Midlands zero grazing land guided at up to €8,000/ac
I PICKED the wettest day we had since September to walk a compact 54.5ac residential farm at Kilcolgan More, Ferbane in Co Offaly. The farm is on the private treaty market and can be bought as an entire or in lots with a guide price of between €350,000 and €430,000 or €6,000-8,000/ac.
Located 4km from Ferbane on the Kilbeggan/Tullamore road, the farm is in two portions with a 5.14ac field located on the way to the property from the main road. This field had planning permission for two sites that has recently expired and is guided pre the sale at €75,000. The remainder of the land is set behind the dwelling house and extends to 49.36ac.
On the day I visited it I walked some of the ground in the rain and was driven around much of the rest in a jeep that hardly left a mark on the place. There is a small yard with the farm that includes two fourcolumn lean-to slatted sheds with accommodation for 75 cattle, a machinery shed and a sheep shed along with two silage slabs and a cattle crush.
A hardcore passageway that could do with a bit of work leads to the fields that bound the Brosna River at the lower end.
The farm was in the REPS programme and the fencing by the river is to REPS standards. A 6ac field is in GLAS and generates about €6,000 in payments.
The land is completely flat and while low-lying, it is very dry and fields adjacent to the farm have cattle out still -not bad for the first week in November.
Traditional
The fields vary in size from 17ac to around 5ac, with the space around the sheds occupying 3ac. The hedgerows are neat and well trimmed and the grass is in good order with every sign of being well looked after and fertilised.
Water is supplied to every field from two wells on the farm and mains electricity is also connected.
The house is your quintessential traditional single storey farmhouse. A small porch leads directly into the the main room that combines the kitchen, living space and dining area. Off this room are two bedrooms and a bathroom. Adjacent to the house are traditional outhouses containing three stables.
Auctioneer John Ryan of Birr says the farm would make an ideal add-on to an existing farm or an ideal holding for someone starting out. It could indeed be very suitable for a local farmer doing zero grazing.
“While we are willing to sell it in three lots at the moment with the field near the main road making up one lot and the remainder making up a second and the entire a third lot, we would be willing to look at selling the land without the house and selling the house on one acre separately.”