New Zealand

Map showing New Zealand in the Pacific

      New Zealand is a small self-governing nation in the South Pacific Ocean.   It comprises three main islands – North, South and Stewart – and a number of smaller offshore island groups, some of which are Subantarctic.

      The country was first settled by the Polynesian Maori people around a thousand years ago, but was subsequently colonized by Britain in the mid-nineteenth century.

New Zealand and its outlying island groups

      New Zealand has no native livestock, but a wide range of species and breeds have been imported – most until recent decades were of British origin.   Farming is New Zealand's primary industry, and farm products are exported world-wide.

      Our rare livestock comprises principally older breeds that are now out of favour commercially, plus unique re-domesticated breeds that evolved in New Zealand from animals which became feral in the early farming period, both in mainland New Zealand and in outlying islands.