AFTER a lifetime of farming potatoes, the lure of the lucrative cattle market has won over Gavin McGuire, owner of “Cedar Plains”, Dorrigo.
Mr McGuire and his wife, Angie, have listed their 43 hectare (106.5 acre) property with Elders Dorrigo agent John Starr.
The couple purchased the property from Gavin’s father, Stan, five years ago. It had formed one half of the McGuire family property where they grew up to 20 tonnes of sebago potatoes a hectare.
“I’ve loved growing spuds, and there has been good money in it, but it’s time for a change,” Mr McGuire said.
For the past 12 months he has been running 120 steers on “Cedar Plains”. Its sale will allow him to focus on his cattle breeding properties at Walcha and Tamworth.
The Dorrigo property consists of gently undulating country with rich, red volcanic soil. It has an excellent supply of water from Simons Water Hole.
“Since my father and I have been there we’ve never seen the water hole run dry,” he said.
Annual rainfall is 1250 millimetres. The property also has a 52.5 megalitre water license. Just recently Mr McGuire installed a new solar pump which pumps to a header tank then gravity feeds to home and water trough.
The property has a modest timber three-bedroom house. Other working improvements include machinery shedding and cattle yards.
“Cedar Plains” will go under the hammer on December 16. Mr Starr said similar properties in the Dorrigo area had sold between $9000 and $12,000 an acre.
