Matakanui Station owners hope to keep irrigation going in dry conditions

Changes to the farm system of an 8700ha high-country sheep and beef station near Omakau are producing results. Shawn McAvinue finds out how Matakanui Station owners Andrew and Tracy Paterson are improving the productivity of their fine-wool sheep and Hereford cattle and how they hope to keep their irrigation operating when dry conditions begin to bite.

A call for a nude rain dance was made at a field day on a high-country sheep and beef station in Central Otago.

Matakanui Station owner Andrew Paterson made the tongue-in-cheek request to more than 80 people on an airstrip overlooking the station near Omakau last week.

The 8700-ha property rises to 1600m on the Dunstan Mountains.

About 2000ha is flat to rolling land and the rest of the terrain is higher, including 9km of skyline.

Most of the effective land is a mix of long leading spurs, open tussock flats and about 440ha of paddocks under gun and pivot irrigation.

Conditions are dry but Paterson remains hopeful of rain.

“Matakanui is good at bouncing back once we get a rain,” he said.

Water for irrigation is taken from the Manuherikia River.

His take had already been reduced by half this summer, and he expects it to be cut off entirely this week. After the river take is cut off, water in dams outside the station will be available for irrigation.

When the dams become dry, he will cross his fingers and hope for rain.

Rain is needed before his single lamb replacements will be weaned from their mothers on the hills.

“If we take them down now and we run out of feed then we are in a whole lot worse position than if we leave them here.”

Building dams to store water on the farm will future-proof the irrigation system.

A plan is to convince the bank to allow for four dams to be built on the station, including a 500cu m dam in a gully.

“We have got the water available — it is just not available right now.”

When the station was established in 1859, it covered more than 32,000ha.

When his grandfather Jim Paterson bought the station for £100,000 in 1958, “only the small, rocky corner” of the original station remained.

After buying the station, his grandfather reduced staff numbers from 20 to three.

“He made it into a big run and made money out of it.”

Andrew and his wife Tracy took over the farm in 2014.

More than 21,000 fine-wool Polwarth sheep were wintered last year.

Cattle play an important role: “The cattle allows us to run as many sheep as we do.”

The cattle graze the dark sides of the station, unlike the sheep: “Sheep will sit on a sunny face and go for the nice, easy stuff,” he said.

All breeding cattle on the station are straight Hereford: “I’ve always had a passion for Herefords.”

All mixed-age cows go to a Hereford bull, and the heifers to an Angus bull.

About 200 of the heifers in-calf to the Angus bull are sold to the same farmer each year and the remaining heifers are kept on to fatten.

The aim is to have about 400 cows and about 100 heifers in calf each year.

Any cattle with bad temperaments are culled, but that is rare.

“They are very quiet-natured; you could almost ride them around in the yards.”

Despite a session at the Beef + Lamb New Zealand field day being on the economic benefits of mixing cattle breeds, the appeal of breeding straight Hereford remains for him.

“I find it hard to go away from a nicely marked, good-looking, well-put-together Hereford.”