Central Otago sheep and beef properties represent once in a generation opportunity

A pair of large-scale hill country properties is for sale in a once-in-a-generation opportunity to acquire an extensive pastoral enterprise in the heart of Central Otago.

Hills Creek and Styx Stations span a combined 10,080 hectares. Located near to each other and to key service towns Ranfurly, Patearoa, and Alexandra, they have been farmed together for the past 20 years, and currently support around 40,000 stock units.

Pictured (from left): Brent Irving and Paul Thomson

Brent Irving and Paul Thomson of PGG Wrightson Real Estate, Dunedin are offering Hills Creek and Styx Station to the market. Brent describes the complementary properties as a unique prospect.

“Available together or separately, the two properties offer a diverse mix of contour, from fertile flats and gently rolling paddocks to medium and extensive hill country. They support a flexible and efficient farming system for breeding, finishing, and cropping, and are both in the midst of ongoing targeted development programmes focused on pasture renewal, lucerne establishment, and water infrastructure upgrades,” he says.

Currently in the ownership of NZ Pastures Ltd, which has farming and forestry interests across Southland and Otago, they are each farmed by managers with respectively five and more than 10 years’ experience of the properties.

Brent Irving says the pasture renewal initiative and other improvements, designed to enhance productivity, resilience, and long-term sustainability, have increased carrying capacity by around 20 per cent.

Pictured: Hills Creek Station

“Resowing, focused on ryecorn for wintering and lucerne, is approximately halfway through a five-year programme that encompasses around 600 hectares on each property. A full-time fencer, employed across both properties, is enacting a much-improved stock management system to fully realise the enhanced pasture. Moving away from its traditional reliance on open waterways, Hills Creek is part of the Hawkdun Idaburn community water scheme, taking water sufficient for 30,000 stock units. Reticulation of this water to the paddock country is another strand of the development programme.

“Assuming it is eventually developed, future opportunities around the proposed Falls Dam would provide Hills Creek Station access a significant quantity of irrigation that would provide scope for large scale intensification and land use change, particularly for the property’s approximately 2500 hectares of flat to gently rolling paddocks,” he says.

Hills Creek Station, approximate size 3776 hectares, has averaged 19,230 stock units over the past five years, including 9000 ewes and replacement hoggets, 5000 contract lambs, and 321 mixed-age cows. Hills Creek grazes an additional 1000 cattle through different partnerships.

Pictured: Styx Station

Styx Station spans 6304 hectares across four titles, with the majority being effective farmland. Approximately 1750 hectares are river flats to gently rolling paddocks.

Brent Irving says the two properties work well together.

“Each has seasonal advantages, with Hills Creek enjoying better winter carrying capacity. Depending on feed availability, transferring stock from one to the other is straightforward.

“This is a compelling opportunity to secure a significant landholding in a proven and tightly held farming region, with the scale, infrastructure, and performance to support a range of investment strategies, from family succession planning to corporate expansion or offshore investment,” says Brent Irving.

While properties of the calibre of Hills Creek and Styx Station always sell well, momentum in the market for sheep and beef farms is growing. Near record high prices for red meat, a healthy increase in average farm profits, easing input costs and a weaker New Zealand dollar are driving demand for breeding and finishing farms, which is not currently being fully met by the market.

Hills Creek is 30 kilometres south of Ranfurly and 55 kilometres east of Alexandra. Styx Station is located on Linnburn Runs Road, Paerau, 45 kilometres from Ranfurly and 30 kilometres from Patearoa.

For sale by deadline private treaty, offers for Hills Creek and Styx Station, either jointly or individually, are sought by midday on Wednesday 25 February 2026.

To view joint listing > Click here
To view Hills Creek Station listing > Click here
To view Styx Station listing > Click here