A HISTORIC Manilla River Valley property once known for its fine wool and now used as a breeding, backgrounding and fattening property has sold for a figure believed to have tipped $100 million. Located north west of Barraba, the aggregation comprises three adjoining holdings spanning 11,323 hectares. They include the 4,110-hectare Plumthorpe, which has a carrying capacity of 1,500 breeders or up to 32,000 DSE, the 4,466-hectare Mayvale, offering the same capacity as Plumthorpe, and the 2,747-hectare Camp Santo, which has carrying capacity of 1,200 breeders and up to 21,000 DSE.
It conservatively runs 4,000 Angus breeding cows and followers during peak season. Total numbers can reach 9,000 head. The $100-million deal is across a three-property portfolio sold by Charlie Hart of Hart Rural Agencies in conjunction with Chris Meares of Meares & Associates. It is believed the land sold for circa $84 million with and up to $17 million paid for plant and equipment.
One of the properties is a unique, Spanish-inspired farm which left Hart curious as to how the Spanish influence came to Barraba. Plumthorpe boasts a circa-1936 11-bedroom Spanish-style homestead built by the Burdekin family that has been fully restored after a fire in a wing of the property in the 1990s caused $2 million in damages. There is close to 30,000 acres across the three properties with the price coming at over $3,500 an acre. No property in the district has ever sold for more than $3,000 an acre before. Including the plants and livestock within the properties.
Plumthorpe was originally formed in 1888 and the aggregation has been owned by renowned pastoral families including the Carter, Wilson, Burdekin, Capel, Vickery, Madden and McHugh families. Since 2008 it has been owned by a syndicate featuring the family of the late Paul Ramsay, chairman and founder of Ramsay Health Care, and London-based Conservative politician Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, or Lord Salisbury, who is currently Chancellor pf the University of Hertfordshire.
Plumthorpe features mostly heavy basalt soils with fertile loams along the river and creek and arable areas. It has about 3,500 hectares of farming country, 6,350 hectares of native and improved grazing country, and timbered land than can be stocked comprising the balance. The aggregation in an above-average rainfall region – receiving 700 to 800 millimetres-plus – and is watered by double frontage to the Manilla River and Tareela Creek, 14 bores and 150 dams. Mayvale and Campo Santo have been owned over the years by an array of some of NSW’s most prominent farming families.