Look deeper than its $12 million price tag and agents say few properties come as cheaply as a 2078-hectare grazing property at Balala near Uralla.
"On a per breeder or per acre area, it is possibly the most affordable place in northern NSW at the moment," Nutrien agent Joel Fleming said.
The 5134-acre Kurrajong Park, he said, is "very competitively" priced at $2340 an acre or $15,000 a breeder area, after being passed in at auction.
Set in the New England region 45 kilometres from Armidale, it's been home to grazier John Kennedy for more than 20 years.
Mr Kennedy said Kurrajong Park's profitability had helped him amass 20 farming properties spanning 40,000 acres without any other source of finance.
"I've earned good money off it every year," he said.
"I think the fact that I've been able to buy so many more places and the money's got to come off the property shows that the place is a good income earner."
Because Mr Kennedy and his team of four staff members run the whole 20 properties, it's also very efficient to manage.
"You can run that place one day a week," he said.
"If whoever buys it runs it the way I run it, you'd have an easy lifestyle.
"You could spend three days a week playing golf if you want because all the work's been done."
He'd had as many as 1000 breeders over two years at Kurrajong Park but year in, year out, Mr Kennedy said, it was safe to stock 800 breeding Angus cows and their calves.
The property had also performed well as a fattening platform for trade cattle.
"We had 1600 trade cattle that we grew right through and they did 0.7 kilograms a day right through for the full year and the winter, which I was pretty happy with," he said.
Up until six years ago, though, Kurrajong Park ran 14,000 sheep.
"I'd buy older ewes in, shear them once, join them up to British rams and sell them as scanned ewes," Mr Kennedy said.
The legacy was excellent fencing, yards and a raised-board, five-stand shearing shed, which meant Kurrajong Park could run sheep without requiring any extra expenditure.
There are 33 main paddocks with a central laneway and the 58 dams across the property were all cleaned out in 2019.
A bore provides water to the two houses, sheds, cattle yards and the laneway.
Mr Kennedy said the average annual rainfall was a reliable 775-825 millimetres.
Although Kurrajong Park is 700-1100 metres above sea level, it was rare to see more than a dusting of snow every few years.
It rises from creek flats to soft, lightly-timbered undulations, with a small amount of steeper, heavily timbered country.
"For anyone that doesn't like hills, it'd be an issue for them," Mr Kennedy said.
"It doesn't bother me at all in the slightest.
"You get more land for free because it's all surveyed flat."
Although the property is 2078ha on paper, he said, the ground area was considerably larger so enough fertiliser was spread for an extra 400ha.
Clover seed is spread with the fertiliser by air each year to oversow the native pastures that flourish on the red trap soils on the lower country, which transition to red basalt on the tops.
A very comfortable three-bedroom, two-bathroom plus office, home offers spectacular views of the valley.
Mr Fleming said a second three-bedroom home with landscaped gardens "would see a manager or employee very comfortable".
Contact Nutrien Harcourts agent Joel Fleming on 0467 725 195.
Marian Macdonald
Writing for farmers in the Stock & Land, The Land, Queensland Country Life, Stock Journal and FarmWeekly, farming in Gippsland.
Writing for farmers in the Stock & Land, The Land, Queensland Country Life, Stock Journal and FarmWeekly, farming in Gippsland.
