Two historic Great Southern family farms spanning almost 14,000 hectares have sold for a combined value of about $40 million.
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It is understood Geoff and Cathy Hodgson received about $25m for the 9910ha Amaroo property which is located 25 kilometres east of Kulin, equating to about $3641 per arable hectare (assuming a sale price of $25m).
It was bought as a single package by a local farmer through Nutrien Harcourts WA real estate manager Narrogin and rural sales specialist, Steve Wright.
Mr Wright also negotiated the sale of Yealering aggregate Wagabawering Spring, which comprises four properties covering a total of 3925ha that sold for an estimated $15 million.
"The sellers of Wagabawering Spring, the Hill family, had four separate holdings spread out across the Yealering area," Mr Wright said.
"They agreed to list all four of their farms to be sold independently of each other so as to give them the best outcome, and to allow all locals to participate in adding some more land next to them - as opposed to offering their property as a whole.
"This strategy definitely worked and we were successful in selling three of the four properties to local interests, and gaining the values we were looking for."
Wagabawering Spring - the main 'home' farm at 1216ha and with most of the improvements - remains unsold and has been leased for a three-year term.
Karradene was the smallest of the properties at 425ha and has an older home with several general purpose sheds.
Mr Wright said the buyer of this parcel did not want to disclose the sale price, but the asking price was offers from $2.9m and it achieved just over $8400 per arable hectare.
He said the Osmaston property had the least amount of improvements and covered 1118ha with one older general purpose shed and a water tank.
It sold for $7m, or just under $8000/arable hectare.
Geetabin was the eastern most property and covered 1164ha with an older shearing shed, water tank and an older general purpose shed.
It sold for $5.6m or about $7900/arable hectare.
Mr Wright said the Wagabawering Spring property was a fourth-generation family farm with more than 100 years of history, having been taken up by the current owners' great-grandfather Edmund Jackson in 1909.
Over time it was expanded and the farming operation transformed from a mixed enterprise focused on wool production to a total cropping system for the past 10 years.
The 2023 cropping program included 949ha of wheat, 881ha of barley, 928ha of canola and 457ha of lupins.
Average grain yields during the past five seasons across all four properties have been 2.75 tonnes per hectare for barley, 2.64t/ha for wheat, 1.4t/ha for lupins and 1.1t/ha for canola.
Karradene is made up of 75 per cent quality medium loams and 25pc heavier soils.
Osmaston and Wagabawering Spring are best described as mainly medium soil types across 85pc of the property and Geetabin is made up of 75pc first-class medium loams, 5pc lighter types and 20pc medium to heavier loams.
Original timbers include jam, York gum, white gum and salmon gum.
The Amaroo property at Kulin was opened up as farmland in 1912 and purchased by Mr Hodgson's grandfather John in 1927 as part of his farm expansion plans.
It has been in the Hodgson family ever since and it is with some reluctance that Mr Hodgson decided recently to retire and sell up.
The property has been bought by an undisclosed local grower who lives about 80km away.
Mr Hodgson said Amaroo was one of the first in the Kulin district to have a concerted effort into trace element applications that transformed the farming of lighter sandy soils.
This was done under the stewardship of his father, Henry, who was also a Shire president for 20 years and instrumental in the development of the Kulin Shire.
Amaroo has 6866ha of arable cropping land and in 2023 it was planted to 2532ha of wheat, 620ha of barley and 180ha of oats.
Average crop yields for the past seven years have been 2t/ha for wheat, 2.1t/ha for barley, 2.3t/ha for oats, and 0.9t/ha for lupins.
The balance of farmland is made up of natural timber areas and salt bush grazing country and it can support about 6000 head of sheep.
Amaroo, which means 'beautiful country', features undulating country with granite outcrops and medium to heavier loam soils.
It is watered by 38 dams - three equipped with solar pumps.
Improvements include five homes, a shearing shed and four sets of steel yards, numerous sheds and 29 silos.
