Matapiro Station Then and Now
Matapiro Station is one of a handful of large sheep properties left in the country. Its current area is 1900ha, but originally it was a huge block of 9000ha leased from Maori owners in the 1850s.
The property was taken over by Walter Shrimpton in 1868, broken in and farmed by him. He sold various parts of the block and others were exchanged for services rendered.
He died in 1936, and until 2004 trustees of his Estate, on behalf of his descendants, managed the Station.
The trustees were conscious of its historical value, and ensured that the property and particularly the homestead and grounds were kept in good condition as a showpiece for Hawkes Bay.
Walter Shrimpton established a policy of running Romney ewes and Aberdeen Angus cattle, which is still largely successful. He also introduced deer and hares, moves which were not such good ideas. In fact, the deer became a major problem, along with pigs, rabbits and droughts. The alluvial loess soil is also prone to wind erosion.
Being in the shadow of the ranges, Matapiro has rainfall of around 750mm, and summers can be very dry. Locals reckon on droughts two years in seven, and there have been some very severe ones that have forced the sale of capital stock or their transportation to other regions for grazing. Fresh water was often in short supply in dry years but in 1983 a very large dam was constructed on high ground and many km of pipes put in so that water could be gravity fed from it.
The strength of the property is its ability to winter stock. Winters are relatively mild with a short no-growth period.
Consequently the management strategy has been to reduce the numbers of breeding stock so that fewer are carried over summer. Instead, store lambs and cattle are purchased in autumn, finished over winter and early spring, and sold by the time the new seasons lambs and calves start to make inroads into the feed supply.
Although the Station is only about 25km west of Hastings, in times gone by it was relatively isolated. It ran a team of Clydesdale horses, had a blacksmith, many shepherds, cooks and general farm hands, and at one time even had its own accountant. All lived on the property, which had its own school, chapel, storehouse, and so on.
Even as recently as 23 years ago, when Kerry Cook started as a mechanic, there were still about ten employees and some had families. Community life revolved around the local school and church, and the Station felt like home.
All my kids were brought up on Station, and it was a great place for the kids. It has also been a great place to work, and we got to the stage where we almost treated it as our own, says Kerry.
We didnt often see the trustees and so the place was largely run by the people on the Station. It was like we were entrusted with keeping the place up to scratch, and so that was what we did.
Back in the 80s everyone used horses for stock work, and cropping was done with two D4 crawlers whereas today it is all four wheelers, says Kerry.
We also had an old David Brown, an International and one motorbike, whereas now we've got four ATVs, two bikes, and one large tractor and two smaller ones, he says.
We have also gone into silage in a big way. We used to make silage ourselves, but now it's all done by contractors.
Today there are just five employees, and Kerrys role has expanded to encompass tractor work, maintenance of the water supply system as well as general farm work. With modern transport and good roads the Station is just half an hour from town, and the lives of employees and their families have changed.
The district has also changed dramatically.
Years ago we could put a mob of sheep on the road and never see anybody else or have a problem with traffic, says Kerry.
Today we are virtually surrounded by grapes, there is a dairy farm up the road, olives, many lifestyle blocks, and commuter traffic is a big hassle now.
Is a large sheep station still relevant in this day and age? Would it be better broken up into smaller units to grow more intensive crops? Kerry doesnt think so.
It is probably farmed more intensively than a lot of the lifestyle blocks, and most of the land doesn't lend itself to grapes or olives, he says.
Overall its present use is the best, and the few flat areas that could grow grapes are where we grow silage, hay and other crops. I wouldnt like to see it disappear.
The present manager, Michael Lowther, has been on the property for three years and has worked in the district for much longer, so knows how to farm to its strengths.
Currently the Station runs 6000 breeding ewes that lamb in early August. He aims to get 60% of lambs away off the mothers early in November, and as many as possible finished after that before the summer dry.
The soil is free draining and winters are relatively mild, so he buys in around 12,000 male store lambs and aims to finish them between August and October. As they leave, feed is freed up for the new seasons lambs.
Michael is currently making changes to the age and breed composition of the flock to increase lambing percentage.
