| 25 Long way in 11 years Quite the occasion Richard Loader Randall Johnston RURAL PEOPLE » AD Agriculture / Te Paiaka Lands and Black Stag Station When Alistair Dinniss took over farm management of Te Paiaka Lands Trust’s 500-hectare (effective) sheep and beef property just on the edge of Rotorua city eleven years ago 25% of it was carpeted in gorse and had very low fertility. A multi-pronged approach was implemented to manage the problem including helicopter spraying, root rakes and cultivation and capital fertiliser. “A combination of all of those things have got us to where we are now and I wouldn’t think we have even 1% of the farm under gorse now,” says Alistair. “There’s still some helicopter work to hit some of the thicker regeneration of gorse, with most of it controlled by handgun and hose. That has been very satisfying for me, as well as the Trust.” Te Paiaka Lands Trust, is a Maori trust comprised of multiple whanau. In total the farm encompasses 876 hectares, with 80 hectares of plantation pine in its second rotation, and 296 hectares of natural native bush with species that includes totara, rimu, matai tawa and rewarewa. The farm is also home to the remnants of many pa sites, distinguishable by the diggings and where fortifications once proudly stood. Alistair has spearheaded a significant amount of development work that has included gorse control, fertilising and fencing, much of which is now completed, with just the fine tuning to complete. “Each year we do 15 – 20 hectares of pasture renewal, putting it into crop and then back into new pasture to increase the production we can get per hectare. At the same time, they get capital fertiliser Kotemaori-based farmer Roger Young says honours don’t come much greater than his family receiving the Century Farms Award, in recognition of all the hard work that has gone into the land over the last 100 years. Located in the Wairoa District of the Hawke’s Bay region, Roger and his partner, Michelle Tomlinson are currently farming sheep and cattle and dealing with the damaging results of Cyclone Gabrielle. On 400ha of rolling hills, fattening 500 heifers and 2,500 lambs, and planting 20ha of winter crop in the form of kale – there’s always something happening on farm. “We usually buy in (lambs) at about 32-34 kilograms, shearing in August-September and they are generally all gone by the end of November,” Roger explains. On the beef side, Michelle says they buy in rising 2-year-old heifers in March-April and carry them through until about May. The property is fairly summer safe, although they had a very dry autumn. Their water is gravity-fed out of a spring and the rest out of a creek and up to a tank. The do everything themselves, with the exception of contractors used to assist with cropping and Michelle’s boys help out when they are back on holidays from Lincoln University in Canterbury. Both Josh, 21, and Case, 19, are studying towards agricultural degrees and have a keen interest in farming. Roger says the Century Farm Awards were really well organised and it’s something that the family will always remember. “We had a great weekend down there in Lawrence; it’s something that we will never forget and we met a few other lovely families from the North Island and all around New Zealand,” Roger says. “I took my sister Yvonne, her partner Mark and my son Stewart, 31 (check spelling here).” Roger actually works for his son, who owns a transport business, when he’s not flat out on the farm – he can be found operating a logging truck. Michelle also works off-farm three days a week as Assistant Clinical Nurse Manager in the Intensive Care Unit at Hastings Hospital. Hit hard by the cyclone, the damage to fencing was a major blow, but they are aware that it could have been a lot worse too. “We’ve had to put in a lot of new tracks and we still have lot of fencing to do,” Roger says. “There’s a gorge at the back that slipped and took our fences out. About 5 kilometers of fencing was knocked out in the cyclone. application to raise the soil’s fertility. In the early days the farm was extremely hungry and you can’t feed stock to a good level if you can’t grow grass. Our target has been to lift fertility levels back up to Olsen P levels of around 20, to optimise production off the property.” Alistair’s passion for farming is driven by the work his parents and grandparents put into clearing scrub and creating something for the family. “I want to continue that legacy on - albeit not our own property. I farm this land as though it is my own farm and I put my time and energy into the land because when you see the results it is extremely satisfying for everyone.” Te Paiaka has a diverse stock policy, grazing 740 dairy heifers from May to May each year for clients, some of whom Alistair has had ever since arriving on the farm. “We do an Angus finishing programme here, and I source between 220 – 240 weaner steers each year. We target a 300kg carcass weight, and they are heading out the gate through their second winter. We have just under 1000 Romney breeding ewes put to a Poll Dorset ram with all progeny finished. The stock diversification has kept us at a profitable state and our income streams steady and even, despite the sheep downturn.” The Trust is part of Awhina Group, a collective of Maori agribusinesses that markets stock, with all stock processed through Alliance Group. Alistair says having good systems in place and not making radical changes to farm policies has held the farming business in good stead, proving resilient to market and weather fluctuations, even in times of increasing input costs. We got a $5,000 grant from Farmlands for posts and fencing materials, but it’s going to take a long time and cost a lot to do it all. We are going to try and do it all ourselves gradually rather than using contractors.” George Young (Harry) arrived in Napier with his family from Bendigo, Australia in 1872. Eight-year-old Harry travelled with his parents and siblings by bullock wagon to Ashley Clinton in Central Hawkes Bay, where they settled for the next 17 years. Harry learnt how to fell bush which led him to a bush felling job at Arapawanui Station on the East Coast in 1894. This work then led to him being employed by the famous Guthrie Smith who owned Tutira Station. Four years later Harry was appointed manager of the station, a position he held for 30 years. Harry married Ada Powell in 1896 in Hastings and lived in a cottage on Tutira Station. Harry was lucky enough to purchase a block of land in Tutira in 1912. Between working on the station and clearing and breaking his own land, he also managed to build a home in 1920 for his growing family. Shortly after achieving this, he purchased some additional land and the two holdings became Black Stag. Harry transformed the property from a wilderness of bush and fern into the splendid well developed, well grassed holding that it is today. Harry and Ada had three daughters and four sons. In 1940 Harry purchased another holding which was named Round Hill and his first born son, George Henry would take on the role of running this farm. In 1958 Harry passed away in residence at Black Stag Station, aged 96 and his sons then took on the job of running the property. In his will, he divided the adjoining land to Black Stag and this was run by his second eldest son, John. Black Stag produced sheep, cattle, potatoes, oats and swedes which were all sold to the local community of Tutira. John remained on Black Stag until he died in 1979, aged 79. John had never married or had children. In his will, he left Black Stag to his nephew, Robert. Robert and his wife, Maureen Wall had two children - Yvonne and Roger. Robert and Maureen went on to farm Black Stag until Robert’s death in 2018. Maureen still currently resides at the station and Roger and his partner, Michelle Tomlinson have now taken over the property. Black Stag has a monument on a hill overlooking the land that has been farmed by five generations. The ashes of all the male bloodline are within this monument and represent the love, family, commitment and blood, sweat and tears of the years gone by. Brosnahan Agricultural Spraying Ltd Gene Brosnahan Cell: 027-410 1035 Email:bas@brosnahanagri.co.nz
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