The impact of the global financial downturn is currently being experienced by New Zealand’s agricultural industry. For an East Coast sheep and beef station, operating in ‘Whale Rider’ country since the 1930s, the waves of recession have been felt many times before. But on this occasion they have a partner to help ride out the economic storm.
WHANGARA B5 was established during the era of Sir Apirana Ngata’s land consolidation schemes. During this period East Coast farming communities were serviced by nearby coastal shipping ports, providing ready access to markets. With the eventual closure of the ports and local freezing works, these events severely impacted on many of the geographically isolated beef and sheep stations.
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Before we combined we had two lots of everything, tractors, office equipment and farm workers. Now we’ve been able to save on wages and when we send our stock to town we don’t need two lots of trucks.” Ingrid says the partnership has also profited from the benefits of scale.
“When we started Whangara had 16,000 sheep and 9000 cattle. By joining together we presently have 45,000 stock units, with the aim of reaching 60,000 in another few years. We’ve also discovered that it’s better to have more lambs than larger sized lambs. The longer you have them on your property eating more grass, the more they cost.”
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