Welbon sold at auction this week to local Garah farmer Andrew Yates. Photo: Ray White Rural

GARAH grower Andrew Yates has paid $33M or $6898/ha for the nearby mixed farm Welbon on the highly fertile north-west slopes and plains of New South Wales.

Ed Wisemantel from Ray White Rural Moree said the auction was hotly contested.

“Five registered bidders started at $18M but in the end, four locals battled it out to achieve a district record price.”

Mr Wisemantel said listings had been far and few between in the region, so it was a good indication of where the property market was sitting in the light of rising interest rates and lower commodity prices.

The 4784ha Welbon is situated 19km from Garah and 41km from Moree and has been carrying a large body of dry feed.

Mr Yates is the son of Anne and the late Bill Yates, and the family has a long and valued involvement with research trials, and championing innovative and sustainable farming practices.

The auction ends 100 years of family ownership by the Carrigan family.

In 1923, Welbon, including 8000 sheep, was purchased by Alexander Carrigan from the Scottish Land Co.

In 1985, descendant Chris Carrigan expanded the landholding with the adjoining Duravale, and then part of Gilbunna three years later.

The country is predominantly flat, grassed with Mitchell, bluegrass and native medics and timbered by belah, brigalow, wilga, boonery and box, with some coolibah shading areas along the waterways.

Welbon can be operated as a cattle and sheep enterprise, but is currently conservatively stocked with sheep, with the last shearing tallies reaching 8500 head.

In the past, up to 50 percent of Welbon has been farmed for winter cereals and fodder.

Welbon receives some beneficial flooding and is watered by the Wallon and Gil Gil creeks, which provide some extensive waterholes and fishing opportunities.

The Careunga bore cap and pipe scheme also supplies water to a network of 36 cup and saucer tanks.

Corporate pays $11M for The Glen

After attracting widespread interest, a corporate, believed to be GunnAgri, has paid between $9M and $12.5M bare for an immaculately presented cropping country in northern NSW.

The 1237ha The Glen is located 10km south of Delungra and 40km from Inverell, on the border of the Northern Tablelands and the north-west slopes.

Carl Hurford from Nutrien Harcourts Inverell was unable to disclose the vendor or the price paid, but with country in the region selling for between $7400/ha and $9990/ha, The Glen achieved around $11M.

Mr Hurford said the volume of inquiry, which ranged from producers to corporates, was incredible and stretched from Far North Queensland to Victoria.

Venders Blair Burton and Nancy McPherson have owned The Glen since 2003, and have extensively developed the property into a dryland cropping and grazing property.

The Glen boasts 690ha of high-performing farming basalt soils growing canola, wheat and field peas.

Areas of developed open grazing country are carrying a good body of native pastures and if converted to a backgrounding operation, could run around 2500 head of cattle.

The property has dual frontage to the Hobbs and Spring creeks and a single frontage to Myall Creek, as well as eight bores.

Extensive infrastructure includes a renovated homestead, multiple machinery sheds, a woolshed, 930 tonnes of grain storage and three 70t fertiliser bunkers.

The Glen at Delungra has sold privately to a corporate entity believed to be GunnAgri. Photo: Nutrien Harcourts Inverell