A farming family with contracting and business interests paid close to €20,000/ac for a 95ac residential farm that went to auction on Thursday.

The farm at Ballyknockane, Ardfinnan, included a residence built prior to 1963 and attracted a number of local bidders on the day.

The property, which was the subject of an executor’s sale following the passing of Catherine O’Gorman, attracted a number of serious bidders on the day, including the adjoining landowner and other local bidders.

Despite some speculation prior to auction that the property would be attractive to John Magnier to add to Coolmore’s land portfolio, this did not materialise.

The property was offered for sale in its entirety and in two lots of 95ac including house and a 20ac block separated by a minor road on which there may be a right of way.

Bidding on the entire first opened at €1.3m and increased in bids of €100,000 to €1.6m.

Lot 1, the 75ac residential portion, was then offered. It opened at €900,000 and proceeded to climb steadily in bids of €50,000 to €1.4m, at which point the adjoining landowners were the top bidders.

Lot 2, the 20ac portion, was then offered. It finished after one bid, at €300,000.

Talks

Following talks between auctioneer John Fitzgerald of Clonmel-based Dougan Fitzgerald and the executor, it was decided to put the farm on the market in lots.

The 75ac residential block, having been bid to €1.4m by the adjoining farm family, received just one more bid of €100,000. This winning bid saw the property knocked down to a Ballyporeen family with farming, contracting and business interests.

The same family proceeded to see off challenges from all other bidders on the smaller 20ac lot also, paying the top bid of €360,000.

Having paid a combined €1.86m (€19,579/ac) for the entire, it’s expected that the family will put the majority of the land under tillage in future.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal afterwards, auctioneer John Fitzgerald said he was pleased with the result.

“The auction was well attended and we had some solid operators in the room,” he said. “The vendors are happy.”

Other sales

Dougan recently sold part of a stud farm in Golden, Co Tipperary.

Rathduff Stud, which consisted of a period home on 95ac, sold to a businessman for €2.67m. A further 160ac of land which was available did not sell at auction and negotiations are ongoing in relation to a portion of this land.

Fitzgerald said he has been active with 25ac to 30ac parcels of land this summer. He noted that the price for “real farmer land” was around €18,000/ac to €20,000/ac, but added that some “explosive figures” were possible when non-farming factors came into play.