Mount White Station

New Zealand Aotearoa is known for its farming culture and Mount White is home to one of the famous high-country stations.

Mount White Station is on the Canterbury side of the Southern Alps/ Kā Tiritiri o Te Moana, the huge range that runs the length of Te Waipounamu/ The South Island. With much of the island being mountainous, it is no surprise that farms like this are at altitude. Mount White Station stock grazing flat land sits at around 550 metres above sea level but its tallest peaks are more than 2 kilometres high with slopes that are also used for stock.

Mount White Station is big. At 40,000 hectares (99,000 acres), its boundaries are not fences but mountains and rivers: the Puketeraki and Dampier Ranges, and the Waimakariri River. The farm sits in a valley, enclosed by peaks, with dramatic scenery and equally dramatic weather. To get to the station is an adventure in itself. From the main Christchurch/ West Coast highway turn right to cross the Waimakariri, then continue on a gravel road for three-quarters of an hour to eventually arrive at the homestead and its buildings at one end of Lake Letitia. Of course, it takes far longer to get there the first time because there are frequent stops for views of the braided rivers that flow in the valleys below the road, and photographs of mountains and hills. Along the road are bays for vehicles to park up for hikers to walk up the mountains, and there are cycling tracks too.

The homestead is in the shadow of Mount White that stands 1741 metres above sea level (enthusiastic hikers can follow a trail up to the peak) and consists of various buildings, both old and new. There is a shearing shed that dates back to the early years of the station in the 19th Century. It is still in use today although it has been extended and electricity installed for power shearing. Lake Letitia – possibly named after the wife of the first owner of the blocks of land: Major Thomas Wollaston White – is a glacial remnant from the time when the land was covered by the Waimakariri Glacier and is home to native fish species as well as Great Crested Grebe. The lake is part of the homestead and new accommodation blocks for visitors and staff overlook the reed beds and water. There are stocks pens and yards, dog kennels, a function room and the owners’ home, a dining room and small stables as well as paddocks and fields, on this, one of the few large areas of flat land on the station.

Our reason for going to stay at Mount White was to look at animal farming in Aotearoa. The way sheep are managed is very different to my experience in the UK for many reasons: breed of animal, topography, climate…, and quite simply the enormous size of the property. The farm has cattle too and these are moved from pasture to pasture at different times of the year along a road that has been bulldozed around mountains and across rivers from the start of the farm to the very end, a distance of nearly 50 kms. The day we arrived the cattle had been driven down the road to the first flat land on the route where they would rest overnight before heading on again to their final destination for a few months at the end of the road. The sheep are also driven along that road but, with most of the flock living at the top of the slopes of the mountain ranges, vehicles are of no use to move the animals and so horses are the requirement.

Deer have also begun to be farmed here and honey is now a major part of the production of this station. Of all the area, approximately 35% is utilised for active farming. The remainder is left to nature and carefully husbanded to eradicate the invasive gorse and broom. Although there are pests such as possums and stoats, their numbers are kept down by trapping.

The first day of our trip we went on a farm tour with the manager, Sam. It was a very good experience and we learned much more about the difficulties of farming this land, and some of the decisions that have to be made. As an example, this summer has been exceptionally dry and so the farm has decided to let its mixed-breed flock of sheep go in favour of merino sheep, which are better suited to the arid conditions and better able to deal with weather and food extremes. (Interestingly, merinos are also farmed in the Karoo of South Africa for the same reasons.) We were lucky enough to watch the herding of the sheep with dogs before the flock was driven into a paddock in preparation for shipping off. The next time we saw those sheep was when they were being shepherded along the road to their (temporary) new home.

Our tour took us into the shearing shed where we looked at a couple of fleeces that had been set aside so that we could see the preparation of the clip ready for export. (The output of the station goes to Norway to be made into jumpers by Devold.) Then we set out cross-country to see some of the oldest buildings on the farm, twenty kilometres up the valley. These are now part of the history of this area and were originally either farmhouses or buildings for peripatetic workers like shearers and herders. Nearby there is a new house that has been erected for visitors who want to get away from it all. The scenery is spectacular with abundant birdlife, and deep in the valley nearby, the Esk River flowing. This is the stopping point on the cattle march to the far end of the property and the cows and calves that had been moved just before we arrived were resting-up in the stockyard, making a picturesque and peaceful sight.

Our trip was prompted by “The Long Lunch”, an event that the farm owners and staff are planning to make into an annual activity. A chef was brought in to cook food for seventy or so guests, seated at tables in the “The Barn”, a big function room. The rest of the time – Friday night through to Sunday mid-morning – food was served in the main accommodation block where there is a kitchen and sitting area with tables. Under the gaze of Mount White itself, and with hawks and swallows overhead, this has been an experience not to be missed and we look forward to making it a place to visit often. I have now begun work on a design based on the station’s scenery, with wefts of woollen yarns of Perendale/ Black Merino mix in green, red, tawny-gold and deep purple, all on a Swedish linen warp of yellow, tan, light and dark grey.