RIVERINA property Coonara offers intensive row cropping and water security on an industrial scale.

The 2387.5ha property at Carrathool, near Hay, NSW, boasts 10,268 megalitres of general security and supplementary licence entitlements.

    COONARA
  • CARRATHOOL, NSW
  • Property: irrigated cropping, livestock
  • Size: 2387.5ha
  • Auction: Friday February 24, 11am.
  • Price: $9 million
  • Agent: Elders Real Estate, Griffith
  • Contact: (02) 6969 2929.
  • Pictures: Coonara, Carrathool

It has 5.8km Murrumbidgee River frontage and is one of the region's biggest maize producers. Coonara has been held by the Merrylees family for 87 years and was originally part of the historic 50,000ha Groongal station.

In a 400mm rainfall zone, the property has a mixed balance of river red gum country and paddocks of native pastures.

The irrigation and farming country has been laid out in sequence, with 955ha of land-formed and 590ha of older irrigation layouts. About 290ha has been surveyed and designed for further development.

A feature of Coonara is the water, with a general security entitlement of 5835ML, 4396ML of supplementary river water, and 37ML of stock and domestic river water.

This is complemented by two storage dams of 150ML and 750ML capacity, plus a full recycle drainage system.

There are three river pumps connected to three-phase electric motors capable of pushing out more than 120ML a day.

David Merrylees took up farming at Coonara in 1992 with his father Ian. The pair crop about 500ha each year of maize, faba beans, sunflowers, canola, wheat, and triticale.

Livestock had been part of the enterprise mix and the property carried up to 20,000 sheep before they were phased out in 2003.

The family then increased the efficiency of the flood irrigation layout. "We upgraded the infrastructure and the control structures with steel gates and rubber seals," David said.

"This made a big difference in such a large system."

Today, the property is entirely cropping, with 167cm beds for summer and winter cropping.

"All our machinery fits that pattern, but we do grow some crops on border check layouts, such as canola, wheat and faba beans," David said. "Last year, our wheat yielded an average of seven tonnes a hectare, faba beans six tonnes a hectare and canola 2.5 tonnes a hectare."

The Merrylees are the biggest Australian growers of high-amylose maize for industrial starch manufacturer National Starch.

"The maize is processed into food products such as specialty high-fibre bread," David said. "We have 260ha of a new variety called HA132 and the excellent season means we are on target for above average yields.

"In the past, we supplied Allied Mills at Albury for 35 years with gritting maize and sold grain direct to Kellogg's."

David and Ian run Coonara with the help of two full-time staff.

Built from poured concrete in 1949, the main homestead is set in a mature garden on the bank of the Murrumbidgee River.

The six-bedroom house has airconditioning and electric heating, formal lounge and dining rooms, an office, library, games room with a full-size billiard table, three bathrooms, a dressing room, sunroom and cellar.

Other accommodation includes a five-bedroom manager's house, four and three-bedroom houses, and four employee cottages.

Working improvements include a workshop, machinery shed, hay-machinery shed, 25-tonne weighbridge, grain dryer, 1200-tonne silos, 80-tonne wet grain silo, plus fertiliser and seed silos.

The 10-stand shearing shed has a 1500-sheep capacity, yards and shearers' quarters.

There are also cattle yards, fuel tanks and bowsers, chemical sheds and fertiliser mixing and storage tanks.

Boundary fences are in stock-proof condition, with some renewed in the past decade.

Mr Merrylees said there was potential to sell grain to the JBS Australia feedlot at Tabbitta or GrainLink at Carrathool.

"Cotton is grown on neighbouring properties and could easily be grown here," he said.

"There has been a huge swing to cotton due to the returns per megalitre and hectare and we have never grown rice, but there is plenty grown around us.

"We are set up for row cropping and there is generally a better return from row cropping."

Mr Merrylees said winter crop stubbles were incorporated into the soil. He said a recirculation pump was used to run urea through the irrigation water for the corn crops.

Mr Merrylees said Coonara offered lifestyle opportunities, including fishing, boating and swimming, combined with wildlife and majestic remnant river red gums.