About Totara Peak Station
Totara Peak Station is one of five high country sheep stations which makes up the Benmore Range. It is 4,900 hectares (12,400 acres). It is home to approximately 3,000 merino sheep and some cattle. Temperatures can vary from 40 degrees celcius in summer to -10 degrees celcius in winter. Farming this land has never been easy, but set on the shores of Lake Benmore, it certainly has some of the best scenery of any farmland. Totara Peak Station, home to Benmore Views Family Camp, is proof that land such as this can be farmed and can also be enjoyed by many others, so long as it is properly managed. Totara Peak Station and Benmore Views Family Camp are run together by Jim Metherell and Sonja Philip. Their aim is to farm this land sustainably, so that it will be around to be farmed and also enjoyed for a long time to come.
As with many McKenzie Country stations, rabbits are an ongoing problem. These are managed through poisoning and shooting. To be most effective, the shooting regime on Totara Peak Station has to be managed very well. Shooting is strictly managed by the farmer to ensure the safety of all people in the area, as well as the safety of the stock, particularly around lambing, and to ensure the maximum effectiveness of the other eradication programmes which are in place on the property. Anyone caught shooting on the property without permission runs the risk of compromising these tasks and could face prosecution.
