The Nerrinyerie homestead. Image – TDC Livestock and Property.

WESTERN Victorian mixed farm Nerrinyerie has been added to the property portfolio of leading Chinese textile millionaire Qingnan Wen.

TDC Livestock and Property agent Tom Pearce confirmed that Mr Wen, the owner of Tianyu Wool, the world’s biggest wool scourer and top maker, has bought the 1667.3ha (4119.9 acres) property near Harrow.

Mr Pearce and fellow TDC Livestock and Property agent Mark DeGaris handled the sale. They would not disclose the ultimate purchase price, but the property was listed in an expressions of interest process earlier this year with expectations of offers between $19.5-$21 million.

Mr Pearce said the property would be used for sheep breeding and for running Merino wethers for fine wool production.

Mr Wen‘s other Victorian property purchases have included the 2349ha Mawallok Estate near Beaufort, the Mokanger and Lewana farms near Cavendish, and the 2000ha Lal Lal Estate near Ballarat.

Mr Pearce said Nerrinyerie can be used for a mixed farming enterprise.

“It has a history of growing wool, but it also has of turning off fat lambs as well.

“The sale probably speaks more about the demand for properties of scale with good infrastructure and facilities,” he said.

“It’s a walk-in start,” Mr DeGaris said.

The Nerrinyerie sheep flock was sold prior to the land sale. TDC Property said in recent seasons Nerrinyerie was home to 8500 maternal composite ewes, but was initially used for Merino and wool production. Since the 1990s about 404ha (1000 acres) have been cropped to cereals and canola.

The property is located at 6159 Coleraine Edenhope Rd, Harrow, and was initially a part of a property called Longlands, that was purchased by the Edgar family in 1877. It has been held under one ownership – the Edgar family — for 146 years.

Nerrinyerie is described as an impressive, well managed and presented property that has had extensive pasture renovation, with established stands of Phalaris, rye, clovers, cocksfoot and lucerne.

The property has a strong fertiliser history, with 100kg to 120kg per ha of single super spread annually, and additional supplements applied as required.

The well-drained property offers a good balance of soils, ranging from medium loams grading to heavy clay-based loams with portions of true terra rossa. Nerrinyerie also has reliable underground water and two electric pump equipped bores fill header tanks near the improvements, that reticulate to troughs. The balance of the property is serviced by a series of solar pumps filling new poly tanks reticulating to troughs. Dams act as back up.

The majority of the 36 main paddocks are serviced by the lane way system, assisting with the ease of stock movements and overall management. Fencing is a mixture of plain wire, cyclone and netting.

The selling agents said the property had first class improvements, with a renovated character stone four-bedroom homestead featuring a chef’s kitchen with butler’s pantry open to a large living area. A second upgraded three-bedroom dwelling serves as a manager’s home, with a two-bedroom cottage offering further accommodation.

A five-stand raised board woolshed with undercover yards has just been completed and large capacity external yards complement the sheep handling facilities. Original steel yards service the pre-existing woolshed. Located close to the new woolshed are containment feeding yards that include 2200sqm of undercover pens and further backgrounding yards, giving a capacity for about 6000 lambs.

Further shedding includes a high clearance workshop with high bay lighting and a concrete base with an adjoining machinery shed and many additional sundry sheds.

The impressive Nerrinyerie sheep infrastructure. Image – TDC Livestock and Property.