lower.&nbsp; For the beef sector, a great proportion of feed goes to production rather than maintenance and for the sheep sector, a lower ewe population is producing the equivalent lamb meat.</p>
<h3>What else are the beef and sheep sectors doing about emissions?</h3>
<p>At the recent NZ agricultural greenhouse gas mitigation conference, Beef+Lamb New Zealand CEO, Sam McIvor, gave a presentation titled: "Beef &amp; sheep industry perspectives".</p>
<p><a href="beef-sheep-industry-perspectives.html"><strong>Read more</strong></a></p>
<h3>On farm practice change summary tables</h3>
<p class="h6">Beef</p>
<table border="1" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="10">
<tbody>
<tr valign="top">
<td width="33%"><strong>On&nbsp;farm practice</strong></td>
<td width="33%"><strong>Effect on farm productivity</strong></td>
<td width="33%"><strong>Effect on emissions intensity (net)</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top">
<td>
<p>Reduction in breeding herd numbers</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Increased number of finishing cattle -&nbsp;use of dairy origin&nbsp;animals for&nbsp;finishing&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Feed management strategies</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Pasture management strategies&nbsp;</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Faster growth rates</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Increased finished weight of animal</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Increased meat yield per hectare (kg&nbsp;meat/ha)&nbsp;</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Lower</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>*&nbsp;A greater proportion of feed going to production rather than maintenance *</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p class="h6"><br />Sheep</p>
<table border="1" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="10">
<tbody>
<tr valign="top">
<td width="33%"><strong>On&nbsp;farm practice</strong></td>
<td width="33%"><strong>Effect on farm productivity</strong></td>
<td width="33%"><strong>Effect on emissions intensity (net)</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top">
<td>
<p>Breeding and flock testing for animals with improved genetic merit (gorwth, reproduction)</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Use of pregnancy scanning</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Hogget mating</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Pasture management (growth quality)</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Optimisation of stock numbers&nbsp;to pasture growth</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Increased lambing percentage&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Increased number of offspring per ewe</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Increased&nbsp;finished&nbsp;weight of animal&nbsp;(lamb)</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Increased meat yield per hectare (kg&nbsp;meat/ha)&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Lower</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>*&nbsp;Lower ewe population needed to produce equivalent lamb meat *</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>&nbsp;</p>