Welcome to Whenuanui Farm and home of Kaipara Lamb.  Check out how we farm sustainably on Country Calendar 2018 Episode 2 – "Farming on the Fringe".  Richard & Dianne were the 2016 recipients of the prestigious Gordon Stephenson Trophy and Supreme Winner of the 2016 Auckland Ballance Farm Environment Awards

Whenuanui is a 3rd generation Helensville sheep & beef farm owned and actively farmed by Richard & Dianne Kidd and their son David Kidd with his wife Janine and 3 daughters.  It is located in North West Auckland less than 1 hour from Auckland International Airport. In February 2018 Country Calendar screened "Farming on the Fringe" telling our story of sustainable farming and Kaipara Lamb on the fringe of NZ's largest city.  Episode 2 for 2018 can be viewed via TVNZ On Demand  

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/country-calendar

Whenuanui Farm hosts visits including tourists and food producers from NZ & abroad.  A central race throughout the farm provides efficient and convenient all-weather access and viewing. 

National winners of the Ballance Farm Environment Awards in 2016 and recipients of the prestigious Gordon Stephenson Trophy - judges commented "Richard and Dianne clearly share a deep passion for their family's show piece farm on the edge of Auckland city.  Their beef breeding and sheep breeding and finishing operation runs 4820 stock units on 331 ha (effective) with a pine woodlot established on 18.5ha and 15.3ha of regenerating native bush.  They are pragmatic about protecting the environment for future generations.  All waterways are fenced, and large areas of Raupo act as sediment traps to capture nutrients.  Biodiversity corridors link the upper catchment areas to the bush, and bush remnants have been planted with native species such as Kauri, Rimu and Pohutukawa".  

Two videos provide excellent educational information on NZ Beef & Lamb farming respectively.  The Ministry for Environment has also filmed footage for KPMG's Head of Global Agribusiness to address the 2018 Future of Farming video.  We are proud to support New Zealand's environmental story.

Stock are predominantly grass fed. Grass is supplemented with crops sown in spring to assist with fattening and finishing stock over the often long and dry summer months. Silage and hay are made for the winter months.  No feed is bought in.  The water supply is from natural springs on the farm and reticulated to all paddocks.  Large native bush blocks, wetland and natural waterways are all fenced off from stock. 

Whenuanui has been a popular film location hosting some of New Zealand's well known and high profile farming advertisements and brands including NZ Beef and Lamb, FMG Insurance, Progressive Enterprises (Countdown -Angus Beef & Lamb) and Toyota Hi Lux. It has also hosted some extended feature films.  

The farm has 250 Angus breeding cows.  Calving begins at Whenuanui is July / August.  With 1300 ewes, lambing and shearing are also key events on the annual farm calendar. Lambing commences in late June.  Richard has been instrumental in developing the "Kaipara Lamb" brand in association with Progressive (Countdown) who we have a long standing relationship with supplying both beef and lamb for local trade.  Together with a select group of farmers in the Kaipara, high quality spring lamb is produced with minimal stress to lambs and distributed through high end Countdown stores.