History & Production

Nithdale was first part of the Isla run taken up in 1856 and farmed from 1858 by William Dalrymple and then by Angus Macdonald. This run was split up in 1875 and James and Samuel Scott bought the northern part of the property and named it ‘Nithdale’ after their Scottish homeland near the River Nith.
In 1924 at the age of 22, Charlie Tripp bought Nithdale and farmed it until his death in 1991. In 1988 Charlie Tripp’s second son Dick and his family bought into the farm and in 1994 Dick’s youngest son Andrew took over management of Nithdale. In 2001 Andrew and his wife Heather formed a new company and took over ownership of the stock and plant leasing the land off their family until 2008 when they purchased the land as well. In 2007 the family made the descision to convert 275ha of the property to dairy in order to give the property a better balance in terms of enterprises and risk. They currently employ a contract milker who runs the dairy unit and a sharefarmer who runs the sheep and beef unit, allowing Andrew more time to focus on the sheep genetics side of the business.
Nithdale covers an area of 1478ha with an effective grazing area of 1409ha. Since 2010 we have leased 157ha off the neighbouring farm (135ha effective). Forestry (pines, macrocarpa, douglas fir, eucalyptus nitens and red beech) covers over 45ha along with extensive plantings of shelter belts consisting of both exotic and native species. Nithdale is a well balanced property with an even mix of hill (both north and south facing) and paddocks (flat to rolling). The property is situated 17km South East of Gore in the southern most province of New Zealand. It has an average rainfall of 1050mm distributed evenly over the year. Snow falls can occur over the winter with yearly average temperatures just under 9oC. In 2002 and 2014 Andrew and Heather were the Regional Supreme Winners of the Ballance Farm Environment Awards.

Stock Wintered 2021: Stock Units

                                                           

TOTAL         19219

Livestock No. Stock Units
MA Ewes 3917  3917
2th Ewes 1762  1762
Ewe Hoggets 1923  1346
Ram Hoggets 771  617
Rams  40  28
 7670
Beef Cows 123  738
Bulls    4    20
R1 Beef  128  512
R1 Dairy Beef  115  460
R2 Beef  109  545
 2275
MA Dairy Cows 643  6430
R2 Dairy Heifers 224  1792
R1 Dairy Heifers 263   1052
9274

Nithdale Production 2020/21

  • Works Lambs – 3861 – av 18.74kg CW - $120.20, 1241 Store Lambs
  • Wool – 39749kg (5.2kg /sheep SU)
  • Ram Sales – 430 2ths (282 Romney, 148 Suftex), 74 Romdale Ram Lambs
  • Beef Cows Calving % - 88
  • 167 Cattle killed @ 278kg CW - $1189.59
  • Scanning % (July/August 2020) - Flock 2ths - 185%, Flock MA - 187%, Stud Romneys - 189% (all figures including triplets. Total 2.4% dries). Hoggets - 96% overall
  • Lambing % - 8149 total lambs tailed. 124% to Ewes mated, 65% to Ewe Hoggets mated (all mated). Weather not good at lambing!!
  • Dairy – 356950 kgMS – 444kgMS/cow, 1298kgMS/ha

Weather 29 September 2020 - Peak of Lambing