Ellis Creek Farm

Amongst the misty native treetops in the hills of Tākaka, Golden Bay, lies a 190-hectare beef farm that does things a little differently. Fully off-grid and home to a mobile abattoir, this family farm raises and finishes cattle with a strong focus on sustainability and animal welfare. For siblings Rose Williams and Jonathan Thorpe, farming here isn’t just a job - it’s a way of life rooted in care for the land, the stock, and the next generation.

Ellis Creek Farm has 180 cows and calves, 100 sheep, and nearly 400 chickens. The land was purchased in 1937 by Rose and Jonathan’s grandfather, Bob Thorpe, who previously farmed in Canterbury, starting out with sheep and cream. “He drove along to Pōhara, looked up into the hills, and said, ‘that’s the place we’re looking for’,” Rose said. The property was home to South Island’s first winery, and the farm’s woolshed today sits over the original winery cellar. Rose’s father took over and continued with sheep and a few cattle until the next generation - her and her husband Andy - eventually returned to the land with their young children. Rose told us that they returned because they wanted to raise their kids like they had been raised: on the farm, connected to the land, the animals, and the food on their table.

Rose explained that this wasn’t a simple handover. The land itself presented challenges. Of the 190 hectares, only half is grazeable; the rest is steep, rugged, and covered in native bush. So the extended family - six siblings in total - sat down together to find a way forward.

“We all have an investment in the farm. It’s a place that we always want to come back to and bring our children back to.”

Their answer to keeping the farm going was to raise Lowline Angus cattle and sell the meat directly to customers. “That’s when we decided to bring in the Lowline Angus breed. They’re good on the hills, they grow well on the rough country, and they have a good dressing out rate - less bone, more body. That Angus gene makes good meat.”

The transition into beef farming required an overhaul of the free-ranging farming systems that had previously been implemented on the farm. Rose told us that electric fences were put up to accommodate cattle. “We chose various places that we thought would be good for pasture, and we set up electric fencing, and cut off the creeks. Beforehand, the sheep had free range and could go where they liked; however, we didn’t want the cattle running in the creeks, so we set up water systems to prevent this,” she said. “This pasture subdivision meant it was easier to farm regeneratively, rotate the cows more, let the grass recover, and use a natural fertiliser through Kinsey Ag Programme, which works to restore the natural mineral balance in the soil.”

When it came time to sell their beef, Rose said they soon discovered a part of the process that didn’t suit their farm philosophy. The only approved processing facility was in Canterbury - a long and stressful journey for the animals, travelling across half of the South Island. “For the first year of selling our beef, we had to send our animals down to Canterbury on a truck, which we never liked doing.” Rose and her family decided to pause meat sales for a year and find a solution: building Ellis Creek Farm’s own mobile abattoir.

“We wanted to set up our own abattoir so that our meat could be killed without the stress of the long journey. So that people know how their meat is produced and that it’s killed as humanely as possible,” Rose explained.

Cattle are sometimes even killed in familiar paddocks to minimise stress, and their carcasses winched into the abattoir. The facility is able to process sheep, beef, pigs, and even alpacas. It’s not only more ethical, it’s also allowed Ellis Creek to expand their offerings and maintain full control over the quality of their meat. “People know what they’re getting when they buy our meat,” Rose said.

Ellis Creek employs a local butcher, Georgie Moleta, who comes to the farm for the kill, and after the carcasses have been aged in the abattoir, they are transported to Georgie’s butchery for further processing. Georgie’s hands-on methods mean Ellis Creek Farm can produce cuts of meat that aren’t run of the mill, like oyster cuts and tri-tip. The meat from Ellis Creek is ordered online and delivered to homes around the upper South Island, and sold at several physical locations: Tākaka Village Market every Saturday, Ellis Creek’s own on-farm shop, Nelson Farmers’ Market every Wednesday, Motueka Farmers’ Market, and local businesses.

The creek that runs through the property - and what gives the farm its name - was a drawcard for the mid-century farmers and still serves its purpose today. The rushing water from the mountains powers the farm through a hydroelectric system. The hydro system generates 12kW constantly. The power lines on the property are their own, and the entire farm - their homes, chillers, freezers, shop, micro-abattoir and even an Airbnb guest cabin - runs on hydroelectric power.

Farming with care is central to operations at Ellis Creek Farm. The land is a point of connection for the wider family. “It’s in our blood. It’s the place that we dream of going back to when we leave home, nothing else really compares to it. It’s important to us that we look after it and that it grows more beautiful and healthier. We want to be able to drink the water and eat the watercress by the creek. We want there to be birdlife everywhere and we didn’t want to be selling beef that had herbicides or pesticides in it. There are so many people out there who are so grateful that we can provide them with meat from animals that haven’t ingested recently sprayed grass.”

Family is a pillar of Ellis Creek Farm. Rose and Andy manage the farming operations. Andy is responsible for the abattoir and killing process. Jonathan, who lives on the farm, handles sales, attending the Tākaka and Nelson Farmers’ Markets. Their brother William, based in Auckland, manages the website, online communication, and technical support. Josh in Christchurch helps with paperwork, regulations, and helped with abattoir construction. Another brother, David, provides farming advice as a business director. Annie, Rose’s sister, invested in the tiny house on wheels for the farm’s Airbnb accommodation.

At Ellis Creek Farm, the focus isn’t just on farming - it’s on family, future, and food you can trust. Every decision, from the cattle they raise to the way they power their homes.