The beef and sheep council organisations have been merged into a single entity to be known as Meat and Wool New Zealand Sheep and Beef Councils.
The integration would occur after regional annual meetings later this year.
Southern Sheep Council chairman Errol Holgate said the merger would create a more effective council, remove duplication and have better interaction with Meat and Wool New Zealand.
Both councils have a role assisting and advising on research needs and communicating information and technology to farmers.
Mr Holgate said it would be business as usual until regional sheep and beef councils held annual meetings later this year where new regional chairmen and deputies would be elected, but conditions meant the positions would be held by a former beef council member and a former sheep council member.
At a special meeting last Monday, the former chairman of the New Zealand Sheep Council, Robert Carter from King Country, was elected the new body's chairman and the former chairman of the Gisborne-Wairoa Beef Council, John Wauchop, his deputy.