Production records make 2024/25 a season to beat
Milksolids production rose last season, largely due to strong milk price incentives, increased imported feed and consistent herd performance across many farms.
Inside Dairy
2 min read
Average milksolids per cow reached a new record of 414kg in the 2024/25 season, up from a five-year average of 400kg. This includes 234kg of milkfat and 181kg of protein. Total cow numbers fell slightly, by 0.5% to 4.68 million, yet farmers still produced more – reflecting ongoing gains in herd efficiency and performance.
And it’s the first time the average milksolids production per herd has surpassed 180,000kg – a notable milestone for the sector, DairyNZ’s head of economics, Mark Storey, explains.
“Amid a year of rising costs, New Zealand dairy farmers demonstrated resilience, maintaining their focus on innovation, investment and sound management,” Mark says.
Milksolids production per hectare also rose, reaching 1,136 kg/ha – 1.4% above the five-year average of 1,121 kg – demonstrating productivity gains at both cow and farm level.
“Seasonal production is often influenced by climate, and we’ve seen that in past drought years such as 2007/08 and 2012/13, when national milk output fell,” Mark says.
“But this season’s lift is more strongly linked to farmer decisions in response to higher milk prices.”
The average dairy co-operative payout (including dividends) rose to $10.75/kg MS, up from $8.90 the previous season. When adjusted for inflation, the 2024/25 payout was $0.90 above the five-year inflation-adjusted average of $9.25/kg MS.
“Incentives like that typically support more supplementary feed use and encourage farmers to maximise production where it makes sense for their system.”
Farmers are still improving production performance, getting more milk from a slightly smaller herd, which is a key efficiency indicator.
Milksolids per cow increased by 3.5% — well above the five-year average growth rate of 1.5%. This lift was supported by herd improvement, better genetics, and improvements in reproduction performance, including stronger six-week in-calf rates reported by many regions. Herd testing also increased, now covering 82.1% of the national herd.
“Farmers are clearly not only focused on increased production, but also on herd performance and excellent milk quality - as the lowest ever somatic cell count was recorded, at 157,000 cells/mL.”
“This is important for animal performance and milk quality, and it’s encouraging to see farmers investing time and resources in it,” Mark says.
“After last year’s dip in herd testing – likely linked to economic pressures – it’s good to see numbers lift again this season.”
Efforts to improve herd productivity are also evident in the rise of artificial insemination and the continued increase in Holstein-Friesian/Jersey crossbred cows, now 61.1% of the herd.
“These trends show that farmers are continually improving production performance, getting more milk from a slightly smaller national herd, which is a key efficiency indicator,” Mark says.
“It’s an impressive result for New Zealand dairy.”
New Zealand Dairy Statistics is jointly published annually by DairyNZ and LIC and is available in both an online interactive and a printable PDF format.
DairyNZ eonomics team
This article was originally published in Inside Dairy February-April 2026.
