Offered for sale inclusive of Plant & Machinery, some household contents. Bare of livestock.

 Well located cattle breeding property set up for extremely low-cost beef production

 Location:

Percy Springs is located approximately 28km from Charters Towers (10km north on Lynd Hwy then 18km gravel on Percy Springs Rd.)

Close to town … the property accesses all the services of a regional town (population approx 9000 people). Schooling, both primary and secondary, are a feature of the Charters Towers community with the town boasting three Private Schools, the State High School and three State Primary Schools

Charters Towers is an historic city established in the gold rush of the 1880’s and still services the large Gold Mining and Grazing Industries.

 The property location will suit a range of buyers including established cattlemen, professionals & businessmen, retired cattlemen and as a ‘starter block’ for a new entrant to the cattle industry.

For cattleman, the weekly liveweight selling centre in Charters Towers, Live Export ex Townsville (150klm) and Townsville meatworks are all major attractions for this location. Townsville is a vibrant city of approx 200,000 with diverse industry and opportunity for employment, business and higher education.

Tenure: 

Freehold  

Area: 6914.54 ha or 17078.9 acres   

 Rainfall:  

Approx 650mm (25.8inches) pa.

Country:

 Generally, Percy Springs slopes gently south to north and is punctuated by seasonal creeks, namely Hann, Percy and Gaines creeks. The property is a mixture of fertile creek frontage, sandy and gravelly soils with each providing valuable pasture and browse diversity.  Predominate timber includes Ironbark, Bloodwood, Box, Moreton Bay, Wattle, Lancewood and various scrubs. In the centre of the property are patches of Lancewood and Spinifex country which offer useful dry weather feed reserves. Pastures include introduced species, sown by the current owners, including Buffel, Urachloa, Wynn Cassia and Seca, Verano and Omega Stylos. Wynn Cassia and Stylo, in particular, has proliferated in the sandy and granite soils and Buffel and Urachloa in the better country … evidence of ALL improved pasture species can be seen throughout. Native perennials include Black Spear and Golden Beard.

 Recent management has for many years, conservatively stocked, spelled paddocks and rotationally grazed … the results are self-evident with a comprehensive pasture coverage, little erosion evidence and very good animal performance.

PMAV locked in.

Water:        

 Percy Springs is very well watered.

 There are 6 bores (2 x Solar powered, 1 x 240V mains powered House bore, 3 x Genset powered) each plumbed to several poly tanks and cement troughs to ensure a 2km grazing radius. Attention has been given to pipe sizes to ensure water volumes are sufficient to water larger cattle numbers in a rotational grazing format.

 Complementing the man-made water are eight (8) walk-in dams, mostly fenced … 2 seasonal & 6 reliable yearly supply. The dam network was the original stock water supply but is no longer critical to the property operation … other than helping to underpin a low-cost, flexible, management operation. The seasonal creek waterholes and springs throughout are also an added bonus.

 Management:

 The key to Percy Springs is herd control through controlled waters, watering squares, spear traps and laneways. Virtually NO mustering.

 The herd is managed through a rotational grazing format whereby the pasture is grazed to a pre-determined stage, the stock are then moved… each water square is trapped so, once the trap gates are changed, the cattle move themselves from paddock to paddock. In the event of the longer 3-5day trapping period then laneways are opened to accommodate additional feed requirements.

Typically, the breeders are rotated within a series of paddocks separately to the grower cattle or weaners. The are 18main paddocks.

Pasture management and proliferation of improved species is enhanced in the rest and rotation format.

 The breeding herd is control mated with bulls joined and removed to ensure calving commences in July, and calves weaned in Feb-March.

The Homestead complex:

 Homestead

The homestead is an older style, large, renovated, highset, 4-bedroom, airconditioned, timber and cladding building. Downstairs is a modern, open plan kitchen, dining and living area which opens onto an outside, ground level, patio area.

 Mobile phone coverage is good across many locations of the property. Satellite internet at the house.

 The homestead is located on the banks of Hann Creek and surrounded by substantial shade trees, in a quiet bush setting.

Sheds:

There are a number of larger sheds adjacent the house … doubling as both workshop and vehicle storage.

 Approx 1 km from the house is a large skillion-roofed shed housing various unwanted used items of machinery, steel, timber etc.

 Fencing & Cattle yards:

 The boundary is fully fenced and well maintained. Fencing construction is 3-barb, steel pickets and steel strainers, some fencing is 1-plain / 2-barb construction with a mix of timber & steel posts. Percy Springs is broken up into 18 main paddocks, complimented by 6 smaller holding/management paddocks.

 Much of the internal paddock fencing is relatively new (ie.15yrs +/-) and constructed of 3-4 barb with steel assemblies and strainers. Watering squares with spears surround all man-made waters thus enabling ease of mustering and herd management.

Laneways connect the southernmost Red Yards to all paddocks and the Homestead Yards in the north-eastern corner of the property where road trains can access. This enables, with forward planning, the cattle mustering/movement with 1-2 people and a very low-cost operation.

 There are two sets of cattle yards.

• Homestead – a set of well shaded timber cattle yards, in good condition, are located near the homestead and closer to the main road for all weather loading. Working capacity is 500head and the yards are equipped with pound draft, branding, crush and loading facilities.
• Red Yards – This is a good quality, large steel portable yard format with covered crush and branding facilities, loading ramp and working capacity 500-600 head. Stock can be either trucked by body truck or walked via the laneway to the homestead yards.

 Carrying Capacity:

Though understocked presently Percy Springs can sustainably run around 500-600 breeders, or the equivalent mixed herd.  As Percy Springs is part of a 3-property enterprise, at times stocking rates have been escalated much higher for shorter periods. Note: Percy Springs has been run in conjunction with 2 other properties and recent stock movements have reduced the present stocking rate.

 Livestock: 

The are livestock on the property which may be negotiated at market value.

Plant & Machinery: Contact Agent

 Household items:

 Partially furnished main house and guest house

 Note: Percy Springs is being offered inclusive of Plant & Machinery & some household contents. Livestock purchase is additional and optional.

Woody weeds:  

Due to vendor diligence Percy Springs has few woody weeds. There is a minor presence of Rubbervine, Lantana and Bellyache Bush in Percy Creek.

Disclaimer: The above report has been prepared by Slaney & Co based on information supplied by the property owner and other credible sources. Every endeavour has been made to verify its accuracy. Whilst we trust the information to be correct, we make no warranties or guarantees, and prospective purchasers must rely on their own enquiries & research. © Slaney & Co