Muensters sell Marong at Deniliquin to NSW cotton grower

A northern NSW family has sold their 2370ha Deniliquin property in a multimillion-dollar deal with a local cotton grower.

A Riverina cotton grower is the new owner of the 2370ha Marong Station, near Deniliquin, acquiring it in an eight-figure multimillion-dollar deal.

Dan and Sally Muenster, who live north of Bourke at Congarrara Station, listed the property for sale in September last year after seven years of ownership, with offers tipped to reach about $14 million to $15 million.

In a deal understood to be worth about the expectations, a Deniliquin cotton grower has purchased the property from the northwest NSW goat producers.

Contracts have been exchanged for the property with settlement due in coming weeks.

Before the Muensters acquired the property, Marong was listed for sale in 2015 by former Bourke farmers Scott and Kaylene Loader.

The Loaders had owned Marong for about five years before they decided to sell.

Nutrien Harcourts Deniliquin selling agent James Sides did not comment on details of the deal due to confidentiality arrangements.

Mr Sides said Marong gathered interest from a mix of northern NSW and local buyers despite the complication of spring floods affecting the Riverina.

The 2370ha Marong, at Deniliquin has been sold by the Muenster family.

“The flooding made it hard, but I think it was a sign of the strength of the market that even in trying times there was still significant interest in good quality properties,” Mr Sides said.

During the Muensters’ tenure they conservatively have run 3000 ewes plus followers, 50 cows and 400 nannies plus kids on the property over the past seven years.

Additional goat numbers consisting of up to 100,000 head are turned off on a rotation basis annually.

Marong’s 100-year-old five-bedroom homestead.

When the property was listed for sale there was about 370ha of established lucerne and pastures for livestock and hay, “with capacity for further irrigation, watering and development for summer and winter fodder and grain production”.

Last year Deniliquin district farmland was hot property with a number of notable deals completed including the Shippens’ $16 million purchase of the 9921ha Rhyola and Inverness aggregation and the Hooke family’s $17.8 million acquisition of the 10,293ha Booroorban Aggregation, located 75km north of Deniliquin.

From one side of southern NSW to another, offers of about $12.5 million are expected for a South West Slopes farm owned by the same family for three decades.

Coppa Canyon, near Jugiong, comprising 883.7ha is being offered by Byll and Felicite Swan.

During their tenure the Swans have run a self-replacing fine Merino wool and lamb enterprise, alongside 13 income-generating wind turbines in an established wind farm.

The Swan family are selling Coppa Canyon at Jugiong.

“This is, without doubt, wonderful sheep country where we have successfully run a self-replacing Merino flock and made money from it,” Mr Swan said.

LAWD senior director Col Medway and director Tim Corcoran are handling the sale, with Mr Medway expecting nearby farming families seeking expansion and high net-worth investors to be interested in Coppa Canyon.

“The property is a proven parcel of high-rainfall land that has consistently produced high-quality fleece and lambs, that now also benefits from a substantial stream of additional income from the wind farm,” Mr Medway said.

Expressions of interest for Coppa Canyon close March 9.