Stevenson Agriculture has substantial agricultural holdings from the middle of the North Island to the Auckland region. Our core property, the iconic Lochinver Station, is approximately 14,000 ha. It is situated in the picturesque Rangitaiki Plains, 30 kilometres south-east of Taupo, on the Napier-Taupo thermal highway in the North Island of New Zealand. The station runs 25,000 Perendale breeding ewes and 1000 Angus breeding cows, along with other finishing operations.
The two other farms that make up Stevenson Agriculture are at Huntly and at Drury in South Auckland, flanking Stevenson’s Drury quarry. These two combined farms will function in the future as finishing farms for livestock bred at Lochinver Station.
To take advantage of the different growing seasons that these locations provide, several thousand lambs, along with a large number of local trade cattle, will be sent up to these farms from Lochinver Station in mid to late autumn. They will be finished over the winter for the spring supply of quality lamb and beef to the Auckland markets.
Technology-led farming Lochinver Station is currently at an exciting stage of transition with a large-scale development programme underway. We have made significant gains in our nutrition programme and our livestock business by employing a farm technician and adopting a scientific approach. Having a farm technician on board has assisted us to maximise the potential of our land and to more accurately plan and predict activities on the farm.
Increasing our use of modern technology has also allowed us to achieve considerable benefits:
Greater efficiency and accuracy in our animal health operations due to the introduction of a modern sheep-handling conveyor and six-way auto drafters for stock handling.
Improvement in our data collection capability has assisted us with feed budgeting and ultimately improved our animal live weight gains.
Nutrition programme implementation
An agronomist works closely with our farm technician who oversees the current nutrition programme. The development programme has enabled us to plan the station’s activities to the year 2015. Each year 1000 ha of the property will undergo a double cropping programme, which is being implemented by our agricultural operations manager and his team using modern technology and innovative cultivation equipment.
Lochinver facts and figures (as at June 2005)
Area
- Total area: 14,000 ha (Effective area 9,360ha)
- Grass: 9,500ha
- Forestry: 290ha
Soils
Yellow brown pumice and yellow brown and podsolised yellow brown ash the natural fertility is low to medium but the response to fertiliser is high soils are cobalt and selenium deficient and marginal for copper.
Climate
Average rainfall 1,650mm with frequent summer showers. Heavy snowfalls of short duration are experienced particularly at higher altitude, three to four times each winter. Frosts are heavy and frequent March to late October.
Altitude
Ranges from 670mm to 900mm above sea level
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