Last week marked the end of an era at Gem Lake Station with the last cattle weaning muster of its kind, due to the completion of tenure review. Agribusiness reporter Sally Rae and illustrations editor Stephen Jaquiery went along for the ride.
Nestled in folds of the Umbrella Mountains, a private farm road winds its way into the catchment area of the Pomahaka River and a station unknown to most New Zealanders.
It's not far inland from Ettrick, over the hill from Piano Flat, and this day there's a skiff of snow on the ground and a fierce chill in the air.
A group of men - and one woman - on horseback are well rugged up for the cold as they take a mob of 1000 beef cows to what will be their remote home for the next couple of months.
Yells and whistles punctuate the crisp air, dogs bark and a deafening chorus of protest is returned from the mob of black cattle as they string out in the tussock country. It might be cold but only the cattle are complaining.
These musterers, from a diverse mix of backgrounds, relish being part of the annual Gem Lake Station weaning muster.
And this year's event is particularly special; it is the end of an era. The cows are being driven to their early winter retreat, the Lake Block, for the last time.
Tenure review has been completed at the station and 3800ha of high country in what is known as the run block, which comprises 5500ha, will be fenced off and transferred to the Crown.
There will still be cattle on Gem Lake Station but with the run block reduced to just the river faces, the weaning muster will no longer be the same.
Gem Lake is owned by the Norman family, who have farmed in the area since 1926, first purchasing what is known as the home property at Ettrick. The run block was bought in 1976 from the Williamson family, and another block was also added to the operation. The three properties total 8500ha and are all run under the Gem Lake Station name, managed by Stu Moore.
Brought up at nearby Roxburgh, the youngest in a family of seven, Stu was born into a farming background. His father, Blakie Moore, has been around horses all his life, and worked for the Rabbit Board for a while before going shearing for 48 years and mustering, too.
Growing up, his youngest son ''just hung out with him, really'' and learned his ways, which included riding and breaking in horses. After leaving Roxburgh Area School aged 15, he did some casual work at Glenaray Station in Northern Southland, before shepherding around the St Bathans area for about six years. A four-year stint of shearing followed.
Asked if he enjoyed it, the answer comes without hesitation: ''no''.
''I [still] do the odd one every now and then just to remind me why I hated it,'' he says.
But it was a skill to have and once he finished shearing, he started shoeing horses. He and his partner, Carmen Hodge, then headed to Australia for a couple of months before returning to New Zealand, having decided home is ''better than anywhere else''.
Apart from those two months working in a bar across the Tasman, farming and its related trades has been the only work he has known.
After a stint of casual work, the job of managing Gem Lake arose. Ironically, he was still trailing after Dad, as his father worked at the station for both the current owner, Wanaka-based Stephen Norman, and his father, Jack Norman, before him.
It has been a good place to work, Stu says.
''Steve's bloody good to work for. You couldn't get better.''
Mr Norman visits about once a month and while he has a lot to do with the farm, it is not on a hands-on, daily basis.
Gem Lake Station runs about 4000 ewes and 1400 mixed-age cows. It used to run 1600 cows but the numbers have been reduced, leading up to tenure review.
THIS year's weaning muster begins on a Sunday, when everyone gathers and heads out into the hills to bring in the cattle. They are brought into the yards for weaning, where the bawling of calves and cows make conversation almost impossible.
Then the newly weaned calves are shifted further down the valley. The cows, still complaining about having their youngsters removed, are pregnancy tested before being taken out to the Lake Block where they will stay until July.
Home for the musterers for a few days is Normans' Hut, a fairly modest establishment where fun and laughter rules once work is finished for the day.
''It fits us all, that's the main thing. It's nice and cosy ... there's not a lot of room. We all get in,'' Stu says, with a boyish grin.
For the past three years, a group of cavalcaders have been coming along to help muster the cattle. Regulars on Otago Goldfields Heritage Trust cavalcades with Stu, who retired this year as a trail boss, they were keen to come on a muster. After the first, wild horses would not keep them away.
