St Leger began as part of a large land parcel taken up by Ralph St Leger - an Irishman in the late 1800s. He called his 5650 acre property Hangaroa Station.

Tragically Ralph, a bachelor, died in San Francisco on a trip back to Ireland and his brother the Honourable Hugh St Leger, a Barrister, came out to wind up his estate. Hugh however liked it here and stayed on, and, in his middle years married Mary Morice from near Gisborne. At the end of WW2 Hugh inherited his family title, Viscount Doneraille and he and Lady Mary returned to Ireland.

Hangaroa Station was purchased by the NZ Government and divided into 4 farms, for returned soldier settlement ballot blocks. Ricks father Don Spence drew the homestead block and named it St Leger.

Rick began farming on St Leger in 1976 and by 1979, with encouragement and guidance from Holmes Warren and Bill Hume of Turanganui Stud - Wairarapa had started screening in ewes from the high performing Romney flock to begin ram breeding.

That vision is little changed today, however science has made significant progress and enabled St Leger Superior Genetics to use technology objectively, as it became available, to keep extending production bench marks.

So users of St Leger Superior Genetics can produce what the market wants and will pay well for.