CONSOLIDATED Pastoral Co plans to divest three of its quality smaller western Queensland grazing properties in order to refocus capital on further productivity development on its northern Australia grazing assets.

Sweetly timed to coincide with the current surge in demand for cattle grazing land across northern Australia, CPC has elected to sell Mount Marlow and Gowan in the Blackall District and Cooinda Station, located north of Winton. The holdings will be auctioned separately on October 6.

CPC will offer three central western Queensland properties as part of a capital re-diversion in early October

Speaking from Jakarta this morning, CPC chief executive officer Troy Setter told Beef Central the sales were fundamentally designed to allow the company to re-deploy capital into further development of other, larger northern landholdings.

CPC still has large areas of ‘under-developed’ land, in terms of stockwater and fencing infrastructure on its Barkly Tableland and Victoria River District grazing properties where significant productivity improvements can still be made.

“We want to re-invest the capital from the sale of the three Queensland properties into that development work,” Mr Setter said.

By CPC’s lofty standards, the three Queensland properties being put to market are smaller holdings, with an average carrying capacity around 4000 head each.

There are apparently no further plans to offload more grazing land as part of the company’s capital re-allocation process.

The announcement follows last month’s announcement that CPC had sold its Carlton Hill station on the fringes of the Ord River dam in WA’s eastern Kimberley to Chinese interests in a $100m deal, where CPC will get to lease back the majority of the holding not required for irrigated cropping development by the new owners.

The three properties now being offered are Mount Marlow and Gowan in Queensland’s Blackall District and Cooinda Station, north of Winton. They have all been acquired in the period since 2004 when Mount Marlow was purchased from Mick Gibson and family.

Mr Setter said the sales would not have a significant impact on the balance CPC property portfolio, with further investment in productivity in remaining properties offsetting the loss of land area caused by the sales. Properties in the Territory identified with further development potential include Newcastle Waters, Ucharonidge, Auvergne and Bunda Stations, plus Isis Downs near Isisford in Central Queensland.

New water infrastructure like this tank and troughs on Newcastle Waters is driving productivity on other CPC properties.

“Essentially, there won’t be loss in production or cattle numbers, but an increase in overall productivity,” Mr Setter said.

“We have identified several development projects across our northern properties that promise to show a good return on investment,” he said.

The company also retains the ability to produce Certified Organic cattle, through its Nockatunga Station in the Channel country, suggesting a small organic production stream will continue within the overall enterprise.

With recent rain across the region, the three properties are presently in excellent condition, with good pasture growth and an opportunity for an incoming owner to benefit from the strong start to the season.

Flexibility over stock access

Significantly, given recent discussion in property circles, CPC plans to offer some flexibility in access to stock with the deals. Property commentators have recently made the point that unstocked, or under-stocked properties have been much harder to sell, in the current atmosphere of extreme high cattle prices and short supply.

CPC says it is flexible over the topic of stock, being prepared to sell with cattle if the successful purchasers wanted access to CPC cattle as part of the deals.

Early estimates suggest the three holdings, combined, are worth $20-$20 million, plus stock value.

Here’s a brief rundown on each of the holdings, for the benefit of potential buyers:

Mount Marlow Station

Mount Marlow, west of Blackall near Yaraka, is 73,100ha of country ideally suited to be run as a breeding and growing property. The property is Organically Certified, and can carry about 4000 head of mixed cattle. It has a 32km frontage to the Barcoo River, with extensive channels and permanent and semi-permanent waterholes. Diverse pastures include Mitchell, Flinders, Button, Buffel, prolific herbages, Blue Bush and Lignum.

Gowan Station

Gowan is a 18,077ha property 70km south of Blackall, with a mixture of developed Gidgee sown to buffel grass, lightly shaded Mitchell grass, lightly shaded pebbly gidgee country and flooded coolibah creek systems. Gowan can carry 3000 to 4000 cattle, with all paddocks watered by the property’s own reticulated bore system. Gowan was originally part of the CSR Pastoral portfolio, sold-off around 1985.

Cooinda Station

A 24,300ha property 70km north of Winton, Cooinda is ideally suited to growing and backgrounding cattle for northern and southern markets. With an estimated capacity of 3000 to 4000 cattle, Cooinda features a balance of Flinders and Mitchell grass with plentiful artesian water.

Ruralco Property’s Andrew Adcock has been appointed to market the three holdings, culminating with an auction in Brisbane on October 6, if not sold prior.