Darling Downs farm: 150-year family legacy, mixed-farming

BRISBANE, QLD, September 16, 2025 – A 1,528-hectare mixed-farming enterprise in Queensland’s Darling Downs is being offered to market after more than 150 years of single-family stewardship.

The McClelland Aggregation combines three adjoining properties, Belmont (approximately 800 hectares), Kurrabah (roughly 350 hectares) and Cedar View (approximately 380 hectares), which historically have been operated as a single enterprise. Together they encompass grazing, dryland farming and a commercial piggery supported by an Artificial Insemination (AI) centre.

JLL Senior Director Chris Holgar said the sale, which spans 18 Freehold Certificates of Title, comes as long-term owners Brenden and Madelene McClelland prepare for retirement.

“The aggregation is underpinned by fertile soils, reliable water and purpose-built infrastructure, allowing for cattle grazing, broadacre cropping and intensive pig production,” he said.

“It has scale by district standards yet also offers the flexibility to be acquired as one line or as individual properties.”

The aggregation includes 383* hectares of dryland cropping historically used for Wheat, Barley, Mung Beans, Forage Oats, Millet and Sorghum.

The enterprise has been developed for cell grazing, with laneways, yards and paddock rotations designed to improve stock movement and pasture quality. Carrying capacity is estimated at 800 Adult Equivalents, with stock water supplied via three bores, a natural spring and a surface dam.

The Belmont property also includes a piggery with a registered capacity of 3,714 SPUs (Standard Pig Units), currently operating at around 2,862 units, while the adjoining Kurrabah property houses the AI centre with accommodation for 96 boars.

JLL Senior Director Geoff Warriner said the aggregation reflects the productive diversity of the Darling Downs and would appeal to a broad range of potential buyers.

“Belmont, Kurrabah and Cedar View are well-established holdings in their own right, each with arable areas, grazing land and improvements,” he said.

“As an aggregation, they form a substantial mixed-farming operation within one of Queensland’s most productive agricultural regions.”

Mr Warriner said the aggregation’s location near Bell, on the sought-after Darling Downs, added to its broad appeal.

“Accessibility via sealed roads provides access to major feedlots, grain receival sites and the Dalby saleyards,” he said.

Situated at an elevation of 495 metres and 170 kilometres from the coast, the aggregation benefits from the Darling Downs’ humid, subtropical climate. Average annual rainfall of 649 millimetres supports reliable conditions for grazing and cropping.