Ready-to-go pig unit with scope to expand ‘great value’ at €2m
ONE of the more unusual properties to come on the market this year is a substantial piggery at Ballinamult in Co Waterford.
In two separate units located 1km apart the property includes a 1,000-sow breeding unit, a 6,500-pig fattening unit, a feed mill with a computerised wet feeding system and a four-bedroom house. The entire is for sale by private treaty and guided at €2m in a transaction handled by The Brady Group and Harty Auctioneers, Dungarvan.
Located midway between Dungarvan and Clonmel, the integrated unit is fully licensed with the capacity to take pigs from birth to finish. It is empty and ready for use.
According to Mike Brady the facility was a Hermitage multiplier unit producing MD gilts for the home and export markets with pigs exported to Spain, Russia and Greece. The owner is retiring from pig farming. sows and an EPA license for 1,200. The facilities include farrowing crates, grower pens weaner pens, a hospital pen, sick pens, dry sow pens and service areas.
Feeding is controlled by a ‘Big Dutchman’ computerised wet feeding system and feed is stored in three 20 tonne bins with separate storage for two liquid ingredients. An added and valuable feature is a 250Kw wind turbine on the The main dwelling at Whitechurch House forms an ‘L’ shape over two storeys to the right of the main entrance. The accommodation includes six bedrooms with a range of elegant reception rooms and modern kitchen facilities while the classic features are maintained site supplying free electricity.
The breeding unit has oneweekweek slurry storage capacity that can be transferred to an outdoor lagoon storage facility. According to Mike Brady there is strong demand for slurry in the surrounding area.
Extra land to the south of the breeding unit can be made available for sale along with a farmhouse and wintering yard adjacent to the site. The finishing unit is located 1km away at Caherbrack. This is comprised of a finishing unit with gilt rearing accommodation and facilities to finish 6,500 pigs to 30kgs. It comes with a ‘Big Dutchman’ Feed Mill, a computerised wet feeding system and additional facilities to store up to three liquid ingredients.
Feed for the breeding and the fattening unit is produced by a ‘Crowley’ feed mill on the site with a capacity of six tonnes per hour and the capability to increase this output for other enterprises. It can combine and mill rations containing up to eight dry ingredients.
There is considerable raw material storage capacity in a total of six 30 tonne bins and two 250 tonne bins. There are also facilities to store 120 tonnes of finished product with the off-loading facilities and an on-site weighbridge.
Slurry storage is also more than ample with one week’s storage under the building with four to five months’ capacity in outdoor lagoons.
Water is supplied by a private well.
The finishing unit also comes with a four-bedroom house that has two reception rooms a kitchen and a living room.
Mike Brady describes this as an ideal opportunity to buy a substantial agricultural enterprise.
“It is a mix of modern and some older facilities but meets all the requirements,” he says. “Completely compliant it is licensed by the EPA to carry 1,200 sows and 6,500 fattening pigs. The site is surrounded by extensive tree plantations providing effective screening for the unit.”
There is a possibility of buying extra land to the north of the building complex.
Mr Brady explains that in current values, the buildings would cost €7m to €8m to erect. “The build price is calculated at €5,500 per sow,” he says. “And this entire unit can be bought for €2m. That’s great value.”