It turned out he had nothing to be worried about, as all that hard work paid off.
“It was very exciting and yeah, it went well – it went really well.”
There were many steers, ewes and lambs offered, all examples of great hill country farming.
Andersen said the high stock quality had to do with Waewaepa Station’s manager.
“Tim Stevenson, the manager out there does a very good job and, I mean, a lot of the credit falls on him as far as the stock goes.
“The cattle were very, very good - they’re nicely bred - and the ewes are the same [because Waewaepa Station] uses the best rams.
“And the lambs as well - they’re renowned for the way they shift, and they have a very good drench status.”
Andersen was happy to report that good quality stock led to good quality prices as well.
“People will always pay a little bit more if something’s nicely bred.
“On the day the market was pretty sound, probably a fair representation of the sort of results you’d get on a sale anywhere in the country.”
Andersen had no time for a break yet, with sales on the horizon.
“We’ve got a lot of breeding ewes on the market.”
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The Feilding sale was coming up too, Andersen said.
“They’ve got 16,500, and we’ve got other sales dotted throughout the North Island coming up throughout the month.
“Of course, a lot of the hill country guys are weaning lambs - so we’ve got plenty of store lambs on the market as well.”
Overall, 2025 had got off to a great start, with farmers feeling “pretty positive,” throughout the region, Andersen said.
“On the back of two or three weeks of rain, especially in the East Coast area, that certainly brightens people’s horizons.
“It was looking pretty average pre-Christmas, but a bit of rain around certainly put a smile on a few faces.”
Also in today’s interview: Andersen talked about how overseas exports were going.
