Last updated: 07 May 2025

Sheep, Beef, Deer and Wool farming Labour Market Dynamics

• The quarterly median earnings for workers in Sheep, Beef Cattle and Grain Farming industries sits below the national average as shown across ‘All industries’.
• The seasonal nature of the Sheep, Beef Cattle and Grain Farming industries which peaks over October to January, is reflected in the higher demand for workers in the December and March quarters (number of filled jobs).  Quarterly worker turnover rates show volatility throughout the year but overall turnover rates have been lower over the last two years indicating a more stable workforce.
• Demand for workers (number of jobs filled), accounting for seasonal variation, has remained stable for the Sheep, Beef Cattle and Grain Farming industries but since 2021 has declined for Deer farming. 

 Industry dataset (economic indicators and labour market dynamics)  

Source: Linked Employer-Employee Data, Stats NZ¹

In these charts, we provide two benchmarks for reference: 'agriculture, forestry and fishing' which covers all industries involved in growing crops, raising animals, growing and harvesting timber, and harvesting fish and other animals from farms or their natural habitats, and a benchmark for 'all industries' which includes every industry group in New Zealand.

Linked Employer-Employee Data (LEED) data is produced by Stats New Zealand quarterly to measure labour market dynamics. There is a lag in data availability of around 14 months due to the time it takes for the data to be completed by employers, to flow through Inland Revenue, and for Stats NZ to undertake relevant transformations and quality checks². Here, we show the most recent data available at the time of publishing.

LEED data is available at the ANZSIC ‘group’ level, which is a broader level of classification than the ANZSIC class codes used for the workforce estimates. The relevant ANZSIC groups here are 014 Sheep, Beef Cattle and Grain Farming³and 018 Deer Farming⁴.

The Sheep, Beef Cattle and Grain Farming group includes 0141 Sheep Farming (Specialised), 0142 Beef Cattle Farming (Specialised), 0143 Beef Cattle Feedlots (Specialised), 0144 Sheep-Beef Cattle Farming, 0145 Grain-Sheep or Grain-Beef Cattle Farming, 0146 Rice Growing, 0149 Other Grain Growing; while the Deer Farming group includes businesses that engage in activities such as deer breeding, deer farming for venison, and deer velvet production.