Rereahu Whenua

Home » Rereahu Whenua

Tiroa Station

Tiroa Station is now a combination of the previous Tiroa and Waipa farming units with a total effective farmed area of 3,149 hectare. The land class is approximately 50% flat to rolling and 50% hill country. The operation is based around a largely breeding operation which provides progeny into the Wharekiri finishing unit. The farm breeds all stock and no trade stock are purchased.

The farm winters a total of 36,000 stock units. The sheep breed is based around combination of the Tiroa and Waipa flocks and is now around a strong Romney base. Around 50% of the lambs are finished on farm and the balance are traded either internally with Wharekiri for finishing or off farm The cattle breed on Tiroa is a traditional Angus herd and all male progeny are sold either to Wharekiri for finishing or to the store market. Female progeny are retained and grown out with surplus heifers sold primarily as in calf animals.

Significant development continues on Tiroa station to ensure this farm can continue to increase its performance as a breeding farm. As this further increases there will be more of a shift back to finishing any surplus animals that are not traded internally.

Wharekiri Station

Wharekiri Station is a 1,083 effective hectare breeding and finishing unit with is approximately 70% flat to rolling and 30% hill country. There is a greater emphasis on trading stock to spread market risk within the greater Tiroa E Trust. The farm trades a high portion of stock through the year on the basis of high margins / head. The farm winters a total of 11,000 stock units.

The sheep breed is primarily Romney based genetics sourced from the Tiroa station unit and all ewes are to a terminal sire with all progeny sold. In addition to this around 3,000 lambs are transferred from Tiroa Station and traded through the summer and autumn. The cattle policy is based around a diverse mix of bulls, steers of which all are purchased into the farm unit with around 30% of these being from Tiroa Station. The policy is based around high growth rates and high efficiency to generate strong trading margins and maintain flexibility in variable seasons.

The development of the land and asset is aimed at increasing the effective area on farm and improving base pasture production. The later undertaken through an intensive forage cropping programme to improve stock growth rates.

Te Hape Station

Te Hape is a 3,205 hectare effective operation with approximately 70% flat to rolling contour and 30% hill country. The operation is based around a traditional breeding and finishing operation and the farm breeds all stock for finishing with only some cattle traded to create flexibility in the system.

The farm winters a total of 34,000 stock units. The sheep breed is from a composite base with the integration of Perendale and now Romney genetics to increase birth weights and survival rates. Typically around 90% of the lambs are finished on the property. The cattle breed is primarily Angus and all progeny are retained with an equal split between bulls, steers and heifers all finished at a variety of ages to ensure a spread of sales, markets and risk.

Significant development has occurred in recent year that has resulted in improvements in farm productivity and the quality of the asset.

Te Awa Rua Station

The Te Awa Rua farm was purchased on 2019 by the Tiroa Te Hape Limited Partnership (TTHLP) which is a 50:50 arrangement between Tiroa E and Te Hape B Trusts. The partnership was formed as it was the best way of enabling both Trusts to take on the opportunity of investing in additional land on an equal basis for the benefit of both Trusts. The land is directly bounding Tiroa Station and includes further land of significance for Rereahu.

Te Awa Rua farm is a total of 1,041 hectares of which 707ha is considered the effective farmed area. The farm has been well developed by previous owners and has a very good balance of hill country and higher performing flats. The farm operation is carrying around 8,000 stock units of which around 65% are sheep and 35% are cattle. The sheep breeding flock (purchased with the farm) is a higher performing Kelso breed and the target being to finish all lambs bred on farm. The cattle policy is planned around a mix of trade steers and bulls, all purchased in and grown to heavy finishing weights. This is focused on a highly profitable and efficient farming policy.

Of the non-farmed area, there are some 81ha of pine forest that is under a forestry right with the previous owner. Once these trees are harvested, this land and the future for it will return to TTHLP to farm in the most appropriate way, likely more pines to keep the balance in the farming operation.

The infrastructure on the farm is generally of a high standard but like all farms there is a continued focus on improving this further to ensure the operation remains highly profitable and sustainable, ultimately for the benefit of the shareholders of Tiroa E and Te Hape B Trust where any profits flow to.