Tarqua in Victoria’s Western District is on the market after 140 years of family ownership. Photo: LAWD

THIS week’s property review includes a wrap-up of interesting recent listings and sales across the country.

• NSW grazing aggregation offered for $26m–$27m
• Bartlett brothers list SA’s blue-ribbon Tolcairn
• EOIs for Western District’s Tarqua
• SA’s Heathwell and Yulong relist separately
• CW NSW’s Kallara makes $2.2m

NSW grazing aggregation offered for $26m–$27m

Robert Rich’s productive livestock operation in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales has returned to the market with a price guide of $26 million to $27 million.

The 2393ha Girrakool and North Pomeroy are near Mummel, 25km from Goulburn and 30km from Crookwell.

The adjoining properties were first offered for sale in March 2024 but subsequently withdrawn after failing to sell at auction.

The Sydney businessman acquired Girrakool in November 1999 and North Pomeroy in October 2006, developing the properties into an integrated cattle and sheep-breeding enterprise supported by improved pastures and an annual hay and silage program.

The aggregation conservatively carries 1000 breeding cows, with progeny grown to feedlot entry weights of more than 400kg, as well as 1500 ewes.

The property is rated at 26,000DSE or 1650 breeding cows,  and is being offered with its high-performance SimAngus herd available to the successful purchaser.

Over 27 years of ownership, Mr Rich has invested in 40km of new fencing, an extra-wide central laneway system extending more than 10km and a network of 52 livestock grids linking all paddocks.

Girrakool and North Pomeroy are being offered for sale by Sydney businessman Robert Rich. Photo: Inglis Rural Property

Inglis Rural Property agent Liam Griffiths said the amalgamation of Girrakool and North Pomeroy had created one of the largest holdings in the Southern Tablelands.

“Robert Rich’s substantial capital investment in the entire enterprise has created an efficient operation with the flexibility to accommodate a broad range of livestock pursuits.”

The properties feature 10km of double frontage to the Wollondilly River, double frontage to Kiala and Oxley Creeks, 54 dams and two bores.

Infrastructure includes a manager’s residence, two cottages, two steel cattle and sheep yards, two shearing sheds and yards, and numerous sheds.

Girrakool and North Pomeroy are being offered for sale by expressions of interest closing on November 26.

Bartlett brothers list SA’s blue-ribbon Tolcairn

A 3259ha mixed farm on South Australia’s Limestone Coast is attracting strong interest from corporate buyers and farming families.

Tolcairn is near Sherwood, 30km east of Keith and 35km north-west of Bordertown.

Brothers Rodney, Brian and Paul Bartlett are selling the property ahead of retirement, having held it since 1980.

It is described as one of the Upper South East’s best cropping and grazing holdings.

The mostly flat to gently undulating country has grey sandy loam over clay.

Apart from some shelter belts, the land has been delved or clayed.

The cropping area spans 1346ha, comprising wheat (412ha), barley (527ha), canola (324ha), beans (96ha) and lupins (86ha).

The balance is sown to lucerne-based pastures supporting 3500 self-replacing breeding ewes, 1100 ewe lambs and 1130 wether lambs grown out to heavy weights.

The property is also equipped to run cattle.

Elders agent Mike Lind said Tolcairn as an efficient, well-developed turnkey operation.

“A major refencing program has been undertaken over the last 10 years, offering a wide laneway system for ease of machinery and livestock movement,” Mr Lind said.

“Rarely does a holding of this scale, quality and versatility become available in the Sherwood area with excellent management in place.”

Tolcairn’s infrastructure includes undercover sheep yards and a six-stand shearing shed. Photo: Elders

Mr Lind said the Bartlett family has taken a progressive and innovative approach to cropping.

“They were one of the first farming operations to use claying and delving which improves the moisture and temperature holding characteristics of the soil.”

“That in turn has reduced the susceptibility to frosts and increased cropping yields and allows them to run high stocking rates on clover and lucerne based pastures.”

Proximity to the Victorian border also creates strong competition among grain and livestock buyers, often delivering a premium, Mr Lind said.

Tolcairn averages 430mm of annual rainfall and has two bores and a 205ML water licence.

Infrastructure includes four homes, a six-stand shearing shed, undercover sheep yards, steel cattle yards, numerous sheds and 10 silos.

Tolcairn is offered as a whole or in two non-contingent lots – 2800ha with all structural improvements and 459ha with a set of sheep yards.

Expressions of interest close on November 20.

EOIs for Western District’s Tarqua

Tarqua, a mixed farm in western Victoria, is on the market after 140 years of single family ownership.

The 1073ha holding settled in 1886 is located near Ballyrogan, 15km south-west of Ararat and 25km west of Beaufort.

Tarqua is being offered with a price guide of $14,826/ha and is attracting interest from locals and farmers in the Western District seeking expansion.

The mostly gently undulating country has productive red-brown and clay loam soils.

Around 987ha, or 92pc of the property, is arable, supporting intensive winter dryland cropping of canola, wheat, barley, oats and faba beans alongside beef and sheep enterprises.

Tarqua typically carries 4000 ewes and lambs and 550 head of cattle, with an autumn lambing operation complemented by a spring calving cattle breeding program.

The Grampians Wimmera Mallee Pipeline Scheme, a bore and multiple dams supply water, supported by reliable rainfall of 600mm.

Infrastructure includes a four-bedroom home, a four-stand shearing shed, sheep and cattle yards, sheds and 647 tonnes of silo storage.

LAWD agents Danny Thomas and Patrick Kerr are handling the sale through expressions of interest closing on November 19.

SA’s Heathwell and Yulong relist separately

A mixed-farming aggregation in South Australia’s Murray and Mallee region has been relisted as two separate properties after it failed to sell through an expressions-of-interest campaign.

The 812ha Heathwell and 764ha Yulong are adjoining Tintinara district holdings assembled over the past decade by the Germein family.

Heathwell is now listed at $5.5 million, while Yulong is priced at $4 million.

The sale will allow the family to consolidate its assets closer to its home base on Yorke Peninsula.

Spence Dix & Co agents Ryan Llewellyn and Dom De Leo said the properties are well positioned in a 445mm rainfall district, providing a strong base for a mixed farming enterprise.

“Heathwell and Yulong offer multiple income streams, including livestock, lucerne seed, cropping and hay production,” they said.

“Both properties are suited to sheep and cattle and can operate as self-sufficient enterprises, producing grain and hay to support livestock.

“They are also backed by good infrastructure.”

Across the combined 1577ha, this year’s cropping program included 927ha of lucerne and 198ha of barley.

The properties are currently destocked and will be offered with substantial spring feed.

Each holding has separate road access, improvements, water systems and a residence, allowing buyers to acquire the full aggregation or either farm individually. Water is supplied by three bores.

CW NSW’s Kallara makes $2.2m

A couple from Wagga Wagga has paid $2.2 million for mixed farming and grazing country in the central west of NSW.

The 4500ha Kallara is located near Hermidale, 75km west of Nyngan and 75km east of Cobar and capable of running 4000DSE.

There are 1200ha of cultivation country (240ha fallowed from the 2024 wheat crop) with the balance growing abundant green feed supporting 200 cows and calves on agistment.

The undulating red loam to lighter gravel rises are timbered with pine box flats and areas of scattered mallee and kurrajong that grow a variety of natural herbages and grasses, edible scrub rosewood, curran bush and wild orange.

Kallara is situated in a 450mm average rainfall region and is watered by eight dams.

Infrastructure includes a three-bedroom home, a four-bedroom staff quarters, numerous sheds and a 25t silo.

Nutrien Russell Property & Livestock agent David Russell handled the sale.