A number of buyers have paid between $35 million-$40 million for one of southern Australia's top grazing farm portfolios.
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The Rossander holdings near Warrnambool in south-west Victoria extended across 955 hectares (2356 acres) including 12 separate properties.
Rossander Angus was famously established in 1966 by Alison Anderson and her late husband Andrew.
Agents from CBRE said there were multiple buyers across the 12 parcels after they fielded 60 expressions of Interest.
Those buyers included neighbours wanting to expand their holdings and lifestyle buyers wanting a high-quality, neat-city rural asset.
CBRE director Shane McIntyre said the portfolio realised values in accord with their expectations of between $35-40 million to value the offering at between $14,856-$16,978 per acre.
CBRE director Matt Childs said the buyers were both local and state-wide who respected the proximity of the assets being so close to Warrnambool.
"Many of the properties possess elevated building sites overlooking the city, with most being only five minutes from the city fringe, providing a rural lifestyle with city convenience," Mr Childs said.
Mr Childs said there was high demand for the properties, which included dairy and beef cattle operations, lifestyle properties and land that had approval for a 35-lot rural living development.
Mr Childs had said during the sale process the prices being achieved were "well in excess of what we thought".
Staywood Park in Wangoom was one of the biggest individual properties sold as part of the portfolio - with an offering of 300 hectares.
Agents believed it would continue to operate as a grazing/breeding enterprise, while the new owners of Dundonald Dairy may convert it to a beef operation.
The centrepiece is a guest "clock tower" apartment with renovated timber and granite bathroom (spa), grand bedroom with kitchenette, and ground floor conference centre.
The homestead incorporates many period features, including, high skirts and ceilings, polished Baltic pine floors, wide arched hallways, feature stained glass windows, and ornamental open fireplaces.
Within the homestead surrounds is a hexagonal glass gazebo office studio, male and female coach house toilet facility which is all connected by a timber lined raised Victorian walkway which was purpose built for the annual stud sales, weddings and conferences.
MORE READING: Chapter closes on local farming history.
Tullynagee also includes floodlit steel cattle yards, crush and loading ramp, post and rail stud pens and sale complex.
Other outbuildings include steel framed haysheds, lock up storage with cobblestone floor and stables, office, staff kitchen and grain storage silo.
A fully reticulated livestock trough watering system exists across the entire property.
Staywood Park offers the historic gem in the Rossander sale across 300ha (741ac).
Built in the gold rush era and close to Wangoom village, this five-bedroom, two-storey homestead has also been renovated and sits in a mature English garden with sweeping lawns.
The property is subdivided into 15 paddocks, each with a stock water trough, central laneway system with post and wire electric fencing and established.
It features fertile undulating grazing land of perennial and annual rye grass pastures.
The Rossander portfolio also contained Fala Park plus a 300-cow dairy farm, and a proposed 35-lot rural subdivision at Bridge Road, Woodford waiting on final approval.
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Chris McLennan
ACM national rural property writer based in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria. Career journalist. Multi award winner.
ACM national rural property writer based in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria. Career journalist. Multi award winner.
