10 | Finding the ‘good zone’ at iconic station Vast, windswept Castlepoint Station covers 3850ha with 12km of coastline. Sue Russell RURAL PEOPLE » Castlepoint Station • to page 11 spending in the second half of the financial year. It means we can plan with surety. Cash flow wise, it works really well.” Castlepoint Station is a remarkable, vast windswept coastal property. Land here is prone to movement with subsidence from bouts of heavy rain and top soil blowing away in high wind areas. Its history is interesting too. Early Maori left their mark on the landscape when they used fire as a way to hunt moa. Thomas Guthrie established the Castlepoint Station in 1848, selling it in 1873 to GM Waterhouse, who three years later sold it to Walter Wood Johnston. Since 1876 through to when the Crofoot’s bought it, the property remained in the Johnston family. When Anders and Emily bought the farm they invested significantly in improving infrastructure, roads, fencing and improving soil quality and pasture. They introduced the use of Dung Beetles, who, essentially carry the manure down into the soil profile, bringing rich nutrients on which to grow pasture. A range of pasture species have also been introduced to assist the soil to retain its structure and form. These are grown using direct drilling methods which reduce the amount of soil movement in the planting process. “We try to do as little disturbance as possible so the soil is more bound and less likely to blow away.” Castlepoint Station is approximately 55 minutes from Masterton township. It’s best described as a long skinny property with 12km of coastline. There’s a private access track right the way through Performance & quality you can trust multi Award winning Since 1924 Jacques Reinhardt manages sprawling coastal Wairarapa property Castlepoint Station, owned by Emily and Anders Crofoot, who purchased it in 1998. In subsequent years the Crofoot’s increased the station’s footprint, buying adjoining property, so today Castlepoint Station measures an impressive 3850ha, and with an effective area of 2700. The primary stock activity at Castlepoint Station is sheep and beef breeding and semi-finishing. “We’re currently mating 9,500 ewes and about 450 cows and approximately 120 yearling heifers. We also finish about 4,000 winter lambs and try to finish our two year old cattle. Being summer dry and winter wet means we have to closely watch stock weight and condition,” Jacques says. Half the steers are sold and half finished at the station and all the terminal lambs are sold. All other lambs are kept through the winter and killed July through September, reaching carcass weights of 21kg. Selling in what Jacques describes as the ‘good zone’ is what brings in the income. With the help of farm consultant Ed Harrison, the breeding programme has been tweaked to get the best bang for your buck. This has made a noticeable difference on return and reducing risk, as Jacques explains. “Lambing percentages and lamb weight are our pillars. When I first came here nearly six years ago the best lambing result was 135%, now we’ve tweaked that up to 147% and we’re getting better lamb weights. This means that we are only spending the money we have earned and can control our
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