Here are Australian agriculture's price record breakers.
They are the headline grabbers who sit at the pinnacle of their commodity, showcasing to agriculture - and the wider community - what great genetics, breeding and management can achieve.
Some are very recent records, reflecting the stellar run of livestock prices in recent years, while others are records from the show-stopping 1980s that may never be reached again.
And yet, our list contains not just livestock and commodities. With rampant property prices in recent years, it was only natural we had a stab at determining the most expensive farm - a not-so-easy task with many big deals shrouded in secrecy.
The list has revealed:
- A bale of wool topped our non-property list - by a considerable margin
- The highest priced wool ram is a record that has held for 34 years
- The top bull price was achieved as recently as July
- Our highest priced bovine is a beef heifer
- The most expensive working dog fetched more than most stud livestock
- The seller of the highest-prices sheepmeat ram was also the the buyer of the top-priced working dog
This is the third in our exclusive three-part series listing the biggest and best in agriculture. See our special lists of the nation's biggest farmers, and Australia's biggest processors.
Here are the record breakers of Australian agriculture.
Most expensive beef cow
Australia's most expensive cow was a Wagyu heifer, which fetched $400,000 for the Sunnyside Wagyu stud, Inverell, NSW, in 2022.
The buyer was Chinese businessman Yuesheng Zhang, for his Goulburn Valley-based Yylong Wagyu stud in Victoria.
The heifer also holds the title of Australia's highest priced beef animal.
Most expensive bull
Texas Angus Thunderstruck T383 sold for $360,000 in July, setting an Australian all-breeds record for a bull.
Sold by Ben and Wendy Mayne's Texas Angus stud at Warialda NSW, Thunderstruck was bought by Robert Mackenzie of Macka's Australian Beef Angus, Salt Ash, NSW.
Most expensive dairy cow
A Holstein heifer calf fetched a record $251,000 in 2017 at International Dairy Week at Tatura, Victoria.
The calf, Lightning Ridge CMD Jedi Gigi, was bought by a United States dairy genetics company and was exported live to the US.
Most expensive wool ram
This is a record that has been held for 34 years, and may never be topped.
In 1989, during the heady days of wool's Reserve Price Scheme (and amid a building stockpile of wool bales), South Australia's Collinsville Stud sold a Merino ram for a world record $450,000.
That converts to $1.07 million in today's dollars, according to the Reserve Bank.
The ram, J.C and S Lustre 53, sold at the 1989 Royal Adelaide Show to Richard Nitschke, Willogoleche Merino stud, Hallett.
Most expensive sheepmeat ram
Last year an Australian White ram from the Gilmore family's Tattykeel stud at Oberon, NSW, sold for $240,000, making it the highest price paid for a sheepmeat ram in Australia.
The ram actually broke the Australian record set by another Tattykeel Australian White ram at the 2021 sale, which sold for $165,000.
Most expensive farm dog
A black and tan Kelpie bitch called Capree Eve is Australia's most expensive farm dog, fetching $49,000 at auction in late 2022.
It was sold by Chris Stapleton of Capree Poll Merino, Newbridge, NSW.
The buyer of the record-selling Kelpie was the Gilmore family, owners of the world-famous Poll Dorset and Australian White stud Tattykeel, in Oberon NSW. Ross Gilmore also runs the Fernlee Kelpie Stud.
Most expensive wool bale
The most expensive wool was a 116kg bale of 13.8 microns, which sold for $1,194,800 in 1995.
That would equate to $2.34 million today.
The bale was sold by the Appledore family from Victoria's Wimmera district, and bought by Japanese firm Aoki International.By way of comparison,
The bale was the first under 14 microns to ever be offered.
By way of comparison, the Eastern Market Indicator (based on about 19 microns), currently sits at about 1160c/kg. The record bale fetched 1,030,000c/kg.
Most expensive farm
With the recent boom in farmland prices in Australia, finding the most expensive farm is an evolving game.
While there have been a number of major recent farmland sales, many of these have been for a significant parcel of separate farms - often unconnected - or the sales of businesses that own significant tranches of farmland.
These included $860 million for 12,000 hectares of almond orchards, sold by Olam to Canadian pension fund PSP Investments in 2020, and $854 million for Webster Limited's 44,000 hectares of farmland, also to PSP. These sales included significant water holdings.
Lawson Grains sold its parcel of 10 properties across 90,000 hectares for about $550 million in 2021.
When it comes to a single farm, the 2021 sale of the 438,000-hectare Miranda Downs station in Queensland's Gulf of Carpentaria for more than $180 million to prominent pastoralists Peter and Jane Hughes was reportedly an Australian record for a single farm. The sale included 55,000 cattle.
In 2022 Mark Menegazzo sold four adjoining Gulf Country cattle stations, spread across 1.1 million-hectares and capable of running about 96,000 cattle, for $380 million to prominent NSW irrigators Peter and Jane Harris.
As adjoining landholdings and the fact it was purchased by one buyer in one transaction, this would qualify as Australia's most expensive farm.
