Baingarra is located 5km north of the township of Minyip and approximately 25km south of Warracknabeal in the north Wimmera region. The total area of the property is 5,082 hectares.
The average rainfall at Baingarra is 425mm, 270mm of this falls during the winter growing season from April to October.
The soils on the property range from soft friable grey soils, equal to the best in the Wimmera, to some areas of hard-setting soil on red rises. The hard-setting soils run water and need to be treated with gypsum to alleviate this problem.
The soils on Baingarra have the capacity to store up to 200mm of available water within reach of the roots of winter crops. This means that the rains during winter, which are normally in excess of the crop’s immediate needs, can be stored in the soil to be extracted by the crop during the spring when rainfall is not sufficient to meet the crop’s needs.
Baingarra is cool and wet enough to reliably produce a variety of grain legume and oilseed crops, as well as wheat and barley.
Canola has been grown successfully in the area for many years, and the superior oil content of canola grown at Baingarra attests to it being located in a favourable area.
The average percentage mix of crop types since commencement of operations have been as follows: Wheat 51%, Barley 20%, Canola 8%, Lentils 6%, Fallow 13% and Hay 2%.
More information on Baingarra and directions to the property.
Bullarto Downs is located between Hopetoun and Woomelang in the southern Mallee. It is about 110 km north of Horsham and about 70km north of Warracknabeal.
Bullarto Downs covers a total area of 3,700 hectares. The Bullarto Downs operation now incorporates Willenabrina (about 60km to the SW) and this brings the total area of the aggregation to 4,895 hectares.
The average rainfall at Bullarto Downs is about 350mm while it is about 20mm higher at
Willenabrina. Two thirds of the annual rainfall occurs during the winter growing season (April to October).
The soils on both properties range from light sandy soils (on rising country) with limited capacity to store water, to heavy clay loams on the flats. While the lighter sandier soils have a limited capacity to store water, they are better able to release limited amounts of rainfall to crop roots than heavier soils.
Because of their greater storage capacity the heavier soils are more suited to fallowing for the purpose of carrying water from winter to winter.
The average percentage mix of crop types since commencement of operations have been as follows: Wheat 50%, Barley 20%, Canola 8%, Lentils 4% and Fallow 18%.
More information on Bullarto Downs and directions to the property.
The Wongan property comprises of approximately 3,010 hectares in the high rainfall area 50km west of Ballarat.
Wongan is an aggregation of five properties, with the addition of 445 hectares of leased land. The annual rainfall at Wongan is about 540mm with approximately 390mm falling through the winter growing season from April to November.
The rainfall is greater and more reliable at the Wongan property than properties further north in Victoria, and the winter growing season and the spring are much cooler. Moderate
temperatures during spring improve the water use efficiency of crops and in the case of
canola, result in a higher oil content.
In the case of the Wongan aggregation, it was elected to acquire a majority of good soils that are naturally free draining. Drainage depends partly on the topography and partly on the capacity of the soils to conduct water away from the surface into the sub-soil.
The average percentage mix of crop types since commencement of operations have been as follows: Wheat 36%, Barley 30% and Canola 34%.
More information on Wongan and directions to the property.
The Horsham Office oversees the operations of the entire trusts. Protocols, processes and procedures all stem from the Horsham Office. In summary these include: Property Acquisition, Plant & Equipment Analysis, Agronomic/Technical Management, Grain Marketing, Human Resources, Environmental Management, Health & Safety, Budgeting and Reporting.
