Handbury family to divest its Saltbush aggregation in South Australia’s mid north

A renowned pastoral family is selling the six-property holding in South Australia’s mid-north which they’ve held for 27 years.

A renowned pastoral family who built up and then sold Collinsville Merino and Poll Merino Stud has put their six properties in South Australia on the market.

The Handbury family is seeking to divest their Saltbush Ag, a 2850ha aggregation in the Booborowie/Leighton area, and industry sources believe it will sell for between $35m and $40m.

Paddy Handbury said his family had owned the aggregation in SA’s mid-north for 27 years and opted to sell to focus on properties in the state’s south east.

“When times are good, good properties come up and we have just bought three cracking properties closer to home. So we’re keen for our son Jack and his family to move down south while his family is still young and he can run Saltbush Ag from the expanded property aggregation around Lucindale,” he said.

The Handburys have been landowners in SA since they bought the Collinsville Merino and Poll Merino stud in 1995.

The Saltbush aggregation in the mid-north region of South Australia at Booborowie and Leighton is on the market.

They sold the stud empire in 2014 after 19 years of ownership, ensuring its survival as one of the country’s great suppliers of superior Merino genetics.

“We’ve had a long association with South Australia since Collinsville and Saltbush Ag’s mid north aggregation is made up of some prized fertile country, ideal for cropping, prime lamb, hay production and Merino sheep,” Mr Handbury said.

“There’s plenty of water too and it works very well in our aggregation of hay and cereal growing. The opportunity is available to buy in a line, or we’d consider individual blocks.”

The aggregation focuses on integration from broadacre cropping and prime lamb production benefiting from scale, operational efficiency, fertile soils and strategic location within proximity to markets. The infrastructure across the properties includes two main homesteads, five additional homes, hay and implement sheds, sheep feedlot, two shearing sheds, irrigation pivots, grain storage silos, workshops and other shedding.

An aerial of the Handbury’s aggregation in South Australia’s mid north.

Ray White Rural South Australia principals Geoff Schell and Daniel Schell are marketing the aggregation for the family.

Geoff Schell said the aggregation was in a highly productive part of the state and was an opportunity of a scale very rarely offered in the area.

“I have lived and worked in this area for over 30 years. There’s been good interest from all over the country so far,” he said. “It’s a unique opportunity to invest in such a large-scale farming operation in this highly regarded region of SA.”

“The … district is highly recognised for its suitability and flexibility to broad enterprise options including growing cereals, oil seeds, legumes, hay production, prime lamb and wool production,” Mr Schell said, adding that underground water was one of the key assets with supply from equipped bores, including irrigation bores.