The Properties

AAco is custodian of 7,958,954.14 hectares of land across the Northern Territory and Queensland, approximately 1.1% of Australia. Properties have been selected over a period of time for quality of land, availability of water and development potential.  AAco manages its land resources in order to maintain environmental sustainability to maximise productivity and improve the value of land assets.

AAco has an established track record of environmentally sensitive land use and was one of the first companies to employ its own field rangelands officers.  

Wylarah is located 7km from Surat, the nearest service town, and 450km west of Brisbane, Queensland. The aggregation is made up of six properties – Wylarah, Cadny Downs, Talavera, Newington, Borah and Didgeridoo – and has a total area of 30,300 hectares.  Wylarah’s purpose is to continue the fullblood breeding of the purchased Westholme herd to produce bulls for the existing AAco commercial herds and to produce feeder steers for the Master Kobe brand. Wylarah also acts as a backgrounding property for commercial Wagyu destined for Aronui Feedlot at Dalby. 

Dryland and irrigation farming are an integral part of Wylarah with forage crops grown including oats, wheat, legumes, dryland corn and sorghum.  The Balonne River flows through the property and water is harvested for irrigation of 560 hectares.  Silage pits have been built to maintain continuity of feed supply throughout the year and in dry times.

Carrum is 26 kilometres south of Julia Creek and has an area of 50,600ha.

The country consists of open flat black soil downs country, growing Mitchell and Flinders grasses in addition to herbages. Eastern and Julia Creeks run through Carrum, providing three semi-permanent water holes, with the rest of the water being supplied from the artesian basin, with seven flowing bores and two bores equipped with pumps.  At present 65% of the artesian water being used has been piped to tanks and distributed into troughs.

Carrum’s status as a tick free property and its close proximity to the live weight scales and railhead in Julia Creek add to the property’s appeal.

Carrum is now used in the Wagyu Programme for the breeding of F1 and F2 progeny. The first shipment of 72 Westholme bulls arrived at Carrum in May 2006 and quickly settled in. These bulls will be used for twice yearly joinings. A heifer AI program is also run at each joining.  Company Santa-Angus heifers bred at Headingly form the base of the female herd.