Sheep numbers drop to the lowest they have been since 1943.

New Zealand's sheep numbers have plummeted to where there are now only six for each person living here.

Figures released from Statistics New Zealand showed the country had dropped below 30 million sheep for the first time since 1943.

There used to be 22 sheep per person in New Zealand when the number peaked at 70.3 million in 1982 and the population was 3.18 million. Now there's only six sheep for each person.

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Agriculture statistics manager Neil Kelly said the number had fallen to 29.8 million at June 30, 2014, a 3 per cent fall from 2013, or 983,000 fewer sheep.

This coincided with the dairy cow herd increasing 3 per cent over the same period to just under 6.7 million. Most of the increase had come from the South Island with 148,000 more cows and heifers, while numbers were up by 67,000 in the North Island.

The trend falls in line with many sheep and beef farms being converted to dairy operations over the past decade.

The main dairy cattle increases had come from the key dairying regions of Waikato, Canterbury and Southland with increases of 67,000 in the North Island and 148,000 in the South Island.

Sheep numbers fell more in the North Island - down 596,000 - than the south. The North Island had 14.4 million sheep and the south 15.4 million,

Manawatu-Wanganui and Otago have the largest regional flocks of 5.3 million followed by Canterbury (5 million), and Southland (4.3 million). Canterbury, however, had the highest fall, down 255,000 (5 per cent).

China and the United Kingdom remained key destinations for lamb exports with 94,000 tonnes of lamb to China and 60,000 tonnes to the UK.

The South Island dairy herd had been increasing since 2005 and accounted for 40 per cent of the national herd, compared with 27 per cent in 2005

Southland led the cow spike with 85,000 more dairy cattle - up 14 per cent - followed by Waikato and Manawatu-Wanganui.

The total number of beef cattle had declined slightly.

The number of deer also fell below 1 million for the first time, decreasing by 70,000.

Deer numbers were at their peak at 1.8 million in 2004, but had been declining since 2009.

The figures came from the 2014 Agricultural Production Survey, which involved farmers and foresters in New Zealand and was conducted in conjunction with the Ministry for Primary Industries.