Dairy property for sale: Weerongurt, Illowa, Victoria, 181ha

ON THE day Jim Madden was born, his parents bought part of what would become the family farm for the next 75 years.

Top soils: Weerongurt has become a dairying operation and has all the infrastructure.

ON THE day Jim Madden was born, his parents bought part of what would become the family farm for the next 75 years.

Weerongurt, on coastal country at Illowa, 10km west of Warrnambool, has rich soils, outstanding views and more than a passing link to Ireland.

In the 1840s, Irish immigrant William Rutledge took up 2072ha, known as Farnham, stretching from Koroit to Killarney and east to the Merri River.

ILLOWA

WEERONGURT

PROPERTY: Dairy, intensive agriculture

SIZE: 181ha

SALE: Expressions of interest close November 18

PRICE: $3 million-plus

AGENT: Charles Stewart and Co

CONTACT: Nick Adamson, 0418 571 589

Part of this included Weerongurt, which passed to son Thomas after his death in a buggy accident in 1876.

William imported Irish labourers from potato famine-ravaged Ireland to be tenant farmers and Farnham became known as a major potato producer of intercolonial celebrity.

Jim’s father, P.F. Madden, bought Weerongurt in the 1940s. “We grew potatoes and onions until the mid-’90s, but it was exclusively dairying after that,” Jim said.

He and wife Carmel have run 300 Friesian cows on a self-contained basis, with young and dry stock, and fodder retained on-property, producing up to two million litres of milk.

Chocolate volcanic loam soil types run on to red banks, with peat flats, black loams and sandy soils on inundation country. Pasture types include rye-grass, white clovers, strawberry and sub-­clovers and native grasses.

Water is supplied through a 360ML licence and a bore pumped to 4500-litre troughs via underground irrigation mains.

A travelling irrigator extending 2km across the property waters 57ha.

There are freshwater tanks as well as a second bore for stock.

The brick-veneer home offers four bedrooms, two bathrooms, living areas, rumpus room, lounge/dining, kitchen and single garage.

There is a two-bedroom sandstone cottage, built around 1880, and 25-head swing-over herringbone dairy, equipped with 12,000-litre vat, feed system with silo, 300-cow yard and two effluent ponds.

All of this is complemented by a machinery shed and two 500-tonne silage pits.