Nearly 60 years of one-family ownership and a 30-year association with the same manager will come to an end next month when “Woodlea Park” at Yass goes up for auction.
The highly-regarded 1678 hectare (4146ac) Southern Tablelands grazing property has been listed for sale by Meares and Associates of Sydney on behalf of its long-standing owner Margaret Doyle.
Mrs Doyle’s decision to sell puts into play one of the relatively few 1600ha-plus holdings of highly improved country within three hours’ driving distance of Sydney, making it an appealing business/lifestyle proposition for a city-based investor.
'Woodlea Park' is a property of open, gently undulating, arable country of responsive granite, basalt and pipeclay soils.
And with estimated carrying capacity of 17,500 DSE and a history of Merino woolgrowing, prime lamb production and breeding and fattening cattle, it’s a property with solid production credentials.
“Woodlea Park” was a modest 800ha when purchased in 1959 by Mrs Doyle’s father, Sydney Stott (whose father was a co-founder of the business equipment firm of Stott and Underwood).
Stott later added the adjoining “Innisfail” of 400ha, and the Doyles annexed part of adjoining “Willowbank” in 1996 to complete the package now for sale.
Situated on Lachlan Valley Way just 12 kilometres north of Yass, “Woodlea Park” is a property of open, gently undulating, arable country of responsive granite, basalt and pipeclay soils.
Under the guidance (until 2006) of respected agronomist Mark Lucas, and the hands-on expertise of longtime manager Kim Dyson, high-performance perennial pastures have been established over 75 per cent of the property.
The balance is native pastures including microlaena, brome and danthonia, and overall productivity is maintained by a fertiliser program that sees 400ha of the property topdressed each year.
This emphasis on pasture performance has resulted in a 60 per cent boost in the property’s carrying capacity in the past 30 years.
In recent years the enterprise mix has seen a switch from Merino sheep to prime lamb breeding, and now 4260 first-cross ewes (raising 5000 to 5500 lambs) are carried, along with an Angus herd of 190-200 breeders.
Lambs are typically turned off at premium market weights of 44-60kg, while steer progeny and cull heifers are grown out to 480-500kg.
Average rainfall is 700-750mm and the property’s 53 paddocks are well watered by dams, three creeks and a reticulation system.
The original grand homestead built in 1927 for the former owner, grocery retailer A.W. Curtis, is now derelict but occupies a prime elevated site amid mature trees, offering redevelopment potential.
Existing accommodation consists of a four-bedroom brick manager’s residence set well away from the original homestead, close to working structures, and two fibro cottages for staff or visitor use.
Working improvements include a large, multi-purpose steel shed and workshop, four-stand electric shearing shed with steel bugle yards and steel cattle yards of 100-head capacity.
“Woodlea Park” will be offered over two days at on-line auction on November 8-9, with bidding expected in a range from $10-$11 million.