Oh dear. I think this article in the Guardian from yesterday (their time) is going to haunt New Zealanders living overseas.
New Zealanders have long endured jokes about the extent to which they are outnumbered by sheep. But now Kiwis can expect more variety in the gags, with the country’s national statistical office announcing that the population has also been overtaken by that of dairy cattle. Statistics New Zealand’s agricultural production survey, released today, reported that the cows’ numbers soared to 5.8 million in 2009. New Zealand has a human population of 4.3 million.
I think every New Zealander travelling overseas has experienced sheep “humour”, this adds to the arsenal. My favourite quote in the article is
“In 2009, New Zealand had fewer than eight sheep per person,” explained agriculture statistics manager Gary Dunnet.
Only eight sheep each. I can hear the jokes now.
The level of goats is WELL below NZ’s population – when will this government ACT?!
The jokes have already started: the Metro newspaper in the UK carried the story under the headline “New Zealanders overwhelmed by cow explosion as sheep plummet”
Someone locally (I cannot find it again) suggested the headline was a perfect scenario for Peter Jackson’s next blockbuster.
A bus load of politicians were driving down a metal road one afternoon, when they came around a blind corner and crashed into a herd of cows being walked to the dairy shed. It was a serious and tragic accident.
Seeing what happened, the farmer loaded all the politicians up on his tractor and disposed of them in the effluent pond.
A few days later, the local constabulary came out, saw the crashed bus, and asked the farmer, “Were they all dead?”
The farmer replied, “Well, some of them said they weren’t, but you know how those politicians lie.”
No truth in the rumour that a proposed new national anthem is “My Sweet Embraceable Ewe”
The recession is still with us – I noticed the price of lamb has soared here in NZ. It’s up to $15 an hour now…
This won’t help:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/3320941/Drunken-shoot-up-spills-milk