Source: Radio New Zealand
Glenbrook Station sheep Simon Williamson
Simon Williamson’s grandfather was in his late twenties when he rode his horse from St Bathans in Central Otago to Tekapo in South Canterbury.
The lambs he sought were too expensive but a good deed proved life-changing.
He met a man who took a liking to him and offered him the chance of owning a high country station called Birchwood in the Ahuriri Valley.
He bought it and his family and descendants lived there for 64 years.
It was then sold to the Crown and the Williamson family, in turn, bought another station, Glenbrook further east, straddling State Highway 8 south of Twizel.
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At 4000 hectares and carrying 3000 merino sheep and a couple of hundred cattle, the sheep station is a lot smaller than the stations of Grandad Ted’s day.
Back in the late 1800s a sheep station would have up to 60 staff and contract staff.
Nowadays, Simon said, it is a little different.
“Now the boys have gone off to school, just Kirsty and me are full time and one full-time man who’s gold that’s worked for us for quite a long time now.
“And he’s rock solid. So there’s really only three of us.”
But with the stock numbers and a bit of cropping they try and make everything fit, so it is “doable”.
Simon and Kirsty Williamson being interviewed by Mark Leishman Jo Raymond
Simon’s wife Kirsty is a vital part of Glenbrook Station with her four dogs.
She works the sheep and cattle and plays an integral part in the daily running of the farm.
She also runs a tourism venture, welcoming cruise ship guests on-farm for a high country station experience.
The homestead at Glenbrook Station Kirsty Williamson
“The buses come in and we give the guests lunch, with everything grown here,” she said.
“I think they just like the chance to get up a driveway. You know, they often drive down the road, and never really know what’s up here. So they get a chance to experience it.”
Glenbrook Station is in an extreme environment with harsh, cold winters and extremely hot summers.
Simon said, back in the early days, some winters you could lose almost a quarter of your stock and it took a long time to replace them.
“The winter of 1895, Benmore Station had 100,000 sheep shorn that season and … they got an early storm with metres of snow.
“In those days, there was no access out there. You only had a horse, and the snow covered the sheep over out on the flats.”
The shearing numbers were down to 40,000 the next season, so the numbers told it all.
“They lost 60,000 sheep in piles, so pretty devastating, those sort of events and history.”
Simon said when they took over the land there was no irrigation to speak of and it was not well understood at the time.
Six families took a punt and joined forces to pay for a scheme.
“We struck a good winter, and they got the whole canal right through from Lake Ohau.
“The whole canal cost about $4m to build, and it irrigated 4000 hectares of farmland and is still doing so to this day.”
He said modern, efficient pivot irrigators had been game-changers.
“We started with this irrigator here. It is 900 metres long, and it irrigates 275 hectares, pumping 200 litres of water a second to put six millilitres of water on 275 hectares.”
Glenbrook carries about 3000 merino sheep and a couple of hundred cattle. RNZ Insight / Maja Burry
There’s something about the high country, a kind of romance, with books like Mona Anderson’s “A River Rules My Life” in 1963 helping build an image of isolation, adventure and beauty.
But Simon said there are plenty of challenges.
“Wilding pines are a real problem.
“They just need money thrown at them, so that they don’t become a problem forever, but it is solvable at the moment.”
He said when the rabbits disappeared in the late 90s the pine tree problem really exploded, but he’d rather live with killing a pine tree than rabbits destroying everything.
Glenbrook Station Merinos ready for shearing Simon Williamson
But the main purpose of Glenbrook is to grow fine merino wool for export.
It heads to Vietnam or China to be scoured, spun and woven into outdoor wear and socks, and ends up in stores in the US.
“It’s a wonderful product, and it’s natural, and merinos suit this country.
“It’s cold in the wintertime, hot in the summertime, and I believe that you farm, what your country suits, and I believe that merinos suit this sort of country.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
