THE word "immaculate" comes to mind when you inspect Marabou, a broadacre mixed farm.

There is not a hair out of place, thanks to the diligence of owners Simon and Melissa Male.

    MARABOU
  • HENTY, NSW
  • Property: broadacre cropping, livestock
  • Size: 390.55ha
  • Auction: March 23, 2pm
  • Price: from $2.1 million
  • Agent: Elders, Wagga Wagga
  • Contact: (02) 6923 4660

Marabou is a 390.5ha property at Henty, midway between Albury-Wodonga and Wagga Wagga.

The Male family has owned Marabou since 1969 and the farm boasts top-notch livestock and cropping infrastructure.

The centrepiece is a purpose-built, three-stand, raised-board wool shed and sheep yards, all in a large, fully floodlit shed.

Ideally suited for stud stock sales, the near-new shed was built as a multi-purpose structure for machinery and farm equipment storage.

The property, which is in a 600mm rainfall zone, comprises undulating red loam soils and yellow box shade timber.

Subdivided into 13 paddocks, the farm is well watered by 13 catchment dams, all recently cleaned and enlarged. Two of these supply a 45,000-litre tank that is reticulated to the home and garden.

There is also 110,000 litres of rainwater to supply the house and a computerised watering system in the garden.

Simon and Melissa Male have operated Marabou for the past 10 years, running a mix of cropping, livestock and their Marabou Kelpie stud.

Genetics from the stud have spread around the world, and the dogs have starred in many television and marketing campaigns for pet food.

"I like things to be spotless as far as layout goes," Simon said.

"Over the years I set goals to replace the old stockyards and wool shed, and it gives me satisfaction to tick them off when completed."

The couple have run 700 first-cross ewes and 30 breeding cows. combined with 182ha of crops. Crops include whistler wheat, bimbil oats, maiden triticale, canola and lupins.

A five tonne/ha wheat crop on Marabou won the hotly contested Henty field wheat competition in 2005.

Working with an agronomist, Simon uses soil tests each year to determine lime and fertiliser applications.

Targeting four to five tonnes/ha, he uses minimum tillage techniques to retain soil moisture and structure.

"We haven't cut hay since 2005 and still have stocks from then, and have cut some oats-vetch silage in the past," Simon said.

"There is also 101ha of Sardi 10 lucerne, for finishing lambs over summer-autumn."

Originally built in 1912, the double-brick Federation home is set in a low-maintenance garden with a floodlit tennis court.

Featuring four bedrooms, the house has a formal lounge with gas heater, dining room with polished floorboards, cool room, rumpus, office and large pantry.

Working improvements include steel cattle yards, a machinery-chemical shed, steel machinery shed, hay shed and workshop.

For grain storage, there is a 595-tonne aerated silo, an electric unloading and sub-floor auger with sweep, six 40-tonne silos, a 32-tonne elevated super silo and a 20-tonne flat bottom silo.

There is also specialised dog housing with lighting.

"Henty is a fantastic mixed farming area, with beautiful undulating soils," Simon said.

"Water has never been an issue here.

"We are close to major saleyards and Henty for selling grain.

"This property is flexible and could be run as either all livestock or all cropping."

Simon said the covered sheep yards allowed work to be completed in all weather and at night.

"They are free-flowing and we have never had a bruise or cut to a sheep or operator," he said.