Dave and Jane Field list massive Tassie dairy farm for sale

A 825ha dairy, home to a 1400-cow milking herd in northwest Tasmania, has hit the market in a premier offering.

A New Zealand family is calling time on its Australian farming pursuits, listing a whopping 825ha northwest Tasmanian dairy for sale.

Dave and Jane Field are selling their 1400-cow dairy farm, Montagu, located 17km west of Smithton, offering the property to the market after almost a decade of ownership.

The Field family stumbled onto the property about 10 years ago when searching for a viable place to expand their existing New Zealand dairy operation.

Since crossing the Tasman, the Montagu property has remained relatively the same size but the Fields have expanded production to its massive 1400-cow herd carried today.

Montagu is for sale via expressions of interest with no price guide offered.

“We expect good interest for Montagu, because it is very well set up with dairy infrastructure and water and is so well developed,” Nutrien Harcourts Tasmanian selling agent Tony Maguire said.

Dairy farmers Dave and Jane Field with some of their Montagu herd in northwest Tasmania. Picture: Chris Kidd

“Eighty-five per cent of the property is irrigated with the majority under pivots and access to the Duck River Irrigation Scheme.

“The successful purchaser will also have the first option to purchase the herd at Montagu.”

When the Fields purchased Montagu it was carrying about 800 cows, increasing the herd to 1400 cows milked on a once-a-day system.

In recent seasons the property has run a herd of 1385 milking cows, 800 calves, 274 rising, 2 heifers and 20 bulls, while all silage is grown and cows wintered on-farm.

Infrastructure at the property includes a 70-unit rotary dairy, 900 sqm calf rearing shed, 288 sqm workshop and four three-bedroom dwellings.

The Field family’s Tasmanian dairy farm carries 1385 milking cows, 800 calves, 274 rising, 2 heifers and 20 bulls.

There are also four irrigation pivots and an 800-megalitre water entitlement from the Duck River Irrigation Scheme.

The Montagu dairy is located close to the 16,000ha Woolnorth dairy farms aggregation, predominantly owned by the Chinese Van Dairy Limited.

Two years ago Tasmanian-born Tim Roberts-Thomson’s TRT Pastoral purchased 6000ha of Woolnorth from Van Dairy Limited in a deal worth $120 million.

The Field family’s Montagu property is the latest in a series of high-profile Australian dairy farms to hit the market this year while farmgate returns remain near record highs.

The Field family’s Tasmanian dairy farm carries 1385 milking cows, 800 calves, 274 rising, 2 heifers and 20 bulls.

This spring Matt and Alli Reid, winners of The Weekly Times Coles 2020 Farmer of the Year award, listed their 650ha Carlisle River dairy, while the Caramut-based Diprose family is selling the 1277ha Simpson Dairy Aggregation, located in southwest Victoria, where it is expected to receive offers worth more than $35 million walk-in walk-out.

In northern Victoria a 763ha, 1000-cow dairy has been listed at $17 million-plus, while Brad and Karin Fischer are also selling their 1500ha South Australian dairy and cropping property, located 16km west of Meningie, for $24 million.