Freeman Pastoral Co sells huge Qld cattle farm for $60m-plus

A Queensland farming family has sold their prized 10,285ha property to a local buyer. See the details.

Meeleebee Downs, as an aggregation, was running 3000 breeders and had an estimated carrying capacity of 9500 adult equivalents (AE).

A Queensland pastoral farming family has offloaded one of its significant grazing properties, ending a tenure dating back almost 50 years.

The Freeman Pastoral Company has sold the major piece of its 24,168ha Meeleebee Downs aggregation, located 65km northeast of Roma.

It has been reported that the 10,285ha Meeleebee Downs property has been sold for more than $60m, on a bare basis, to the West family.

The sale of the Meeleebee Downs property comes after the aggregation was listed for sale in January this year, where it was expected to field offers worth $140m-plus.

It is understood the 7959ha Clifford is under offer while the 5924ha Slate Hill property has been retained by the Freeman Pastoral Company.

Purchased and aggregated by the Freeman family between 1975 and 1977, the Meeleebee Downs aggregation had been operated alongside their home block, plus the 5000ha Ballandean Station, located 20km south of Stanthorpe.

Water security was a feature of Meeleebee Downs, including four bores that tap into a major aquifer, plus 18 shallow bores that together supply 71 tanks to a network of more than 200 gravity-fed troughs.

As an aggregation, Meeleebee Downs comprised six freehold titles (STCA), running 3000 breeders and an estimated carrying capacity of 9500 adult equivalents.

This stocking rate was supported by an extensive system of watering points from four bores that tap into the Sandstone Precipice, a major aquifer in the Surat Basin, plus 18 shallow bores that together supply 71 tanks to a network of more than 200 gravity-fed troughs.

“When bought in 1975, Meeleebee Downs was an undeveloped brigalow, bottle tree and belah block and the Freemans set about establishing, on average, four watering points in each paddock, to best use available feed,” vendor Kell Freeman said when the aggregation was listed for sale earlier this year.

“The four solar and electric powered Precipice bores are deep and extremely reliable as they tap into the Great Artesian Basin and are capable of watering the entire holding. We also have frontage to the Slate Hill, Barton and Kangaroo Creeks, and extensive improved pastures of mainly Buffet and Rhodes grass, as well as native grasses and seasonal medics.”

The property has 67 dams, further supported by an annual rainfall of 561mm.

Meeleebee Downs also receives additional annuity from 22 Origin Energy gas wells, a communication tower and a Powerlink easement.

LAWD senior director Danny Thomas and director Elizabeth Doyle handled the sale of the Meeleebee Downs property. They were unable to comment on the transaction.