HISTORY OF WAIKOHA SMALLFARM

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Waikoha Smallfarm was previously part of a much larger farm, most of which is now part of the 6,000 acres Waikoha Station. At one stage, it was owned by a Major Fillery and his wife, after whom Fillery Road is named. The original home appears to have been on a site very close to the present large three-bay shed. The present house was built in the late 1960s. John and Heather bought the 5.7 hectare (13 acres) smallfarm at the beginning of 1996, just after the previous owners had put in place some important developments - the creation of a pond, the establishment of a small orchard sourced mainly from Kay Baxter's heritage plants, and recent tree plantings (including eucalypts, alders, pines and blackwoods).

Among the first things that Heather and John did was to plant native trees alongside the pond (karamu, manuka and wineberry have done particularly well in the clay), shut off some of the steeper slopes from grazing and planted them in a variety of trees, discontinued grazing of the large patch of native bush, and tried to develop two-tier farming (blackwoods and grass) on the slope above the pond. After considering farm names like "Twin Creeks" and "Paradise", we settled on "Waikoha", meaning "gift of water", because the landscape has been shaped by water and it has numerous water features (streams, ponds, springs, bogs). Later, we discovered that the large next-door sheep and cattle station was also called Waikoha, probably after the stream of that name which runs through it. Among the most recent projects on the farm have been the siting of an old house truck alongside the pond (out-fitted as a retreat and Wwoofer  accommodation), and refurbishing an old sleep-out to become Heather's Healing Sanctuary.

At the beginning, we grazed some dairy-beef cattle every year (usually bought as weaners or yearlings). At one stage, a herd of about a dozen goats was bred up from a Boer buck and crossbred does. A small flock of black and coloured sheep was developed. Kunekune-cross pigs have at times enjoyed a few months’ stay. In 1999, after considering a range of options, including Lowline Angus, it was decided to specialise in Dexter cattle, starting with grading up from Jersey cows, going on to breeding fullbloods as well.

Late in 2004, we purchased another smallholding just two kilometres up the road. This is a 10 hectare (30 acres) rock quarry (unused for many years) which has some rough pasture on it as well as an old rusting crane!  We have named this property Ngā  Kōhatu which means The Stones. It is a wonderful site, rather wild and with many many wonderful stones including a wee stone circle!! It also provides us with sufficient grazing for us to further develop our herd of Dexters.

With this extra grazing we plan to have three families of Dexters on our property and to take a brave new step in marketing. We have long had a dream to establish a new concept of beef rearing for non-farmers.  Adopt-A-Dexter© enables people who are concerned about the physical and ethical production of their food to become truly involved with what they eat and to ensure their satisfaction with how it is produced.

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