The Fossil Creek Journey

George, Henry, Jane, Charlotte, Blair

Fossil Creek Angus was established by Neil and Rose Sanderson and their three daughters, Amelia, Ella and Georgia in the late 1980s, with their original base being in in the Tasman area and then North Canterbury. The Sandersons then moved to a similarly challenging climate in North Otago.

In 2016 the Sandersons made the decision to strengthen the dynamics in their team even further and approached hill country sheep and beef farmers and  sheep stud breeders Blair and Jane Smith to take the Fossil Creek breeding herd to their 1300 hectare Newhaven hill country operation at Five Forks, at 650 metres altitude, with a share purchase succession plan in mind.

The Fossil Creek breeding cow herd has steadily increased through this period with careful selection of replacements and high expectations of genetic performance maintained.

This partnership has been a decade of the two families working together in the Fossil Creek stud –  all equally passionate about beef genetics.

In 2024, Blair and Jane purchased 100% of the Fossil Creek Stud. Neil and Rose moved to Canterbury in late 2024 where they remained actively interested and involved in the Fossil Creek genetic direction.

Neil sadly passed away in April 2025 but his legacy lives on.