168 Robbins Road

Boralma VIC 3682

Sustainably farmed over the last 30 years, good ground cover, not overstocked.
Mix of native and clover rye pastures with lime and fertilizer as required.
Good dams with water access to all paddocks, power connected to property.
No adjoining neighbors, road access on 3 sides with unused road on the other boundary, four title lots.
Steel cattle yards, large shed, old homestead needs work.

Editorial by John Kennedy

FOR SALE AS A WHOLE OR SEPARATELY THREE SPRINGHURST FARM PROPERTIES OF 316 HA (779 ACRES) BY ELDERS REAL ESTATE
THE HUMPHRY SPRINGHURST AGGEGRATION AFTER MULTI-GENERATIONAL FAMILY OWNERSHIP THREE INDIVIDUAL FARMS FOR PRIVATE SALE AS A WHOLE OR SEPARATELY
Elders Real Estate of Wangaratta has been appointed to sell by private sale three unique farm properties at Springhurst in North East Victoria on behalf of Ian, Lindsay and Margaret Humphry.
They are presented to the market as an opportunity to acquire rarely available, productive farm land in the immediate area of the Springhurst township and mostly adjoin to or have immediate access from the Hume Highway.
As Elders Real Estate selling agent Dave Colvin notes they are likely to prove highly attractive to other north east or regional district landowners and farmers.
The three principals of the vendor partnership Ian, Lindsay and Margaret Humphry. say "we are all now in our seventies, so this sale offer is part of our personal plans to implement our staged withdrawal from farming after our long involvement."
The three properties have been conservatively farmed and used in conjunction with the noted Humphry home farm of Avondale a dairy farm holding of almost seven hundred hectares at Springhurst.
This long held and successful property is not for sale currently but will continue in operation as an irrigated dairy farm by the Humphry family members and their staff for the immediate future.
The three strategic holdings now on offer have generally been used in support of their dairy farm - to run dry cattle, grow out dairy replacement heifers, to produce dairy cross beef vealers, merino sheep and lambs, and with some limited cropping.
All three holdings are fenced to livestock standards, have easy and good road access, there are multiple stock water resources of dams and each are considered to have further development potential.
The principal of the three holdings is known as Nesbitt's at Boralma and is at 168 Robbins Road.
With its principal frontage to the Springhurst to Rutherglen Road its location is about three kilometres to the west of the Hume Highway.
It has an area of 124 hectares (or 307 acres) in two titles where it is fenced into nine paddocks, all with dams.
Improvements consist of several steel farm sheds, steel cattle yards and a double height elevated loading race.
There is also decommissioned bore on the holding while the existing and occupied older style weatherboard home set in an established garden is judged to be of limited value.
This property is bounded on all four sides by frontages to Robbins and McKenzie Roads while the rear frontage is to the fenced off and unused Nesbitt's Lane Road Reserve.
The property has numerous attractive tree lines and plantings and has principally been used to spell or overwinter dairy cows, or breed replacement cattle livestock with some oat cropping.
The second property on offer known as Nicholls's is a unique holding is a long finger like farm holding of 73 hectares, (or 180 acres) bounded on its western side by the fenced North Eastern Railway Reserve and on its eastern edge by the Hume Highway.
There is good road access at the southern exit from the Springhurst township and there is a public road access at it northern most point.
It is fenced into five paddocks and has four stock water dams which benefit from the reliable inflows off the Highway reserve, especially after rain events.
This holding has been used and is set up to successfully run Merino sheep and lambs.
The third holding is known as Smiths and has its principal frontage to the bitumen Gayfers Road and a corner access to Nish Lane.
It sits to the immediate east and on higher ground above the Springhurst Interchange on the Hume Highway.
It has a land holding of 118 hectares (or 292 acres) held in one title and with two dams.
With a band of red granite loams this holding has potentially attractive building sites at its higher points.
It is currently running forty cows and calves plus 300 Merino sheep.
Fenced as four paddocks with two reliable dams (one dam of 5 megalitre size is spring fed) while there are no buildings on this site.
There is however power line access along the Gayfers Road frontage which suggest this exposed holding (subject to permits) could be attractive for a residential lifestyle building project, as well as for its farming potential.
Elders agent Dave Colvin says that the Humphry family is well known locally for the successful biological and sustainable farming approach they have implemented over more than thirty years.
"In the mid-2000s they were successful in winning a North East region Landcare aware for their approach to sustainable farming, including the use of natural pastures, tree preservation and without the use of conventional fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides.
They were also national finalists in the Landcare award of 2007, so these three properties now on offer have been conservatively and progressively managed by the vendors.
"I am assessing their likely sale based on district land values at say $8,000 on acre or $19,200 a hectare) for the prime Nesbitt's parcel of land, with a lesser valuation of say $6000 an acre (or $14,400 a hectare) for the two Springhurst township perimeter holdings.