- Location: Gunnedah
- Agent: Ian McArthur 0429 431 519. Elders Gunnedah.
A choice irrigation farm with quality improvements and Namoi River frontage is expected to attract keen competition when it goes under the hammer in Gunnedah next month.
The property, Weetaliba, is likely to appeal to locals and graziers from other areas seeking a developed irrigation farm as an extension to an existing dryland operation.
Strategically situated just 10 kilometres east of Gunnedah on the renowned Liverpool Plains, Weetaliba is a compact property of 193 hectares (478 acres), all of it consisting of deep alluvial river flats.
Owners, Phil and Julie Glover, have held the property for the past 26 years, and since 1999 it has been the home to their Weetaliba Poll Hereford stud.
Now the Glovers are planning to relocate to the coast, and the property has been listed for sale by Elders Gunnedah and will go to auction on October 15.
Managed by the Glovers primarily for stud cattle breeding, with irrigation providing fodder back-up, the property was previously farmed, growing cotton and cereal crops.
Fronting the Namoi River for 2.6km along its southern boundary, the property originally formed part of Gunnible Station and was the site of its main river pumps.
Under previous ownership about 90ha of the property adjacent to the river was laser levelled and this is divided into bays for irrigation.
Today water for irrigation is drawn not from the river, but from two bores, backed by a highly-valued 174-megalitre Upper Namoi Zone 4 aquifer licence.
The main bore, reconditioned and equipped with a new pump, is powered by a 67-kilowatt John Deere motor and has an output of 140,000 litres an hour.
Water from this flows to an open channel for reticulation to bays for flood irrigation, and also supplies an Otech lateral pivot which covers an area of 24ha.
A second irrigation bore is equipped with a Perkins motor and has a 70,000l output, but has been unused for the past 10 years.
There is also a stock and domestic bore with an electric submersible pump which delivers water to a 22,500l tank for reticulation to the house, outbuildings and 23 paddock troughs.
The property is subdivided into 26 paddocks with most of the internal fencing being electric.
A well-shaded set of steel and timber cattle yards with concrete race, crush, and access to power and water is surrounded by three large holding pens.
Working improvements include a steel-framed machinery shed with workshop, two enclosed Colorbond storage sheds with amenities, a steel hayshed and 10-tonne elevated silo.
A 10KVA solar system is mounted on one of the Colorbond sheds.
An attractive weatherboard home of four bedrooms, built in 1994, is set alongside the river with an in-ground pool.
Flanked on two sides by verandas, the home features an open-plan layout with polished timber and carpeted floors, reverse-cycle and evaporative air conditioning and wood heating.
A drawcard of Weetaliba is the groundwater licence which will be given in with the property. Recent sales of water in the same zone have seen prices paid upwards of $6000/megalitre.
BY PETER AUSTIN.