- LOCATION: Lake Cargelligo
- EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST: Close on February 26
- LAND: 53,537ha (132,562ac)
- AGENT: David Russell, 0418 636 050. Nutrien Russell Cobar.
Low-cost broadacre cropping on a grand scale is available to investors who are prepared to venture into the Western Division, where canny buyers are now doing their sums on a major new listing.
Nutrien Russell Cobar has been engaged to market the Yara/Kilparney aggregation at Lake Cargelligo - a combined area of 53,537 hectares (132,562ac) featuring some 12,440ha of cultivation.
The aggregation is owned by Des Lush, who is selling his Lake Cargelligo country only because his long-standing manager there is moving on.
Both Yara and Kilparney were held by Bob and Carla Cowles, who offered them for sale as separate parcels at auction in 2010.
Mr Lush bought Yara (32,632ha) at auction and for some years leased the nearby 20,905ha Kilparney, later buying it also to rebuild the aggregation.
Since taking over the properties, Mr Lush has invested heavily in fencing, water and livestock infrastructure, as well as expanding the area available for cultivation.
The two properties are situated near Mount Hope, about 70 kilometres north-west of Lake Cargelligo.
They are being marketed as a walk-in, walk-out proposition with an extensive inventory of plant and machinery, livestock, and hay and grain from last year's bumper harvest.
Kilparney was held for more than 50 years in the early part of last century by the Byrne family, when it was a community focal point and a venue for picnic races, gymkhanas and woolshed dances.
The country was then home to Merino sheep, but as cultivation permits later opened up areas of the Western Division to cropping, the landscape took on a new appearance.
Land clearing was allowed on a limited scale, to a 'window pane' pattern which required the retention of regular lines of native vegetation as protection against wind erosion.
Today some 9500ha of Yara is farmed, of which 6340ha has been spray-fallowed for 2021 sowing, and 2940ha of Kilparney - a total cultivation area of about 12,440ha.
Last year's harvest saw barley yields average 3.48 t/ha and wheat 2.8t/ha for a total haul of close to 17,000 tonnes, of which some 7500t of barley is stored on-farm and included in the sale.
Also included in the sale is the Australian White sheep flock comprising 2000 joined ewes and 1000 wether lambs.
The country is mostly flat with red loam soils apart from a stony outcrop on Kilparney, and timbered by rosewood, pine, box and mallee.
The extensive working infrastructure includes two four-stand shearing sheds (one new, but unequipped) with steel yards, machinery and hay sheds, workshop and four 1000t silos.
Average rainfall is 380mm and the properties are watered by earth dams and reticulation to troughs from a solar bore.
Expressions of interest are invited for one or both properties by a closing date of February 26, with the extensive inclusions indicating an overall price on the high side of $20 million.
