The hills are alive with the bleating of lambs

Captain James Cook first introduced the domestic sheep (Ovis aries) to New Zealand in the 1770s, and it was about a hundred years later that sheep farming really took off. By the early 1980s, New Zealand’s sheep numbers were up to 70 million, which put the sheep:human ratio at about 23:1. These days, sheep numbers are down considerably, to about 30 million, and the ratio is now 6:1. This time of year, the hills around Motueka come alive with the bleating of lambs, especially as a lot of ewes have twins, or even triplets.