Mixed results for $40m NSW farm auctions
A NSW Riverina farm has been snapped up for almost $30,000 a hectare, while two other properties failed to sell through auction.
A series of farmland auctions expected to field offers worth a combined $40m have returned a collection of mixed results.
Southern NSW properties, the 370.74ha Moorak at Holbrook and the 271.6ha Ellambah, at nearby Cookardinia, were sold under the hammer for a combined $14.05m.
Offered for sale by the Collins family, the two properties are separated by about 25km and have served as the home of their Kenmere Charolais Stud.
The Kenmere Charolais breed was established in the early 1970s with original French bloodlines imported via New Zealand to Australia.
In 2004, Matthew and Ann-Marie Collins purchased all the cattle and began the work of rebuilding the stud to the original standards set by John Collins in its inception.
Moorak and Ellambah were auctioned and sold separately on Thursday at the Mercure Hotel Wagga Wagga where there were five registered bidders across the two farms.
Bidding for Moorak started at $6m before a late offer from a private buyer, operating via phone, secured the property for $10m, or equivalent to $29,954 a hectare.
A separate private buyer, operating via phone, purchased Ellambah for $4.05m, or the equivalent of $14,890 a hectare.
Ray White Rural Wagga Wagga agent Geoff Palmer in conjunction with Chris Davidson Property principal Chris Davidson handled the sales of Moorak and Ellambah.
Meanwhile, the 569ha Benambra property, located at Mountain Creek, 20km southwest of Holbrook in the southern NSW Riverina failed to sell through auction.
Offered for sale by the Cottrell family after six generations and 130 years of family ownership, the property was passed in at an auction held at The Albury Club on Thursday.
Run as a mixed livestock and cropping property, offers for the holding were expected to reach $13m.
Post-auction negotiations are ongoing with agents from Elders Real Estate Wagga Wagga.
Elsewhere in the state, the 2335ha grazing property, Colomendy, located 40km northwest of Armidale, has also failed to sell through auction.
Offered for sale by Queensland cattle barons Peter and Jane Hughes on Thursday, the property was passed in for $12m.
LAWD agents Danny Thomas, Simon Cudmore and Elizabeth Doyle are handling the sale of Colomendy.
For the past 14 years, the Hughes family have been running a 700-head Wagyu cattle breeding operation on Colomendy, with 1334ha currently sown to improved pastures.
Earlier this year, the Hughes family paid about $66m to acquire the 33,959ha Taylors Plains, located 100km north of Mungallala in southwest Queensland.
