CONSOLIDATED Pastoral Company has added the adjoining property Emu’s Nest to its Central Queensland property aggregation.
A large crowd gathered at the Rockhampton Leagues Club for auction, which saw 10 parties registered to bid following 20 inspections.
Auctioneer Gary Hourn, Hourn & Bishop Qld, opened the bidding at $5 million and after five parties battled it out, the property was eventually sold under the hammer to Consolidated Pastoral Company for $8.325 million.
The sale price is equal to about $2112/ha ($855/acre).
The bidding register showed a good representation of strong grazing entities from around Central Queensland.
Duaringa grazier Barry and Claire Hoare were in the bidding for a long time but eventually it ended up a bidding dual between Geoff and Delrae Shaw, Comanche, Morinish, and Consolidated Pastoral Company.
Consolidated Pastoral Company was represented by solicitor Trent Thorne from McCullough and Robertson and Jason Purcell from Allawah, the Consolidated Pastorals property across the road from Emu’s Nest where they run a bull breeding unit.
Emus Nest is 3942 hectares (9740 acres) situated between the Leichhardt and Dawson Highways, 34km west of Biloela and 12km east of Banana,.
Vendor Carol Le Maitre said she was very pleased with the sale and will retire to Biloela. Carol’s family drew the block in 1964 and she has five adult children, the two youngest Don and Heidi were in attendance with Carol at the auction.
The freehold property is estimated to run 900 breeders or 1400 backgrounders.
There is about 1700ha of scrub country and about 2226ha of forest type country. The property is reliably watered with a water system aided by some good dams. There is a mixture of improved and natural grasses with seca stylo through out the property. About 1618ha has been pulled in the last two years, but not burnt.
The property is described as reliably watered and can be run with minimal input. A dam adjacent to the house complex supplies to four tanks that service five troughs and waters the front two thirds of the property. The remainder of the property is watered by three large open dams. There are also six smaller dams.
The main cattle yards have large portable panel receiving yards leading to a well-constructed work area with a pound, a long race and a single deck loading ramp. There is also a CIA Immobiliser vet crush with Ruddweigh scales, Breckon calf race and a Morrissey calf branding cradle.
Emu’s Nest is fenced into 10 main paddocks as well as smaller paddocks adjacent to the yards. Most paddocks have been cut into cells to improve the grass cover. The cattle yards are serviced by laneways and mustering squares.
Improvements include the main homestead with panoramic views of the district. The five bedroom, two bathroom home has polished cypress pine floors and two verandahs on two sides. The second five bedroom home has been renovated. A donga has also been set up with three bedrooms and a kitchen. There is also an eight bay shed with a three bay skillion attached and small oil shed.
The sale was handled by Gary Bishop and Gary Hourn from Hourn and Bishop Qld.