Chesterhope was badly affected by the cyclone with up to 2m of water over much of the property.
This resulted in needing to replace nearly every fence on the Station and installing a new stock water system.
The majority of fencing has already been erected with the remainder expected to be completed by the end of the financial year in March 2025.
Due to silt damage to pasture following Cyclone Gabrielle, the Trust required damaged pastures to be sown back into productive grass species. To enable this, the Trust has leased a considerable amount of Chesterhope to two leading vegetable growing companies who will first put the land into various vegetable crops over the coming spring/summer period before it is then sown down in new pasture for the finishing of livestock.
In order for this renewal process to remain fully sustainable for the soils, only around 25 percent of Chesterhope will be put through such a cropping programme each year.
Moeangiangi and Mangatapiri Stations both required a significant amount of remedial fence repairs and track/culvert reinstatement due to the cyclone, with remaining fencing work expected to be completed in this financial year.
Like most Hawke’s Bay farmers, once completed, total reinstatement will have cost the Trust considerably more than the $3m funding initially set aside for this work. As a result of this significantly higher than expected repair cost, the Trust has made the very difficult decision to delay distributions until next financial year (2025-26).