This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
GRAIN growers and livestock producers have the chance to acquire arable land at a reasonable price, according to the selling agents of a 2,400-hectare aggregation in central NSW’s Merrigal region.
Dryland cropping properties Glenmuir and Tickatoo have been operated as a single enterprise remotely by vendors James and Sally Burge from their Cootamundra base some 400 kilometres away. They’re now offering the properties for sale as a whole or as separate assets.
“We bought ‘Glenmuir’ in early 2020 and ‘Tickatoo’ a couple of years later because I knew the district – I’d carted grain for Glenmuir’s previous owners – and we saw the opportunity to acquire high-quality dryland cropping land, that offered good value,” Burge said.
The properties are seven kilometres apart and serviced by a Council road. Burge said “they’ve been set up to operate as a one-man show”.
They are located 26 kilometres north of Collie, 31 kilometres south west of Gulargambone and 105 kilometres north of Dubbo, in a region that receives rainfall of 467 millimetres.
Glenmuir comprises 1,537 hectares, of which 1,498 hectares is, arable, while Tickatoo is 849 hectares of which 783 hectares is arable. The cropping rotation includes wheat, canola, barley and lupins, with 1,200 hectares currently planted to wheat, 600 hectares to lupins and 450 hectares to canola.
Selling agent Col Medway of LAWD said while the properties had been operating as a dryland cropping business over the past ten years, they had historically grazed sheep and cattle, and had the potential to integrate livestock into operations again.
“The quality of ‘Glenmuir’ and ‘Tickatoo’ is evident in the fact that James and Sally operated them remotely, with casual staff at peak times of sowing and harvest, and they offer high-quality arable land at a rate more affordable than some other regions.
He anticipates the market will see value at around $3,500 a hectare.
Glenmuir has a comfortable homestead with an in-ground pool and has a 1,000-tonne grain shed, silos totalling 320 tonnes, machinery shed, chemical storage, four-stand shearing shed, and steel sheep and cattle yards, with water infrastructure including a bore and reticulated stock water system.
Tickatoo features a machinery shed and silo complex of 940 tonnes and is serviced by bore water for stock and spraying.
