Farm families swoop on Handbury's six properties for sale in the Mid North

Saltbush Ag's Booborowie/Leighton aggregation included six properties totalling 2852 hectares (7048 acres) now under contract to local farming families in South Australia.

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

It takes in farming land in the Northern, Mid North and South East pastoral districts of South Australia and the west Wimmera of Victoria.

Victorian-based pastoralist Paddy Handbury said they listed the properties for sale because of a change in strategy.

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 regarded 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 properties are listed as under contract by Ray White Rural South Australia after an expressions of interest campaign which formally closed on December 15.

Geoff Schell from Ray White said it was "a very special opportunity" and there had been "good interest from all over the country".

MORE READING: A remaining piece of one of Victoria's biggest sheep runs for sale.

"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 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.

Saltbush Ag has many other agricultural operations across South Australia.

Five local farming businesses are the contracted buyers with one family buying two of the six properties.

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