Landcorp - Crown Ownership Monitoring Unit

Information sharing. Mararoa Farm Manager Tim Smith (right) discusses the afternoon’s work with StockManager Dan Hall. Mararoa Station’s tussock and grass hill country is used for deer breeding. Much of theproperty is spread out beyond, with the foot hills of Mount Prospect Station in the background.INFORMED LAND USEFarming toproduce andprotectPastoral farming and environmental protection cancoexist on the same landscape. Indeed with careful farmplanning and well-informed management, they cansupport each other to thrive. Landcorp is proving thepoint on Mararoa Station, in Southland’s Te Anau Basin.Mararoa is an extensive but intensive sheep,beef and deer operation with 5,440 hectaresof pasture, feed crops, tussock and scrublands, plantation forestry, riparian strips, andretired conservation areas. Land and watermanagement reflect a keen appreciationof the property’s natural attributes as wellas farming imperatives. Farm Manager TimSmith takes both into account in all decisionmaking. “We want to farm with a strongunderstanding of all the variables that areaffecting livestock, feed production, waterquality, ground conditions, slope stability andso on … and not to focus on one thing at theexpense of everything else,” says Tim.Nature has never made farming easy onMararoa. The terrain is a mix of hill country,steep-sided valleys and river flats with threewater catchments, each feeding the MararoaRiver on one boundary of the property. Itsattitude varies from 340-600 metres. Winteris a long 120 days, summer can be hot anddry, and severe storms can sweep in at anytime of year.These challenges aside, Landcorp’sdevelopment over the past 10 years hasturned Mararoa into a very successfuloperation. In 2009, for instance, the lambingrate rose to 148 per cent and calving to 94per cent. Under Tim Smith’s management,deer breeding and finishing has becomeanother of the station’s strengths. The deerunit is 1,900 hectares and winters 4,300hinds and 2,500 weaners. A further 400hectares will be converted for deer in thenear future. Expanding the finishing areawill enable more deer to be finished onthe property without the losses inherentin being transported to other Landcorpproperties. Farming outcomes on Mararoadefinitely reflect management that takesaccount of all variables, including those thatcannot be controlled.35