Historic 23,750ha Central Queensland cattle aggregation listed
A Central Queensland Droughtmaster breeding empire built on more than three decades of stringently selective breeding, extensive water infrastructure, and emerging carbon opportunities is changing hands, with the owners of the Christmas Creek and Fairhaven aggregation putting the operation on the market after 50 years of family ownership.
Held by Bradley and Kerryn Piggott and their family, the 23,750-hectare aggregation at the foothills of the Carnarvon Ranges – about 35 kilometres south of Rolleston and 340 kilometres south-west of Rockhampton – has become the renowned base of the Christmas Creek Droughtmaster herd, earning a reputation as one of Queensland’s leading breeding and finishing enterprises.
The holding’s appeal extends beyond cattle production. About 11,165 hectares have been identified as suitable for further investigation under current soil carbon methodologies, offering potential upside alongside a conservatively assessed carrying capacity exceeding 4100 cattle (adult equivalents).
The aggregation comprises Christmas Creek (20,019 hectares) and Fairhaven (3731 hectares), adjoining properties that the Piggott family has developed into a large-scale domestic and international export operation.
The properties at 13238 Carnarvon Highway, Rolleston, are being offered for sale through Colliers agribusiness agents Rawdon Briggs, Nicholas Warmington and Gabi Mewburn on a walk-in, walk-out basis, including cattle, plant and equipment.
Industry-leading breeding history and herd pedigree
Briggs, head of agribusiness at Colliers, says the operation was widely recognised throughout the beef industry for its long-term focus on cattle genetics, and for its commercial cattle’s awards with Beef Australia.
“The aggregation has built an enviable reputation within the beef industry through decades of disciplined genetic selection and commercial production performance,” Briggs says.
Christmas Creek’s influence extends well beyond the property boundary, with the herd regarded as one of the best-known names in the Droughtmaster breed.
“If you speak to anyone in the industry about Droughtmasters, they would have bought genetics from this herd,” he says. “They’re a very good, very solid herd.”
Developed in Australia for tropical conditions, Droughtmasters are known for their heat, drought and tick resistance, with Christmas Creek bloodlines understood to have been widely used by breeders across the nation.
The Christmas Creek Droughtmasters herd was established by Bradley and Kerryn Piggott in 1989, with the operation spending more than three decades selectively breeding cattle for temperament, fertility, natural tick and fly resistance and foraging ability.
“Our herd is bred on native grass ranges and finished on softwood scrub country to meet domestic and export markets,” the couple say through their Christmas Creek Cattle Company website.
The sale marks the latest chapter in a story that began more than 60 years ago, with the Piggott family’s connection to the district dating back to 1964, when family patriarch John Piggott drew a block of land in the Carnarvon area.
Strategic water asset security and premium pasture frameworks
Beyond its genetics, water security is expected to be a major drawcard for buyers in a state where water security shapes the value of grazing land.
The aggregation is exceptionally well-watered through a combination of permanent spring-fed creek systems, including the renowned Christmas Creek watercourse, about 64 dams, bores, reticulated stock water networks, tanks, troughs and solar pumping infrastructure.
Briggs says the land sits within Central Queensland’s prized buffel grass country, which he ranks alongside NSW’s New England region as Australia’s top beef cattle districts.
“The Central Queensland buffel grass market, which that property sits in, is probably one of the more affluent and well-sought after categories of the whole sub-asset classes of agriculture,” he says.
Briggs says buyer demand continues to be supported by the live export trade, bull breeding operations and the expansion of Australia’s Wagyu sector, which has increased competition for high-quality grazing country across the region.
Warmington, an agribusiness senior executive at Colliers, says opportunities combining scale, production capability and breeding pedigree were becoming increasingly difficult to secure across Queensland’s premier cattle regions.
“This is a genuine institutional-scale grazing asset with the added advantage of a highly-regarded breeding and finishing operation that has been developed and refined over decades,” he says.
“The aggregation combines productive brigalow and melon-hole country, extensive pasture development, exceptional water security and a proven commercial cattle business capable of immediate operation.
“Large-scale breeding and finishing opportunities of this calibre rarely come to market, particularly those with such strong operational foundations and recognised industry credentials. We are expecting very strong interest.”
Comprehensive operational infrastructure and highway freight connectivity
Located 220 kilometres north of Roma and 180 kilometres south of Emerald, the farms occupy a strategic position along the all-weather Carnarvon Highway, a major inland freight and livestock route through Queensland’s grazing heartland.
The land spans productive softwood scrub, bottle tree, brigalow, forest grazing and melon-hole country that has benefited from extensive pasture development over many years.
Supporting the operation are 38 main grazing paddocks, three cattle yards connected by internal laneway systems and trucking access via dual frontage to the highway.
The holding also includes two main homesteads, a cottage and significant machinery and storage sheds, providing the infrastructure to support a large-scale grazing enterprise from day one.
Christmas Creek and Fairhaven are offered for sale via offers to purchase on a walk-in, walk-out basis, closing at 1pm on August 5.
