High country farming is in Duncan McRae’s blood.
His family emigrated from Scotland in 1856 and have been farming in the high country ever since. There was never any doubt that a young Duncan would follow in the family bootsteps.
"I just love the outdoors and the animals and we live in a pretty special place," he said, referring to Alpha Burn Station at picturesque Glendhu Bay, a 15-minute drive west from Wanaka.
After leaving school, Duncan went shepherding and then headed overseas for his OE before returning to the station in 1999. Alpha Burn, which runs sheep, beef and deer, comprises 3000ha, plus another 1500ha which was leased.
Duncan and his wife Allannah recently also bought the nearly 2000ha Locharburn Station at Queensberry from Allannah’s parents, Geof and Joyce Brown.
They also took over the Brown’s Locharburn Herefords stud, a new challenge which Duncan was looking forward to. While he admitted it was a "fairly busy" operation — "there’s always room for more".
During his tenure at Alpha Burn, Duncan said his focus had been on improving production. A lot of deer fencing had been done and deer numbers had increased; they had a good balance between the three stock classes which suited the property.
Like other farmers in the area, Duncan was conscious of being in the public eye with more than 100,000 people walking on walking tracks on the property each year.
The scenic location was something he never took for granted. "Every day you look out and go ‘wow, this is pretty cool’," he said.
Duncan is heavily involved in sheep dog trialling, continuing a family tradition, and his father Don was also a regular competitor. Alpha Burn was home to the Wanaka Collie Club, which holds its annual trials there, while it has also hosted the South Island and New Zealand dog trial championships.
For Duncan, it was the social element of trials that appealed to him.
"Farmers can get stuck in their bubble quite easily. It’s good to get out and mix with other people. Get off farm if you can, I don’t do enough of it," he said.
Not doing as much trialling, as he was busy chasing his children around with sport and their endeavours, he did judge up to national standard and enjoyed that aspect of the sport. He helped run the dog trials at the Wanaka A&P Show and supplied the sheep for the event.
Duncan is heavily involved with the Wanaka Catchment Group, an initiative which he described as "awesome", and the McRae family had done a "heap" of fencing off and planting waterways even before the catchment group kicked off.
Two of Duncan and Allannah’s three children were still at school and Allannah coached sport and helped at pony club. She was "absolutely" an integral part of the farming business — "she keeps it all ticking over".
Garden and American bus tours visited Alpha Burn in the summer and Duncan did a dog demonstration and Allannah provided lunch and a garden tour.
Asked what he liked about living and working in the Upper Clutha, Duncan said it was the genuine people, the scenery and the opportunities.
There was the chance over the summer to pop down to the lake for a water-ski and barbecue on the beach and they also got to be there when it was quiet, over February-March — "that’s when it’s beautiful".
Regulations being imposed on farmers would only work if they were practical and could be managed properly.
"I take a pretty pragmatic view of all these things. You have got to be able to do your core business.
"I’m definitely the worst office person ... I’d much rather be out there walking around the hills or shifting something."
— Sally Rae
