12 | RURAL PEOPLE » Arohiwi Station Farm helps fund support services Lamb shearing at Arohiwi Station. Two-year-old old bulls purchased from Storth Oaks Angus (top right). 18-month steers. Richard Loader An hour west of Napier in the farming district of Puketitiri lies Arohiwi Station, which is owned by Arohiwi Station Ltd with Presbyterian Support East Coast (PSEC) the sole shareholder. Surplus proceeds from the Station’s operation go to PSEC to help fund support services for East Coast’s disabled people, older people, children and families. A beef and sheep breeding and finishing operation, Arohiwi Station encompasses 1478.37 hectares of predominantly rolling country, with some flats and a small percentage of steeper country rising to 765 metres above sea level. The station also includes 133.11 hectares of plantation pines of various ages, planted on land that is otherwise non-productive, and there are 161.37 hectares of beautiful native bush over several blocks. Some wetland areas are also in the process of being fenced. Robbie Schaw has been Arohiwi Station’s Manager for just over three years, but has farmed in the Puketitiri district for twelve years. Growing up on a farm in the Central Hawke’s Bay, Robbie says as a kid he loved farm life. “It’s something that you either love or don’t love. It’s a life that I really enjoy, and I love being in rural communities. I couldn’t think of anywhere better for Monique and I to raise our two young children George and Sophia.” Robbie acknowledges that there can be times, like Cyclone Gabrielle, when nature delivers setbacks in its wake but says farming is a job in which you can be continuously growing and improving. Arohiwi Station’s livestock includes 6500 romney ewes, with 90% of lambs finished. “We also have about 2000 hoggets, which this year were not put to the ram because of the cyclone. We calve 400 Angus cows including 100 two-year heifers. We have 180 heifer yearlings, of which 120 will be put to the bull and the rest sold. We normally finish 180 steers at around 300kgs, but because of the dry conditions this year we will sell all surplus stock including the steers.” “We had twenty-six culverts and six bridges that needed some sort of attention. There was a lot of fencing damage, much of which was in gullies. Initially I didn’t think we had lost many stock, but once we started to do a tally it was much more than I had originally estimated.” Servicing the Puketapu, Patoka & Puketitiri area for baling, cultivation, drilling, maize / beet planting & earthmoving requirements CONTRACTING Arohiwi Station In the ten years that Robbie has farmed in Puketitiri he has never seen conditions so dry for this time of year and is nervous about what lies ahead over the next six months. “I have never seen us this dry through the September period and it’s not till October that we start to really move pasture wise. “We’re still green, just not growing a lot or grass, and we need some rain. I think we’re better to make early decisions and in the long run we will be better off having sold that surplus stock, rather than wait and run out of feed.” While still working through farm repairs following the damage caused by Cyclone Gabrielle, Robbie says Arohiwi Station was not as badly impacted as many farmers in the region. “We had twenty-six culverts and six bridges that needed some sort of attention. There was a lot of fencing damage, much of which was in gullies. Initially I didn’t think we had lost many stock, but once we started to do a tally it was much more than I had originally estimated.”
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