Financially, last year should have been a bumper one for sheep farmers, but the fact it wasn't illustrates why farmers have little confidence in the industry's future.
Drought in parts of Otago and Canterbury aside, ideal spring conditions contributed to a record lambing at the same time as international markets were short of sheep meat.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry reports a high exchange rate snuffed out price gains, with the price for an average lamb in the 2009-10 year falling $8.43 compared with a year earlier.
This saw an average farm cash surplus of $6900, according to the Maf report, with prospects for this season expected to be similar to last.
Beef and Lamb New Zealand has revised its expected lamb kill for the 2009-10 season from a December forecast of 23.5 million to 21.5 million - a figure meat companies fear could start affecting economies of scale and our ability to service markets.
In addition to the lower lamb kill, the wool clip has fallen from 148,500 tonnes in 2005-06 to 133,700 tonnes in 2009-10 and was estimated to be 128,000 tonnes in 2014.
Earlier this year, KPMG's online commentary Agribusiness Agenda warned export volumes from the $7 billion sector had not grown in recent years, and forecasts for the next four years indicated little change.
All of this flies in the face of what should be a golden period for food producers, in which, we are continually told, a growing global population of affluent people want a Western diet that includes more protein and products that are sustainably and ethically produced and luxurious such as woollen carpets.
The 2009 Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's report Meat: The Future surveyed players in the industry and found 87% thought the culture of the meat industry constrained its progress.
They felt there would only be a small incremental change and a lack thereof was fuelling farmer pessimism.
An example is meat companies continuing to sell 2kg leg roasts to the United Kingdom despite 70% of those cuts being sold at discounted promotion prices and new generations of consumers favouring ready-to-cook consumer packs.
All the while, sheep numbers keep falling.
In 1990-91 there were about 58 million sheep in New Zealand, but by 2010-11 it was forecast to have fallen to 33 million, with 17 million of those in the South Island.
The dairy industry continues to be the benefactor, the herd increasing from about 3.5 million in 1990-91 to 5.7 million this coming season.
Despite that decline the number of meat processors has stayed much the same.
According to a Beef and Lamb New Zealand report, in 1996-97, 18 companies operated 37 plants and would have taken 19.6 weeks to kill nearly 31 million sheep.
By 2005-06, 21 companies operated 39 plants and would have taken 21.2 weeks to kill 29 million sheep.