For Ray Minehan, a commercial investor and developer, it is welcome respite from Christchurch, where his properties have been badly affected, including four buildings in the stricken red zone.
The past two years have been spent in court fighting insurance companies - ''we'll be doing that for the next five years'' - and there is also a battle with the Government.
''Any time I can spend away at the moment is great. I enjoy being away with these guys anyway; at the moment, it's particularly better,'' he says, relaxing at the end of the day in the hut.
There is also a strong bond that has been forged between the group and they all enjoy catching up. Ray originates from Glenhope Station in the Lewis Pass, where schooling was through Correspondence School.
His father gave up the property so his children could be less remote and gain further education.
After leaving school, Ray realised he could make money by buying residential rental properties, purchasing his first when he was still a teenager.
That led to buying and building commercial properties, not just in Christchurch but ''all over the place''.
He and his partner Nicky Robb have recently bought a farm at Kennedys Bush, on the Christchurch Port Hills. They plan to develop part of the property and farm the rest.
Returning to farming seemed to ''come naturally again'', he says.
Appropriately, the farm runs cattle from Gem Lake Station - although with 100 breeding cows, their musters are on a smaller scale.
Nicky, who works in a nursery, is one of only two women on this year's muster, but is unfazed by it. While admitting that she would love to have a shower, she confides that wet wipes are handy.
This year Ray and Nicky brought along their friend Chris Musson, who has a day job as a motorcycle-riding postman and newspaper deliverer.
His equine involvement began with pony club when he was young, followed by entry into the racing industry.
As a jockey, he had about 100 race-day rides for six wins, including a ride in the New Zealand Cup. As to his success in that race? His mount, Captain Scott, is ''still running'' (he was 13th, and it was in 1977).
''We haven't finished that race yet,'' he says, laughing.
He gave up riding for a while but then got into endurance riding, and did not have to be asked twice about the Gem Lake muster.
Chris is sporting an injury, following a mishap in the hills with his horse Justy, and is decidedly lame. But he is stoic and continues to ride.
Fortunately, Ranfurly man and volunteer ambulance officer Duncan Helm is part of the group and straps Chris' ankle.
There have been a few minor incidents, including some horse roll-overs. Grace, the horse Duncan borrowed from Ray, ''peeled over backwards'', but he is philosophical.
He had already eaten the sandwich in his saddlebags and the empty beer bottle in them did not break. Grace is sporting ''a bit of a bruise'' on her posterior, but is otherwise unharmed.
As well as his ambulance work, Duncan is a farmer and part-time musterer or, as he sums it up, ''I chase sheep, I chase cattle and yell at dogs''.
He enjoys catching up with his fellow cavalcaders, riding a horse and seeing new country.
''When you have 1000 cattle on the track in front of you, that's a bloody great sight,'' he says.
For those not involved in farming full-time, like Totara farrier Malcolm Oakes, it is special to see men working with well-trained dogs.
Without those dogs - 16 in all - they would be ''buggered'', Malcolm says.
''It's the distance these dogs go. When they cast out, the mind boggles how far they go ... we're talking about across gullies, through swamps ... it's unbelievable how far they go,'' he says.
One area they muster is known as Buggery.
It is some of the ''gnarliest'' country he has ever ridden.
''A couple of times, you just shut your eyes and let your horse go,'' he says.
But the experienced horseman and newly announced cavalcade trail boss, who is taking over the reins from Stu, loves it.
''Today was just a neat day. It was hard work. By the end of the day, I was buggered.''
And he grins.
Tenure review
• Tenure review of a pastoral lease is a voluntary negotiation between the Crown and the leaseholder that results in some land being transferred to the Department of Conservation, and the lessee gaining freehold title to some land capable of productive use.
• Consultation involves the Department of Conservation, Fish and Game, iwi and the public.
• The process is administered by Land Information New Zealand, under the Crown Pastoral Land
Act.
