Celebrations are taking place today to mark 140 years since the first shipment of frozen New Zealand lamb landed in the UK.

The idea of William Davidson the British-based general manager of the New Zealand and Australian Land Company - the first shipment saw 5000 lamb carcasses from Totara Estate near Oamaru sent by rail to Port Chalmers before being loaded onto The Dunedin.

The old passenger ship had been fitted out with a coal-powered Bell Coleman freezing plant.

File photo: Lamb carcasses in an abattoir's refrigerator Photo: 123RF

It set sail for London on 15 February and after weeks at sea only one carcass was condemned when the ship arrived at London on 24 May 1882.

Beef and Lamb chairperson and Southland sheep farmer Andrew Morrison said the shipment was an important milestone in New Zealand's history and paved the way for what is now a billion-dollar industry.

"The sheep and beef sector is an integral part of New Zealand's history and it's actually an integral part of New Zealand's future too, because the sustainable land use choices that our early settlers made are still being used by farmers today.

"The red meat sector is New Zealand's second largest exporter behind dairy and it's a really integral part of the regional economy and it employs a lot of people so we are really proud of how the industry has progressed to where it is now.

Morrison, who is a fifth generation sheep farmer, said farmers should be proud of the history and should take a moment to mark the occasion today.

"One of the great experiences I got in life was to work with Tim Ritchie who passed this year - he was the chief executive of the Meat Industry Association, he had a letter from his grandfather who was studying in London when the first shipment arrived.

"He went down and got a carcass and he described the condition of it - he said you wouldn't have believed it had travelled so far, the quality was amazing."

Current Meat Industry Association chief executive Sirma Karapeeva said the sector had come a long way since that first shipment.

"Once exports really took off we were exporting about two million sheep carcasses a year, today full carcasses only make up about four percent of total exports - the majority of the product we export is the value added bone in or boneless cuts which are either chilled or frozen.

"In 2021 New Zealand exported just over 400,000 tonnes of sheep meat with an export value of $3.86 billion."

We export to over 110 countries around the world and we are well known and respected as being producers of high quality grass feed safe sheep meat, Karapeeva said.

She believed the industry wouldn't grow much larger in terms of volume of meat exported but would continue to grow in value due to higher demand for high quality meat cuts.

To mark the 140th anniversary of the first shipment dinners are being held at Oamaru's Loan and Mercantile Building and at Butchers' Hall in London tonight.

Republished by Arrangement