Public auction not ruled out for 83.5-acre North Tipp farm

This large grassland holding in need of some improvement will attract those on the lookout for a serious amount of acres at an affordable price

The three-bedroom bungalow and outbuildings on the 83.5-acre farm at Dangan, Clonakenny.

A rare large grassland holding is the latest offering from Roscrea-based auctioneer Seamus Browne. The holding in question is an 83.5-acre farm in the north of the Premier County in the townland of Dangan; close to the village of Clonakenny, about 10km from Roscrea and 14km from Templemore.

“The reaction to it has been good so far,” Mr Browne said. 

“It’s all in one lot and it has some decent road frontage with it... it has been quicker than usual, as well. Normally, you’d have more of a reaction after a few weeks while people are checking their finances in preparation, but in this case, the interest came almost straightaway.”

While it is common to break up a holding of this size into smaller lots, the decision so far has been to present the property in one lot.

“For larger holdings, I’ve found that they sell better in one lot... there’s more interest in them that way. It’s hard to get a parcel of that size. You’ve a lot of 20-, 30 and 40-acre lots. When you’ve 83.5 acres, you can spread the net wider — whether it’s a dairy farmer looking for an outside farm or whatever.”

This is an executor sale without any complications and the farm has been let for a number of years. As a result, it is not in optimum condition, but this will make the property all the more affordable to those on the lookout for a serious amount of acres. Once acquired, they can always be improved upon.

The 83.5-acre farm is being presented in one lot.

“There’s a river along the bottom boundary of it and the land falls nicely towards it, so it’s free-draining land,” Mr Browne said. “The land all around it is perfect and it does probably need to be re-seeded, as well as ditches and fences attended to.... It needs improvement but the ground itself is good grazing land.”

The guide price is €750,000. Translating as just under €9,000 per acre, this represents very tempting value in a part of the world where good grazing land fetches between €10,000 and €12,000 per acre.

“It’s in a nice location and if you can get it at that price, then you have the opportunity to put it the way you want it... one might purchase land at €10,000 or €12,000 per acre and then find that you still need to carry out improvement works.”

The farm has a good water supply and an electricity supply and comes with a traditional-style farmyard containing a three-span round-roof hay shed with lean-to sheds on both sides, a slatted cattle shed with central feeding passage, a concrete silage slab and a traditional cut stone farm outbuilding.

There is also a three-bedroom bungalow in need of renovation and offering about 94sq m of living space.

“At the moment, it’s up for sale as private treaty, but we might consider selling it by public auction if the interest is strong enough,” Mr Browne said.