Hazelnut

I was looking at these World Health Organisation tables for data for a project at work and became sidetracked

NZ (UK)

Total population (2013) 4,506,000 (63,136,000)
Gross national income per capita (PPP international $, 2012) 30,750 (35)
Life expectancy at birth m/f (years, 2013) 80/84 (79/83)
Probability of dying between 15 and 60 years m/f (per 1 000 population, 2013) 80/52 (88/55)
Total expenditure on health per capita (Intl $, 2013) 3,405 (3,311)
Total expenditure on health as % of GDP (2013) 9.7 ( 9.1)

That first figure alone is enough to keep me trying.

Charismatic

New Zealand produces about 110kg of Cheese and 77kg of Butter per capita on an annual basis.

Hazelnut

Oh my, 110kg of cheese sounds heavenly until I remember the cost of it over there. I love trivia statistics, thanks.

Justcol

More useless info for you

NZ has approximately 64.22 sq km per 1,000 people
UK has approximately 3.96 sq km per 1,000 people

Bo-Jangles

In 2015 NZ had approximately 5 million dairy cows
UK had 1.895 million at June 2015

Justcol

Now that has surprised me, I didnt realise there were so many in the UK

Growing up in a slum, I think I was around 7 or 8 before I saw a real live cow !!

Hazelnut

Wow, that's a lot of methane each I've almost always lived in rural communities and I think the number of cows does surpise people, I think all kids should have the chance to meet the animals they eat. Sadly three of the four farms round me have gone under in the last ten years.
Before the Foot and Mouth nightmare the scary thing in our current hamlet was asking what the sheep/lambs were being tested for and being told it was the for high radiation levels after the fall out from Chernobyl reached the UK! They only got the all clear to stop testing relatively recently.

NZ being nuclear free with no near neighbours does have some benefits.

Charismatic

Can you imagine this taken to its logical conclusion: "Look children, lets meet Pepper the piggy. Isn't she sweet with her grunty little snout and adoring eyes? Bacon will be joining us for breakfast. Sophie I want you to hold Peppers tether while Toby gets the bolt gun ready. Now Sophie there is no point in crying, you where the one that wanted bacon for breakfast. It's basically your fault Pepper is about to be murdered."

Hazelnut

It's an interesting discussion but I grew up in a rural community and I do think that all people should meet representatives of the species they want to eat. My great nephew and neices, all under 10yrs old, have pet rabbits but they've also seen wild rabbits gutted, stripped and turned into stew which they eat with gusto. We place a lot of emphasis on honouring the animal and ensuring it has a good life so that they can have theirs through the nutrition it gives them.

Kotare

Agreed - otherwise kids think food comes from Tesco's (a lot don't realise milk (butter and cheese) come from a cow, bacon from pigs etc. We used to raise two weaner pigs a year (called Bacon and Pork) and they tasted lovely :-) - couldn't kill the kids pet lambs though.

Gordon Barlow

I like to reminisce from time to time about my childhood on a sheep farm on the Darling Downs of Queensland. Dad used to kill a sheep every ten days for the family, and we all (five of us - two adults, three little kids) ate mutton three meals a day, every day. The killing method was more or less the same as halal/kosher, I guess. Dad pulled the sheep's head up from behind and cut its throat. No preliminary stunning. Sounds gruesome, now, but we kids knew it was just part of living in the bush. My 40-year-old son has been a veggie for most of his life; maybe I reminisced once too often in his company! One of his daughters is veggie, too, in loyalty to her father.

My wife and I eat locally grown meat, on our Caribbean island - despising the USDA stuff that we reckon is full of hormones and antibiotics. Am I right in supposing that NZ meat is free of such abominations?

Kotare

Growing up on a NZ sheep farm and working in shearing gangs in my youth - you will recognise mutton chops for breakfast, leg of lamb for lunch and shepherds pie for dinner 7 days a week (and mutton sandwiches when needed). Took me 25 years before I would eat mutton voluntarily. Now I like it but proper mutton not lamb.

BEVS

You would be wrong.

Hazelnut

We buy meat from a local farm a mile down the road where we've met the pigs and know the smallholders. It's the only way to be sure the animal hasn't been pumped full of drugs in order to counter act the downsides of keeping them in conditions they wouldn't normally survive.