A South Otago farming dynasty has come to an end with one last cattle sale.
Garry and Julene McCorkindale are about to leave their Glenside farm, a 752ha sheep and beef property at Waitahuna, near Lawrence, ending nearly 160 years of McCorkindales on the same land.
The dispersal auction of the Glenside Simmental herd took place in the farm woolshed late last week, drawing a crowd of about 90 people including online bidders.
Mr McCorkindale said he was was very pleased with the outcome.
‘‘One or two rising 2-year-old bulls didn’t sell, but everything else went,’’ he said,
‘‘It was a staggering result.
‘‘It exceeded our expectations.”
The average price across the offering was just over $6000, with top prices of about $18,000 for the highest-selling bull and $17,000 for the leading cow.
About 150 lots were offered and all of the cattle were from the McCorkindales’ own herd.
Buyers included longtime Simmental breeders as well as newer entrants, with interest coming from around the country.
The Glenside Simmental stud was established in 1985 and built a national client base by hosting annual bull sales for many years
Garry McCorkindale is the direct descendant of Malcolm McCorkindale, who emigrated from Scotland to farm the Waitahuna land in 1867 and Glenside was recognised in the first Century Farms awards programme, for farms with at least 100 years of continuous family ownership.
‘‘With nobody wanting to farm, the decision was up to us when we got out and we weren’t going to battle on until we were 90.
‘‘Generally, there’s three legs to a pastoral farmers stool.
‘‘One is the number of lambs or calves born.
‘‘Second is there’s got to be plenty of grass to grow them and the third is there’s got to be plenty of cents per kilogram when you sell them.
‘‘Everything has sort of come together in this year.’’
Both of Mr McCorkindale’s sons were pursuing careers overseas, he said.
The farm has been purchased by a neighbouring sheep and beef farmer and last week’s auction marked the final major event at the property before the McCorkindales step away from full-scale farming.
After settlement of the land sale, at the end of March, they planned to move to a smaller block in Bannockburn and although leaving Glenside, they were not planning a complete departure from rural life.
‘‘Hopefully we’ll never have to deal with sheep again, but we have got some cattle going up there, with some old horses and old dogs, so that’ll keep us in the game a bit.”
For those who attended, many with long associations with the stud and the family, the final sale carried both practical and sentimental significance.
‘‘It was quite an occasion,’’ Mr McCorkindale said.