Riverina feedlot owners snap up NSW cropping farm at auction

The final part of a 1000ha, family-owned irrigated cropping aggregation in southern NSW has been sold under the hammer for millions.

The owners of a prominent Riverina feedlot have snapped up the final parcel of a 1000ha southern NSW cropping aggregation that first hit the market almost two years ago.

Warren and Kelly Barnett of the Mathoura Consolidated Feedlot have purchased the 517ha property Devonlea, offered for sale by Laradoc Pty Ltd through auction on Friday, May 30 at the Cadell on the Murray River Resort in Moama.

Bidding on the irrigated cropping and livestock enterprise began at $9390 a hectare, rising by bids of about $247 a hectare to $11,861 a hectare.

Four further bids of $124 a hectare raised the value to the winning multimillion dollar bid of $12,355 a hectare, equivalent to almost $6.39m in total.

It is understood the Barnetts also purchased 534ML of Moira Private Irrigation District entitlements at a pre-auction determined rate. The balance of 200ML was put up for auction and knocked down under the hammer at $2625 per megalitre to a private investor.

David Shelmerdine and family have sold all three parts of their 1000ha irrigated cropping and livestock enterprise near Moama in southern NSW.

The Barnetts key enterprise is their Mathoura Feedlot, which has a license for 8876 head and a current physical capacity of 8000 head.

The sale of Devonlea finalises David Shelmerdine and family’s agricultural holdings in the NSW Riverina, operated under the Laradoc Pty Ltd banner.

Two years ago, Mr Shelmerdine listed his larger 1000ha Moama aggregation for sale, and has since sold two of the three properties with Devonlea the only remaining property prior to Friday.

Fairfield West (259.7ha) was sold to the O’Sullivan family, from Elmore, for a figure about $8895 a hectare, while it is understood the Berryman family acquired Fairfield East (222.8ha). Fairfield East was expected to field offers worth about $9884 a hectare.

Devonlea offered a 1970s-built brick veneer home comprising three bedrooms plus an office, alongside a garage and separate studio or site office.

The Weekly Times estimates the three property sales, coupled with the water transactions have equated to more than $12.8m in total.

The Shelmerdine family acquired the Devonlea property in 1992 — 33 years ago, and over the past 10 years transformed the holding into a highly efficient irrigation property focused on the production of high-yielding cereal and oilseed crops under modern spray irrigation.

Mr Shelmerdine has recently relocated to France, with adviser Shane Kelly overseeing the sale of their remaining Moama asset.

Elders Real Estate agents Matt Horne and Oliver Boyd handled the sales of the long held Laradoc Pty Ltd holdings.

“There was exceptionally strong interest which carried through to auction day where there were four registered bidders and strong competition which culminated with an outstanding result,” he said.

“The sale of Devonlea sets a new high for the Moama and Thyra districts and demonstrates that highly efficient irrigation holdings continue to attract strong interest in the current market.”