Keeping cattle in New Zealand

Why keep cattle

Lifestyle-block owners keep cattle to manage grass, raise a steer or two for the freezer, rear calves to sell, or milk a house cow. Artificially reared dairy-beef calves supply about 65% of New Zealand’s beef.

Small breeds are popular on blocks. Dexter cows stand about a metre tall, weigh 300–350 kg, and need less in the way of fences and yards. Lowlines are about 30% smaller than Angus and known for being docile. Highlands do well on rough grazing but have horns. A Jersey house cow gives about 13–15 litres of milk a day and a Dexter 8–10, for 8–9 months after each calving.

Space, water, and handling

Cattle are herd animals and can become panicked or depressed on their own, so keep at least two. Stocking rates vary a lot with region, pasture, and season. Northland Regional Council’s very rough guide is 2–5 adult cattle per hectare on good flat country and 1–3 on rough country, and it warns that many lifestyle blocks are overstocked. Drier regions such as Canterbury carry fewer.

Mature cattle eat about 2% of their bodyweight in dry matter a day and young stock about 3%, so a 200 kg steer needs about 4 kg. An adult drinks about 45 litres of water a day, a milking cow 70–150 litres, and intake rises sharply in hot, humid weather. The law requires enough clean water, shelter from cold, and a way to escape heat.

Electric fences are the usual way to break-feed. You also need somewhere safe to handle cattle: at least a holding pen and a race or crush for vet work and loading. Handle bulls with care. WorkSafe advises never moving a difficult bull on foot or alone, never getting into the race with large cattle, and never standing between a cow and her calf without a barrier. Hand-reared animals and bulls can be less fearful of people and more aggressive.

Names for cattle

New Zealand farmers describe cattle by age as much as by sex, so the R terms are worth knowing when buying or selling.

Cow

A female that has had a calf.

Heifer

A young female, usually one that has not had a calf yet.

Bull

An uncastrated male.

Steer

A castrated male, usually raised for beef.

Bullock

An older steer.

Calf

A young animal still on milk.

Bobby calf

A surplus dairy calf, usually male, sent for slaughter within days of birth.

Weaner

A calf around weaning age. Beef calves are weaned at about 5–8 months.

Yearling

An animal between one and two years old.

R1, R2, R3

Rising one-, two-, or three-year-old. An R2 heifer is in her second year.

Springer

A cow or heifer close to calving, usually within about two weeks.

In calf and empty

Pregnant, and not pregnant.

Dry cow and drying off

A cow not being milked, and stopping milking before she calves again.

Carryover cow

An empty cow dried off and kept to be mated the next season.

Freemartin

A heifer born twin to a bull calf. She is usually infertile.

House cow and nurse cow

A cow milked for the household, and a cow rearing calves that aren’t her own.

MA cow

Mixed-age cow: one that has calved at least once, typically 2–10 years old.

Mob or herd

A group of cattle managed together.

Gypsy Day

1 June, when many dairy herds and sharemilkers move farms.

Rearing a calf

• Colostrum first: a 40 kg calf needs about 2 litres of good colostrum as soon as possible and another 2 litres within 12 hours.
• In the first week, feed about 10–12% of the calf’s bodyweight in milk a day (2–4 litres), ideally as two feeds. Only move to once-a-day feeding after at least a week of twice a day.
• Offer meal, hay, and water from early on. Wean once the calf eats at least 1 kg of solid feed a day for three days in a row, usually at 8–12 weeks and 70–90 kg.
• Disbud at 2–6 weeks old, with vet-authorised pain relief. After about 8 weeks the buds fuse to the skull, and removal becomes dehorning.
• Vaccinate with 5-in-1 at 4–8 weeks and again at 8–12 weeks, and ask your vet about leptospirosis.
• Tag and register the calf in NAIT within 180 days of birth, or before it leaves your property.

Regular jobs

Health problems to watch for

• Bloat, mainly in spring on clover or lucerne. Cattle can bloat within 15 minutes and die within two hours. Don’t let hungry cattle gorge on rich pasture; anti-bloat capsules or bloat oil help.
• Facial eczema, usually January to May in warm, humid weather. Affected cattle seek shade, and pale skin turns red, thick, and peeling. For every visible case there may be ten hidden ones.
• Milk fever in house cows, usually within a day of calving: a dull cow lying down and unable to stand. Call a vet urgently.
• Grass staggers, from low magnesium in cold, wet weather in winter and spring: nervousness, a stiff walk, and staggering.
• Scours in calves: sunken eyes, and skin that stays tented for more than 3–4 seconds when pinched. Give electrolytes and keep feeding milk; a calf that can’t stand needs a vet.
• Lameness and pinkeye.
• Mycoplasma bovis: New Zealand’s eradication programme is in its final phase. Recording every movement in NAIT is how the disease is traced.

What cattle cost to keep

NAIT tags cost about $6–$10 each, bought once per animal. You also buy products by the pack: a 500 mL pour-on drench is about $130 and a 12-pack of zinc capsules about $196. Vet visits, yards, and the animals themselves are extra; compact steel cattle yards cost $10,000–$30,000. Home kill for a beef animal costs about $185–$260 to kill, plus about $2–$2.90 a kilogram to cut and pack.

What it costs to rear a calf

Add the calf itself, NAIT tags, vaccines, disbudding, and any vet care.

New Zealand rules

• NAIT: register as a person in charge of animals (PICA) within 48 hours of getting cattle, and register your property as a NAIT location. Tag every animal within 180 days of birth or before it leaves, register the tag within 7 days, and record every movement within 48 hours. The rules cover pet cattle, and deaths and home kills must be recorded too. Most infringement fees are $400, and failing to register as a PICA is $800.
• An Animal Status Declaration (ASD) must go with cattle leaving your property.
• Disbudding needs vet-authorised pain relief, and dehorning needs pain relief. Castrating cattle over six months old, or with a high-tension band, also needs pain relief.
• Young calves must be at least four full days old, and fit, before being transported for sale or slaughter. Journeys can’t exceed 12 hours, and a calf must be fed if it isn’t slaughtered within 24 hours of its last feed.
• TB: herds are tested every 1–5 years depending on the area. In Movement Control Areas, cattle need a TB test within 60 days before moving.
• Home kill: an MPI-listed homekill service provider can kill an animal you have cared for daily for at least 28 days. The meat is for your household and can’t be sold. MPI consulted on changes to the homekill rules in 2026, so check before booking.
• The Code of Welfare: Sheep and Beef Cattle sets the minimum standards for food, water, shelter, and handling. A revised Code has been consulted on, so check MPI for the current version.