Uncertainty over future of historic farm

Former owner Jim Howard (left) and leasee Charlie Duncan look out over Westoe farm. PHOTO/ BEVAN CONLEY

Rangitikei's historic Westoe farm is being spruced up - but is not yet the training school of its donor's dreams.

In August 2014, Jim Howard - whose family has owned the farm since 1885 - half-donated the 480-hectare farm to Lincoln University in the hope it would become a training school for young sheep and beef farmers.

It's now owned by the Lincoln Westoe Trust, and Mr Howard is one of four trustees.

But its long-term future is in doubt. Lincoln University has a new vice-chancellor and is busy restructuring, and it may split off its Telford training division which had planned to use Westoe.

Mr Howard leased the farm out from1998 to 2014, and it became rundown. The new trust decided to lease it again, as a commercial farm, chairman Dave Yardley said.

"It was decided to do that while the university and Howard family worked out some priorities with regard to how it was to be operated in the future."

The farm, minus its historic homestead and garden, was leased to Duncan Land Ltd until September 2018.

Charlie Duncan has been using it as a finishing farm, for stock raised on his hilly Otiwhiti Station. Mr Yardley said the trust has also been putting in "tens of thousands" of dollars to make improvements.

They include better stock water supply, access, fencing, new yards, the removal of dilapidated buildings, making the cottage liveable and fixing damage from the June 2015 flood.

Mr Duncan has had four or five students from his own Otiwhiti Land Based Training School working at Westoe for four days a week. But that's the closest it has come to being a farm training school so far.

Mr Yardley said it could still become either a training or a demonstation farm, or both.