New England grazing with a 750-head feedlot at Barraba

The feedlot is part of a bigger grazing enterprise at the 3452-hectare (8528 acre) New England property, Nangarah, run by Peter and Dale Hamilton and daughter, Jane Randall.

The Hamiltons run Angus cows and wean the calves onto either forage oats grown on the 200ha of cultivation country or tropical grass pastures that flourish during summer before bringing them into the feedlot.

Significant investments had been made to lift the grazing productivity to reach a carrying capacity of 800 cows and Nangarah has 21 individually-watered paddocks.

Feedlot numbers are topped up with bought-in young cattle, creating a steady income stream.

"Breeding cows, you get a big hit because all your calves are born at a certain time of year and you sell them off at once but, this way, the cash income's sort of spread all year round," Mr Hamilton said.

Developed to help the family get through the drought, the feedlot shone as cow prices soared.

Feed was expensive but the Hamiltons wanted to keep their property well stocked and the feedlot allowed the family to take advantage of handsome fat cattle prices.

"When the drought was over, we found it was a lot cheaper to run the feedlot because breeding cows were fairly dear to buy back in," Mr Hamilton said.

It's a surprisingly efficient system, with only the Hamiltons and two employees running the entire farm.

Originally wheat growers from Moree, the couple bought Nangarah in 2005 from the same Nutrien Tamworth agent selling it today, Howard Carter.

Mr Hamilton said the value for money the area presented then, and now, was attractive.

Among the keys to its performance was the terrain and soil, which has a clay base, loams and a little shale.

"It's undulating and the cattle aren't bogging down like they can on black soil rains after big, heavy rain," Mr Hamilton said.

"It runs off and the country dries up within a matter of a couple of days, so cattle go a lot better on it."

The 660-760 millimetre average annual rainfall was reliable, Mr Carter said, and Nangarah was serviced by three creeks and two equipped bores.

Mr Hamilton said the level of a waterhole in Nangarah Creek supplying the feedlot didn't drop, even during the most recent drought.

The creek is also a pretty setting for the spacious four-bedroom homestead and garden. There's a second brick home too, with a separate cottage.

All that accommodation could be particularly useful if the new owner decided to return Nangarah to running sheep, as would the two shearing sheds, one of them four-stand and the older of them two-stand.

There are several sheds for grain storage, a workshop, four-bay machinery shed and two sets of steel cattle yards with all-weather access to town.

Peter and Dale Hamilton are looking forward to a year of travel as part of their retirement plan but not without some regrets.

"I'll miss our neighbours and the good friendly people around the Barraba town," Mr Hamilton said.

"I'm going to retire, so I'll probably miss the whole whole show, running cattle, but you can't keep going forever."

Agents expect bids of at least $13 million or $1500 an acre at the July 6 auction. Contact Mr Carter on 0438 853 965.