Starting with nothing, other than his wits and seemingly boundless energy, John Kennedy has amassed 20 grazing properties spanning "about 40,000 acres" from Glen Innes in northern NSW to Nundle, New England.
He runs the entire enterprise named Poverty Pastoral with the help of just four employees, contractors, and a willing team of dogs.
"It's not as bad as it sounds, but the bank didn't like it," Mr Kennedy said of the name.
"I just thought it was a pretty good joke."
As a whole, it runs 8000-10,000 cattle and about 3000 sheep.
To help simplify management, Poverty Pastoral is consolidating to about 10,000 hectares (24,000 acres) across 16 properties, which could leave the 58-year-old grazier debt-free.
Last year, Mr Kennedy bought six farms including Meldon near Uralla, which will be his new base after the current home farm, Kurrajong Park, sells along with far-flung properties.
He's owned the property around 20 years but isn't sentimental about the sale.
"I've done my journey on the place, I'll move on to another project now," Mr Kennedy said.
"I think because it hasn't been left to me, I looked at it more of just a business rather than an emotional attachment."
Kurrajong Park has been running 800 Angus cows and calves but it's equipped for sheep, too. Until six years ago, it ran up to 14,000 Merinos and has a five-stand shearing shed.
The recent acquisitions are being converted from sheep to cattle operations, again for manageability.
"We run it fairly lean, no-one gets to lean on shovels too much," Mr Kennedy said.
"We just don't have the labour for the sheep, basically, though there's actually more money in sheep if you can put up with them."
Still, Mr Kennedy's low-input farming model doesn't cut any corners. Each new farm is well set up with water, laneways, fences and yards, then consistently fertilised.
It wasn't always like that. Growing up with six siblings, Mr Kennedy never expected an inheritance but was given a "great education" by his parents.
"I just always wanted to own land," he said.
"Ever since I can remember, I've been saving money to buy a property and, even now that I've got a heap, I'm still saving money to buy more.
"I don't know why, you'd think I'd be over it now."
Endless sweaty hours spent shearing sheep was Mr Kennedy's path to farm ownership.
"I had a young bloke working here the other day and he said to me, 'I'd give everything to get what you've got'," he said.
"I said, 'That's the price, that's what it'll cost you, mate. I did 10 years in the sheds and worked weekends, nights, seven days, like 150 days straight in 40 degrees. That's the price you'll pay to get it'."
It was good to talk about farm ownership but, Mr Kennedy said, buying a first property without help from family was a "real battle".
Mr Kennedy achieved that milestone aged 26 in 1989, only to have the wool price crash and interest rates soar to 25 per cent.
"The timing wasn't probably that good but I think if you can survive that, you'll survive anything," he said.
"I intended to be able to buy something else pretty quickly, but I couldn't because I was just servicing debt. Wool was worth nothing, sheep had no value, so the income stream was pretty low.
"So I think I was 30 or 31 (when I bought the second farm) and I bought another one at 32 and then I just started buying one every second or third year."
On average, Mr Kennedy said, he'd bought "1000 acres a year" since then.
"I've bought a lot of properties that have been a bit run down and I can buy them reasonably cheaply - prior to this recent increase in property prices of course - and then obviously my equity gets up higher and I'll borrow and buy another one," he said.
The secret to success in agriculture, Mr Kennedy said, was commitment and the ability to keep going through tough times.
"I think it's determination and energy," he said.
"I had an energetic mother and determined father, and I was lucky enough to get a bit of both of that."