Western District farm snapped up by NSW farmer

A 485ha grazing farm in Victoria’s west is back in Aussie hands after it was sold by an UK institutional investor for millions.

A NSW farmer relocating to southwestern Victoria has bought the 485ha Elwood.

A 485ha grazing farm in Victoria’s west is back in Australian hands after it was sold by an institutional investor from the UK.

Elwood, located near Macarthur in the state’s famed Western District, was listed for sale last September as part of the UK-based investors move to divest three livestock farms, which spanned a total of 2078ha within 150km of each other.

The South-West Aggregation comprised the 799ha Cascaes, at Kariah, 794ha Warrong, at Warrong, and 485ha Elwood at Macarthur, each acquired about eight or so years ago as part of a decade-long investment fund.

However, management partner, Growth Farms, was instructed to sell the properties, to wind up the 10-year stint in Australian agriculture.

It is understood a private NSW farmer has purchased the property as part of a move to relocate into southwestern Victoria.

The purchase price of the transaction remains undisclosed.

The Elwood property was sold with a four-bedroom brick veneer homestead.

When the three grazing farms were listed for sale they were expected to field offers ranging from $16,000-$18,500 a hectare, or more than $7.7m for Elwood.

Elwood has been run as a mixed-farming enterprise carrying 60 per cent sheep and 40 per cent cattle.

Carrying capacity under the Growth Farms management was rated at about 200 July-August calving cows with young stock and 2300 July-August lambing ewes plus lambs.

The property was subdivided into 42 main paddocks, supported by a two-stand raised-board woolshed with undercover bugle yards, separate steel cattle yards with crush and loading ramp, machinery and hay shedding.

Elwood has carried 200 July-August calving cows with young stock and 2300 July-August lambing ewes plus lambs in recent seasons.

The two other southwestern Victorian fund properties, Cascaes and Warrong, totalling 1593ha remain on the market via Elders Real Estate Camperdown selling agent Rob Rickard.

Mr Rickard handled the sale of the Elwood property.

The transaction is the second of note for the UK-based investors who recently offloaded the 2832ha Carnarvon Aggregation, a dryland and irrigated cropping enterprise at Mullaley in the Liverpool Plains of northern NSW.

Alkira Farms, a subsidiary of Farmland Reserve — an integrated investment auxiliary of the Utah-based The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — paid $32.4m for the Carnarvon Aggregation, adding to their $500m Australian farmland buying spree.

Originally published as Western District farm snapped up by NSW farmer