Ingleby announces sale of historic station

Puketiti Station south of Piopio is being sold, as its Danish parent company Ingleby sells its New Zealand portfolio of four large properties.

Puketiti is in the Haku/Mangaotaki district, and also changing hands is its sister operation, Riverlea Station, between Āria and Piopio.

The Swedish born, UK based Rausings are the owners of Ingleby – and they’re the family behind the Tetra Pak milk cartons invented by patriarch Reuben Rausing in Sweden, in 1950.

Today, his granddaughters Lisbet and Sigrid manage the family’s fortune. Historian of science Lisbet is said to have been the most actively involved with Ingleby.

Hans Henrik Koefoed, interim chief executive of Ingleby Farms and former chief from 2005-2021 said the decision to sell was due to a recent change in investment strategy.

The Staton has been in the hands of Ingleby since 1999.

“We hope to find new owners who will continue our good work on sustainable farming,” Koefoed said.

The station is 25km west of Piopio.

The land’s first European owner was Taranaki businessman Newton King who owned it with various collaborators from the 1920s. It then passed through the hands of farmers including the Voyce family, who suffered as “bush sickness” or cobalt deficiency led to great stock losses during the Depression years.

It’s believed the name Puketiti comes from the larger block, connected to today’s Waitoru station in Māhoenui, associated with a pā site near the Mangaotaki Gorge on SH3.

In 1990, settler Cedric Verry shared his memoirs in the book Waitanguru, a collection of memories by the European families who moved into the area.

“Puketiti station was the first farm in the district and bush felling was started in 1896,” he recalled.

A manager, Bob Bailey, took charge some time before 1906; improvements during his time included “the same eight-stand woolshed built out of pit sawn timber in 1908. It still stands and will for many more years,” Verry wrote.

In the same book, Ruby Lyons shared her memories of life on Puketiti station. She was the niece of Bob Bailey and the cousin of their daughter, Marge Bailey.

She made “a brief visit which lasted years,” arriving for a holiday and staying to help.

In May 1916, Lyons reached the property via a taxi from Te Kūiti, passing “free range pigs, cattle, geese and fowl,” before getting off at the (neighbouring) Verry farm and riding.

They did have a buggy and “two good horses” but the mud was such that they could use it only in summer.

“Station life was a very busy life. Meals were on the dot of time – breakfast at 7am and dinner 6pm.”

“There were ten station hands, including shepherds. A handy man milked five cows by hand, did the separating and kept the wood box full. Some of the workmen camped out on the station including two married couples, who used to do the fencing.”

“Everyone who came had to learn to ride a horse – a quiet horse was kept for this purpose. There were about 60 on the station including Starlight, the stallion and two horses Ladybird and Twister.”

Ruby Lyons had recalled the caves on the station “one was like a wedding cake” … “there was also a “Hermit Cave” in which a man lived.

The clearing of land on Puketiti had been completed two years earlier, by 1914.

The next big change to the station’s fortunes came in1952, when aerial topdressing again made Waitanguru and Mairoa district farms financially profitable again.

In the 1980s, the station’s complement of 50 or 60 horses began to be replaced by motorbikes. Prior to this, the animals had been valued for their low cost, ability to replace themselves, and ability to carry a rider over rough ground.

Throughout all, it was the local managers, contractors stock managers, shearers and shepherds who made it all possible, most recently, that would be current manager Rusty Morgan, the man responsible for the station’s reputation as a high quality farming operation, including leadership of its sizeable staff.

“There’s not a lot of properties this size,” station manager Morgan said. In his time, he’s supported shearers in their record attempts, many of which have made worldwide news.

When he started the manager’s job about 10 years ago, hosting shearing records came with the territory. The station’s size, number of ewes and facilities made it a perfect option for aspiring record holders, he said.

The first record came as something of a strong hint from New Zealand shearing contractors’ association president Mark Barrowcliffe.

“Barrows just said, “we’re doing it,” Rusty joked.

“It was my first year here, and it was just part of fitting into the community, being part of the district really, and opening this place up.”

A later three-stand record was a favour to neighbours Morgan speaks to every week. Record breakers Kaleb Foote and Daniel Langlands both live on nearby farms; he wanted to say yes when they asked about doing a record.

Jack Fagan set an eight hour strong wool lamb record of 754, eclipsing Reuben Alabaster’s record, at Puketiti in 2022.

For shearing fans, record attempts brought the community together, to see the best of their sport at the peak of their powers.

It was an opportunity for the crème de la crème of shearing to have a crack at their chosen target. And Puketiti could make it happen.

“It’s giving someone an opportunity to live their dream, I suppose.”

After all, sheep farming wouldn’t happen at all without shearers, he said.

“You’re always shearing... you cut multiple times a year. So they become part of the farm working really. You can’t run the farm without them.”

On the topic of the sale Rusty’s wife Hillary Morgan, said the couple did not quite know what the future held; without knowing the new buyer and their plans for the farm it was impossible to say.

It had been “wonderful to work for over the past 11 years,” and that they have loved their time on Puketiti, calling it “an amazing farm”.

It’s not to be confused with an East Coast farm, also called Puketiti station, at Te Puia springs, 90 minutes north of Gisborne.

One of the station’s unique features is the Grand Canyon Cave, home to a colony of pekapeka, long-tailed bats.

The 3615-hectare property as of last year was stocked with 9800 ewes and 1100 Angus cows.

Ingleby Farms will sell more than 6700 hectares all up; they will also sell the Matahiia Station (1816ha) in Ruatoria and Katoa Station (595ha) on Whakaangiangi Road in Te Araroa.