One of the Kimberley’s most well-known family-owned cattle portfolios is for sale for the first time in 17 years, offering a large-scale grazing and irrigation opportunity for interested buyers.
Nita Downs Station and La Grange Farm were this month listed for sale, as owners Damian and Kirsty Forshaw look to exit the properties they took on above the La Grange aquifer in 2005.
Located 115km south of Broome and 330km north of Port Hedland, the stations span a collective 210,234ha used for breeding and backgrounding 6642 adult cattle and fodder production.
Nita Downs is 207,607ha and includes 76ha to develop centre pivot irrigation, underpinned by a 4000ml groundwater licence, while the 2627ha La Grange farm includes 250ha for irrigation development with a 6000ml water licence and potential to expand.
According to the listing – through LAWD Real Estate – the water is sourced from multiple bores through a “comprehensive reticulated network”. Annual rainfall is 520mm.
The couple took on a sizeable challenge when they bought Nita Downs in 2005, with a homestead complex burned to the ground and just 200 Shorthorn cattle on the property.
They set about making considerable improvements and over time, obtained permission to use centre pivot irrigation to grow Rhodes Grass crops – with the first water allocation ticked off in 2010.
Both properties are for sale by expressions of interest process closing July 6, with buyers available to purchase together or as individual assets.
LAWD and the Forshaws were contacted for comment.