'When times are good, good properties come up...' Paddy Handbury's reasons to sell

Saltbush Ag's Booborowie/Leighton aggregation has just gone on the market including six properties totalling 2852 hectares (7048 acres).

Mr Handbury, the nephew of media magnate Rupert Murdoch, came to public attention with the family's purchase of the famous Collinsville Merino and Poll Merino stud and station near Hallett in 1995 from the South Australian Asset Management Corporation.

He is the son of the well-known Hamilton businessman and philanthropist Geoff Handbury who died in 2019.

Adelaide businessman George Millington bought the Collinsville Station off the Handburys in 2014.

The Handburys bought the Booborowie/Leighton aggregation 27 years ago and now say they are selling due to a change of strategy.

"When times are good, good properties come up and we have just bought three cracking properties closer to home," Mr Handbury said.

"So we're keen for our son Jack and his family to move down south while his family is still young and he can run Saltbush Ag from the expanded property aggregation around Lucindale."

The Handburys had opened their account in South Australia with Collinsville after it had gone into receivership.

The purchase ensured its survival as one of the country's great suppliers of superior merino genetics.

"We've had a long association with South Australia since Collinsville," Mr Handbury said.

"Saltbush Ag's mid north aggregation is made up of some prized fertile country, ideal for cropping, prime lamb, hay production and merino sheep," Mr Handbury said.

Saltbush Ag is a family owned and operated business running Merino sheep, Wagyu cattle, cropping and a prime lamb feedlot.

"There's plenty of water too and it works very well in our aggregation of hay and cereal growing," Mr Handbury said.

"The opportunity is available to buy in a line, or we'd consider individual blocks."

Ray White Rural South Australia principals Geoff and Daniel Schell are marketing the aggregation through expressions of interest closing on December 15.

MORE READING: Three bidders go hard at Penola auction.

"This is a very special opportunity and I have lived and worked in this area for over 30 years. There's been good interest from all over the country so far," Geoff Schell said..

"It's a unique opportunity to invest in such a large-scale farming operation in this highly regarded region of South Australia," he said.

"The Booborowie/Leighton district is highly recognised for its suitability and flexibility to broad enterprise options including growing cereals, oil seeds, legumes, hay production, prime lamb and wool production."

The aggregation includes:

Macks 253ha (625 acres), Feedlot Block 583.9ha (1443 acres), North Booborowie 334ha (825 acres), Greenacres 661ha (1633 acres), Dolphins 141ha (348 acres) and Braefoot Block 879.5ha (2173 acres).

The aggregation focuses on integration from broadacre cropping and prime lamb production benefiting from scale, operational efficiency, fertile soils and strategic location within close proximity to markets.

The infrastructure across the properties, includes two main homesteads, five additional homes, hay and implement sheds, sheep feedlot, two shearing sheds, irrigation pivots, grain storage silos, workshops and other shedding.

Mr Schell said underground water was one of the key assets with supply from equipped bores, including irrigation bores.

Infrastructure across the properties includes two main homesteads and four other homes, hay and implement sheds, sheep feedlot, two shearing sheds, irrigation pivots, grain storage silos, workshops and sundry other shedding.

The average annual rainfall for the Booborowie area is 438mm.

For more information contact Daniel Schell on 0415 436379 and Geoff Schell 0418 842421.

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