Instead of buying in five-year-old ewes we are buying in two-tooths. In the past all the ewes have been Romneys, but in January 2005 we bought 2000 two-tooths, 700 of them being Highlander sheep, says Michael.
When ran them all together and put Primera terminal sires over them. The Highlanders scanned up to 30% higher than the Romneys, and a larger proportion of Primera progeny were killed off the mothers and at higher weights.
This year he bought an additional 2000 Highlander two-tooths, and 45 Primera sires.
Recently the beef herd has been reduced to 500 Angus cows. The policy is to finish all progeny on the property, and also to buy in around 1100 rising two-year-old heifers and steers in autumn, mainly Angus or Angus cross, to finish and sell for slaughter over the summer. Most of their cattle go to the local trade, and Michael is running a composite bull over his heifers to see if that will improve growth rates.
The property had many 40 hectare paddocks, so in order to manage pastures we reduced paddock size to 10ha and put in lanes. In the past year we have put in 30km of five-wire electric fencing, says Michael.
It makes the place easier to operate and its amazing to see how much grass we can grow. We shut pastures up in the autumn and lightly graze them with lambs. We feed the cows of silage before calving and as they calve they are put onto the autumn saved pasture.
This year Matapiro made about 350 tonnes of grass silage, 250 tonnes of maize silage and 300 large round bales of hay. As part of a regrassing programme they also grew Pasja for lamb finishing, about 20ha of kale for break-feeding to weaners during the winter, 18ha of an annual ryegrass on which lambs will be grazed and then silage cut; and 40ha of Supreme, a three-year grass.
Around 50ha was put back into permanent pasture this autumn. We are trying out a couple of new grasses Bronson and Extreme, says Michael.
Growing maize gives us flexibility in spring grazing, so that if we have more stock on in early spring and need the grass to feed them we can grow more maize for silage.
There are now only six people employed on the station, including Michael, Kerry, two shepherds, a fencer/general hand, and a part-time gardener.
We have good experienced staff, which makes things a lot easier, and they get on well together, he says.
Everyone lives on the property, and it is not far to town. Sometimes I think we are too close to civilisation.
The property was taken over by Walter Shrimpton in 1868, broken in and farmed by him. He sold various parts of the block and others were exchanged for services rendered.
He died in 1936, and until 2004 trustees of his Estate, on behalf of his descendants, managed the Station.
The trustees were conscious of its historical value, and ensured that the property and particularly the homestead and grounds were kept in good condition as a showpiece for Hawkes Bay.
Walter Shrimpton established a policy of running Romney ewes and Aberdeen Angus cattle, which is still largely successful. He also introduced deer and hares, moves which were not such good ideas. In fact, the deer became a major problem, along with pigs, rabbits and droughts. The alluvial loess soil is also prone to wind erosion.
Being in the shadow of the ranges, Matapiro has rainfall of around 750mm, and summers can be very dry. Locals reckon on droughts two years in seven, and there have been some very severe ones that have forced the sale of capital stock or their transportation to other regions for grazing. Fresh water was often in short supply in dry years but in 1983 a very large dam was constructed on high ground and many km of pipes put in so that water could be gravity fed from it.
The strength of the property is its ability to winter stock. Winters are relatively mild with a short no-growth period.
Consequently the management strategy has been to reduce the numbers of breeding stock so that fewer are carried over summer. Instead, store lambs and cattle are purchased in autumn, finished over winter and early spring, and sold by the time the new seasons lambs and calves start to make inroads into the feed supply.
Although the Station is only about 25km west of Hastings, in times gone by it was relatively isolated. It ran a team of Clydesdale horses, had a blacksmith, many shepherds, cooks and general farm hands, and at one time even had its own accountant. All lived on the property, which had its own school, chapel, storehouse, and so on.
Even as recently as 23 years ago, when Kerry Cook started as a mechanic, there were still about ten employees and some had families. Community life revolved around the local school and church, and the Station felt like home.
All my kids were brought up on Station, and it was a great place for the kids. It has also been a great place to work, and we got to the stage where we almost treated it as our own, says Kerry.
