Dairy farm gives way to crops at Narromine

Toobaroo is owned by Steve and Donna Shibble, who are selling to wind down into retirement and have listed the property for sale with Ray White Rural Dubbo for auction on September 2.

Fronting the Macquarie River 32 kilometres north of Narromine and 57km from Dubbo, Toobaroo is a rectangular block of 567 hectares (1402ac), managed now for irrigated and dryland cropping.

Before being purchased in the 1970s by Mr Shibble - at that time in partnership with his father, Joe - Toobaroo was twice its present size, running up to 3000 sheep as a grazing operation.

Following the subdivision, the Shibbles began converting their half of the original property to dairying, at first with 150 cows, and in time milking 450 to 500 cows, fed twice daily on feed pads.

A new 20-a-side herringbone dairy shed was constructed in the early 1980s and at its peak, before the Shibbles exited the troubled industry in 2012, it provided jobs for six employees.

Since then Toobaroo has been managed for irrigated and dryland cropping, utilising its nutrient-enriched soils and multiple sources of water.

Described as 90 to 95 per cent arable, the level to gently undulating property has rich alluvial soils fronting the river, merging into red loam soils at its northern end.

The irrigation is concentrated on the property's southern half and consists of 113 hectares of flood, 44ha of pivot and 44ha of linear irrigation.

Water is sourced from the river and from a high-yield bore that delivers 3.5 megalitres a day, with mains and channels configured to deliver water from either source to all fields.

The property comes with a 972-megalitre bore licence, a 100ML general security river licence and 6ML high security river licence.

This season there is 113ha of Lancer wheat on the flood irrigation, 110ha on the linear and 750ha on the dryland country, all thriving and included in the sale.

Thanks to its nutrient-rich soils, wheat grown on Toobaroo typically yields 3.7 tonnes/ha or half as much again as the district average.

A 44ha stand of Titan 7 lucerne planted last year is growing on the pivot irrigation, and cotton, canola and pulse crops have all been grown successfully over the years.

Working infrastructure is extensive, much of it being associated with the property's former enterprise as a large-scale dairy.

The two former feed pads, 100 metres and 50m in length, of steel construction with concrete floors, now serve as machinery sheds, supplemented by two others, with five and three bays respectively.

A former grain shed with concrete floor and skillions is now a 20m by 18m workshop complete with 30cfm compressor.

The infrastructure could easily be converted into a feedlot.

Other structures include eight silos with 370t total capacity, steel cattle yards to work 250 head, with crush and loading ramp, and the former three-stand shearing shed (now unequipped).

A comfortable four-bedroom brick veneer home with spacious kitchen, tiled living areas, heating and cooling, is set amid automatically watered lawns and gardens.

It is complemented by a three-bedroom cottage suitable for an overseer or seasonal workers.

The September 2 auction will take place at 11am at Western Plains Cultural Centre, Dubbo.