| 25 Hill Country Farm of the Year named Dan and Jane, Katie and Scott at Manutuke. Kim Bowden A sheep and beef business spanning three East Coast properties and more than 40,000 stock units has won the Federated Farmers Gisborne/Wairoa Hill Country Farm of the Year. Dan and Jane Griffin operate Rakanui Station at Motu, Te Kohanga Station at Otoko, and Puriri at Manutuke. Dan says the award reflects consistent performance at scale, built on good staff, family succession and environmental work. The main block at Motu is the engine room: 2,000 hectares effective - including 300 leased - carrying 21,000 stock units in 2,000 to 2,500 millimetres of rainfall. It is cold in winter but summer-safe, and Dan says it has stood the family in good stead through “Bola and Gabrielle and floods and droughts”. Te Kohanga, 40 kilometres west of Gisborne, covers 1,700 effective hectares running approximately 16,000 stock units, with a metre less rain. It can turn summer-dry but is a key winter trade lamb finishing platform. The third block, where Dan and Jane now live at Manutuke, is 320 hectares carrying 3,000 stock units, 20 minutes from Gisborne. Dan’s philosophy is straightforward: “We’re not too technical - it’s about keeping it simple and doing the basics properly.” Each property has its own manager, while Dan moves between them, doing stock work and staying in touch. Nine staff are employed across the business, and the Griffins draw heavily from the Waipaoa Cadet Scheme - now the Moeangiangi Station Cadet Training Trust - and Smedley Station and Cadet Training Farm. “We’ve had really good young staff,” Jane says. “I think they’ve talked to others and said, ‘This is a good place to come to begin your actual farming career’.” Succession is a central part of the story. Dan arrived at Motu 43 years ago, with support from his father in a farming partnership. Now, son James and his wife Abi have stepped up to run Rakanui Station and, in Dan’s words, have “lifted the farm to the next level”. Dan points to improvements in cow herd fertility, sheep flock performance and the handling of trade stock, saying James puts a strong focus on animal health and has learnt to deal with drench resistance, working closely with vet consultant Andrew Dowling. Behind the scenes, Jane has long handled the bookwork and admin but is steadily handing over the accounting and livestock reconciliation to Abi, using tools like Xero and Figured, while continuing to deal with council and other regulatory requirements. The Griffins’ daughter, Katie Hannah, runs the family’s citrus orchard next to their home at Manutuke, while separate pear and apple orchards operate with a share-farming arrangement. Katie and her husband Scott are due to move out to the farm, further embedding both children in the wider business. “It’s pretty special. I’d be terribly sad to have to sell it,” Dan says. Environmental work formed another part of the award assessment. The family plants 600 poplars and willows each year and, at Motu, has also fenced waterways, planted natives, and retired small blocks for natural regeneration. “Rather than just put your head in the sand and hope it’ll Proudly Supporting Rakanui Pastoral go away, you just have to do a bit, so you’re not getting left behind,” Dan says. In collaboration with the Whinray Ecological Charitable Trust, they have also set aside a couple of hectares for a predatorproof kiwi crèche, where locally sourced chicks are raised to release size before going out into a nearby RURAL PEOPLE » Rakanui Pastoral trapped reserve. The Federated Farmers award was celebrated at an April field day that started at Te Kohanga and finished at Rakanui, with close to 250 people turning out. “It was a bit like having a wedding,” Dan says. “You only got time to say hello, really.”
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