Queensland family’s wagyu gem hits the market

Offers worth about $75 million are expected for a 33,959ha grazing property in southwest Queensland.

The Chiconi family are selling the 33,959ha Taylors Plains, a wagyu breeding and finishing property located at Mungallala in southwest Queensland.

A family of renowned Queensland Wagyu breeders are calling time on their premier grazing operation, offering a showpiece 33,959ha property for sale.

Noel Chiconi and wife Jo-Anne, of Chiconi Grazing, are selling their cattle breeding property Taylors Plains, at Mungallala in southwest Queensland.

Acquired in 2002, the property has been developed by the Chiconis into a powerhouse Wagyu farm with a conservative carrying capacity of 6250 adult equivalents.

Offers worth more than $70m are expected for the property, or about $75m for livestock, plant and equipment.

“The incoming buyer will need to spend virtually nothing on the property – the fencing, waters, cattle yards and accommodation are all in A1 condition, and Taylors Plains is in a highly regarded ‘safe’ area with an average of 605mm of annual rainfall,” Mr Chiconi said.

“We have been breeding Wagyu cattle since 2014 and turn off Wagyu feeder steers that do very well on the dense stands of buffel supported by native grasses.

“Our decision to sell has not been taken lightly, but it’s time.”

A skilled campdrafter and former President of the Australian Campdrafting Association for eight years, Mr Chiconi and his wife have also invested in performance horses, building suitable yards for horses, stables and a horse walker.

Taylors Plains offers abundant stands of improved pastures, predominantly buffel grass and including bambatsi, fine cut rhodes, digitaria and creeping blue grass.

Taylors Plains has infrastructure for cattle including steel yards with covered working area, a hydraulic crush, drafting pound, curved race and double-deck loading ramp, plus adjacent concrete bunked weaning and feeding yards, and an outpost set of cattle yards.

Primary land types across the property include 9010ha of brigalow, bottle tree and belah scrub, 11,542ha of poplar box on alluvial plains, and 8217ha of lancewood and bendee ridges.

The property is securely watered via seven bores delivering water through 105km of mainly 63mm poly pipe to an extensive network of 27 tanks, two turkey’s nest dams, and 105 concrete troughs, with water security supported by 47 dams.

There are also steel cattle yards with covered working area, a hydraulic crush, drafting pound (seven ways), curved race and double-deck loading ramp, together with adjacent concrete bunked weaning and feeding yards, an outpost set of cattle yards, and a 1400m airstrip.

There is extensive accommodation for owners and staff, including a magnificent four-bedroom homestead, a four-bedroom manager’s residence, a two-bedroom cottage, two expander homes each with three bedrooms, two cottages under construction, and donga demountables providing five bedrooms connected to a large communal area and kitchen.

LAWD senior directors Col Medway and Tim McKinnon plus director Grant Veivers are handling the sale via expressions of interest closing March 27.

“The property’s combination of land types and pasture provides tremendous carrying capacity and fattening capability, as proven by the Chiconi family’s success in first turning off quality Angus cattle, and for the past 10 years, premium Wagyu feeder steers,” Mr Medway said.

“Taylors Plains will not require a cent to be spent by the successful buyer because they will be walking into a sophisticated cattle operation backed by guaranteed water, abundant pasture and top notch infrastructure.”

Originally published as Queensland family’s wagyu gem hits the market