Wimmera family farm fails to sell at auction

A tightly held 950ha farm south of Horsham has been passed in at auction for more than $10 million. See how it happened.

The Grimble family’s Wimmera family farm, at Brimpaen, failed to sell at a March 14 auction.

A tightly held northern Grampians farm, spanning more than 950ha on the Wimmera plains, has failed to sell at auction, passing in for more than $10 million.

David and Jenny Grimble’s 952ha mixed-farming property Trehedyn, about 40km south of Horsham, was offered for sale as a whole via auction on Thursday but did not attract a bid from the floor on the day.

A crowd of almost 30 people watched on from the Haven Hall as proceedings began with a vendor bid of $8648 a hectare ($3500 an acre).

The opening bid was met with silence, before a second vendor bid was entered at $11,119 a hectare ($4500 an acre), totalling $10.587 million.

The property was then passed in and is now available via post-auction negotiations.

Harcourts Horsham selling agent Mark Clyne said a number of potential buyers had showed interest in the property but weren’t able to purchase under auction conditions.

“Some buyers in the district have expanded in recent years, so they still have a bit of debt to service, while others are interested in buying but can’t find the workers and labour to manage extra land,” he said.

Trehedyn, is subdivided into 29 paddocks, comprising mainly heavy loam soils.

“Getting finance from the banks is also taking extra time at the moment so that makes it harder to buy under auction conditions.

“But there are parties interested because this is a tightly held and highly regarded property.

“The opportunity to get a hold of a sizeable parcel of land in the Brimpaen district is also quite rare.”

Owned by the Grimble family since 1957, Trehedyn is located at Brimpaen, at the foothills of the northern Grampians.

Mr and Mrs Grimble took the reins of the property in the early 2000s after moving on from a three-way partnership with Mr Grimble’s father. The couple listed the property for sale earlier this year eyeing retirement.

Previously the property had grown wheat and canola, but in recent seasons switched to a self-replacing flock for fat lambs, conservatively stocking 2300 Merino and first-cross ewes and 500 young future breeders.

About 120-160ha has been sown to crops.

Elsewhere in the Wimmera, four cropping farms spanning 410ha north of Horsham on the Kalkee plains, were sold to separate local farming families through two separate auctions in deals worth more than $10 million.