Australia's biggest landowners spend $70m on NT cattle station
Australia’s biggest private landowners, pastoralists Donny and Colleen Costello and their equity partner, former racing horse trainer Viv Oldfield, have extended their vast cattle station empire to more than 9.2 million hectares, after acquiring Mount Doreen Station in the Northern Territory for around $70 million.
The acquisition includes $34.7 million paid for the pastoral lease to the 733,700ha organic cattle station north-west of Alice Springs and about $36 million paid for 18,000 cattle, purchased for around $2000 a head.
The Costello and Oldfield families, through their Crown Point Pastoral Company, surpassed mining magnate Gina Rinehart as the country’s biggest landowners earlier this year after purchasing 1.335 million-hectare Innamincka Station and 1.1 million-hectare Macumba Station in South Australia from Hancock Agriculture and S Kidman and Co.
Crown Point Pastoral’s portfolio of 13 stations is now roughly three times the size of Belgium.
Other properties in the Crown Point Pastoral portfolio include Australia’s second-biggest cattle station, 1.65 million-hectare Clifton Hills Station in the far north-east corner of South Australia.
Last year, Crown Point also purchased the adjoining leases of Ruby Plains and Sturt Creek covering almost 800,000ha in the south-east Kimberley region from Mrs Rinehart, who put a $300 million offering of seven stations, one feedlot and almost 110,000 head of cattle up for sale last year.
The extremely private Costellos run Crown Point Pastoral from Lilla Creek Station south of Alice Springs, while Mr Oldfield – who also owns drilling company Silver City Drilling and outback trucking business Tanami Transport – is based at Alice Springs.
Appetite for cattle stations
The sale of Mount Doreen was brokered by Jesse Manuel and Rawdon Briggs of Colliers Agribusiness, who declined to comment.
Its sale follows Financial Review Rich Lister Brett Blundy offloading the Walhallow cattle station aggregation in the NT for close to $250 million to a Sydney-based asset manager – a record for a single cattle station deal.
Appetite for cattle stations remains elevated despite cattle prices having fallen this year after peaking at a record $12 per kg in January, according to the Eastern Young Cattle Indicator.
Falling livestock prices are expected to push the value of beef production down by 1.4 per cent to $15.6 billion this financial year, according to the Department of Agriculture’s research unit ABARES.
However, price falls will be limited by both graziers continuing to buy livestock and strong global meat prices, ABARES said.
Established in 1932 by William and Doreen Braitling, Mount Doreen Station is located on the Tanami Road, about 380 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs.
More recently it has been operated by brothers Matthew and Shane Braitling, grandsons of William and Doreen.
Situated in a 300 millimetres average rainfall area and punctuated by a dramatic escarpment, Mount Doreen consistently carries well over 30,000 head in average rainfall years, with its long-term sustainable carrying capacity being 22,000 to 23,000.
“The great advantage of this diversity and scale is that Mount Doreen Station is largely self-sustaining and can maintain a core herd during periods of drought,” Mr Manuel said when the property came to market in February
“Its location and organic status also provide multiple domestic and export market options.”
