A centrally located Lachlan River irrigation property now for sale by tender is being promoted as a 'feed factory' ideally suited as an outstation to an established dryland grazing operation.
It's owned today by the Kelly family who bought it in 2016 to use as a fodder growing and fattening adjunct to their main grazing operation in the Central Tablelands.
But owing to a change in their farm management arrangements, the Kellys are now downsizing and Packwood has been listed for sale with Ray White Emms Mooney's Josh Keefe and Ben Redfern.
Situated on the Lachlan Valley Way at Fairholme, 33 kilometres east of Condobolin and 66km west of Forbes, Packwood is a productive and well developed irrigation farm of 284 hectares (696ac).It was previously owned for more than a century by four generations of the local Nash family, most recently by Graeme Nash who developed much of the irrigation during the 1990s.
Graeme's great-grandfather, Martin Nash, took up the original Packwood in the early 1900s. His son, Austin, later added more country before dividing it all three ways between his sons.
The other two portions (one of which is also called Packwood) were sold earlier, leaving Graeme's - which had the original 1920s homestead and woolshed - as the last of Martin's original holding.
Graeme managed the property primarily for growing contract seed crops in conjunction with lamb fattening.
Today Packwood is managed as a fodder-growing complement to the owners' main breeding property. Weaner cattle are sent there to grow out, and lambs for fattening.
Average rainfall ranges from 430-457mm and the property has a five megalitre stock and domestic entitlement from the Lachlan River.
Underpinning the property's productivity is its irrigation system fed by a high-yield bore backed by Lachlan River water, the latter drawn from Island Creek (an anabranch of the Lachlan), to which Packwood has a 500-metre frontage.
Included in the sale package will be the 815 megalitre bore licence and the 143ML Lachlan River licence, from which a combined total of 1074ML (with carryover) is available for the 2019-20 season.
The property is all arable with soils of self-mulching black clays to deep red loams, and includes 230ha of developed flood irrigation serviced by 8km of channels and a 70ML retention holding dam.
Extensive channel work, check-bank upgrading and laser levelling has been undertaken during the past two years.
Current cropping consists of 134ha of lucerne and oats plus summer crop stubbles on which lambs are now being finished for market.
The original five-bedroom Nash homestead is complemented by a recently renovated four-bedroom home featuring a modern stone kitchen, ducted air conditioning and home office with NBN connection.
Working improvements include three large steel hay/machinery sheds, one with lock-up workshop and five self-emptying silos of 215 tonnes total capacity.
Tenders for Packwood close on August 30.
By PETER AUSTIN.