We didnt often see the trustees and so the place was largely run by the people on the Station. It was like we were entrusted with keeping the place up to scratch, and so that was what we did.
Back in the 80s everyone used horses for stock work, and cropping was done with two D4 crawlers whereas today it is all four wheelers, says Kerry.
We also had an old David Brown, an International and one motorbike, whereas now we've got four ATVs, two bikes, and one large tractor and two smaller ones, he says.
We have also gone into silage in a big way. We used to make silage ourselves, but now it's all done by contractors.
Today there are just five employees, and Kerrys role has expanded to encompass tractor work, maintenance of the water supply system as well as general farm work. With modern transport and good roads the Station is just half an hour from town, and the lives of employees and their families have changed.
The district has also changed dramatically.
Years ago we could put a mob of sheep on the road and never see anybody else or have a problem with traffic, says Kerry.
Today we are virtually surrounded by grapes, there is a dairy farm up the road, olives, many lifestyle blocks, and commuter traffic is a big hassle now.
Is a large sheep station still relevant in this day and age? Would it be better broken up into smaller units to grow more intensive crops? Kerry doesnt think so.
It is probably farmed more intensively than a lot of the lifestyle blocks, and most of the land doesn't lend itself to grapes or olives, he says.
Overall its present use is the best, and the few flat areas that could grow grapes are where we grow silage, hay and other crops. I wouldnt like to see it disappear.
The present manager, Michael Lowther, has been on the property for three years and has worked in the district for much longer, so knows how to farm to its strengths.
Currently the Station runs 6000 breeding ewes that lamb in early August. He aims to get 60% of lambs away off the mothers early in November, and as many as possible finished after that before the summer dry.
The soil is free draining and winters are relatively mild, so he buys in around 12,000 male store lambs and aims to finish them between August and October. As they leave, feed is freed up for the new seasons lambs.
Michael is currently making changes to the age and breed composition of the flock to increase lambing percentage.
Instead of buying in five-year-old ewes we are buying in two-tooths. In the past all the ewes have been Romneys, but in January 2005 we bought 2000 two-tooths, 700 of them being Highlander sheep, says Michael.
When ran them all together and put Primera terminal sires over them. The Highlanders scanned up to 30% higher than the Romneys, and a larger proportion of Primera progeny were killed off the mothers and at higher weights.
This year he bought an additional 2000 Highlander two-tooths, and 45 Primera sires.
Recently the beef herd has been reduced to 500 Angus cows. The policy is to finish all progeny on the property, and also to buy in around 1100 rising two-year-old heifers and steers in autumn, mainly Angus or Angus cross, to finish and sell for slaughter over the summer. Most of their cattle go to the local trade, and Michael is running a composite bull over his heifers to see if that will improve growth rates.
The property had many 40 hectare paddocks, so in order to manage pastures we reduced paddock size to 10ha and put in lanes. In the past year we have put in 30km of five-wire electric fencing, says Michael.
It makes the place easier to operate and its amazing to see how much grass we can grow. We shut pastures up in the autumn and lightly graze them with lambs. We feed the cows of silage before calving and as they calve they are put onto the autumn saved pasture.
This year Matapiro made about 350 tonnes of grass silage, 250 tonnes of maize silage and 300 large round bales of hay. As part of a regrassing programme they also grew Pasja for lamb finishing, about 20ha of kale for break-feeding to weaners during the winter, 18ha of an annual ryegrass on which lambs will be grazed and then silage cut; and 40ha of Supreme, a three-year grass.
Around 50ha was put back into permanent pasture this autumn. We are trying out a couple of new grasses Bronson and Extreme, says Michael.
Growing maize gives us flexibility in spring grazing, so that if we have more stock on in early spring and need the grass to feed them we can grow more maize for silage.
There are now only six people employed on the station, including Michael, Kerry, two shepherds, a fencer/general hand, and a part-time gardener.
We have good experienced staff, which makes things a lot easier, and they get on well together, he says.
Everyone lives on the property, and it is not far to town. Sometimes I think we are too close to civilisation.