About Nithdale Station

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 lower order sharemilker who runs the dairy unit allowing Andrew and Heather 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. 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 Andrew and Heather were the Regional Supreme Winners of the Ballance Farm Environment Awards.