Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

A tough winter ahead for meat processing plants as livestock numbers continue to decline.   Latest figures from Stats NZ show a 21% drop in sheep numbers over the past 10 years – a total decline of 6.2 million sheep since 2014.   The number of dairy cattle also fell 13% over the same period.   Federated Farmers Meat and Wool Chair Toby Williams told Ryan Bridge keeping livestock processing plants open, profitable, and running efficiently is a significant challenge.   He says big plants are struggling to get numbers of livestock through, with close to million less lambs to process this year than last.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.