Property is more than 23,000 square kilometres
By Diego Flammini, Farms.com
S. Kidman & Co., a beef producer from Adelaide, Australia is putting their ranch – the largest in the world, up for sale.
The ranch, Anna Creek, covers 23,667 square kilometres – the entire state of New Jersey covers around 21,150 square kilometres and the whole country of Jamaica covers just under 11,000 square kilometres.
The largest ranches in North America are about one-tenth that size. The largest contiguous ranch in the United States is Wagoner Ranch in Texas with 535,000 acres which is equivalent to 2165 sq kilometres. The largest in Canada was the Alexis Creek Ranch in British Columbia with 350,000 acres, approximately 1416 sq kilometres.
S. Kidman & Co’s assets spread over 100,000 kilometres, and include around 155,000 branded cattle. It is responsible for 1.3% of all boxed-beef exports coming out of Australia.
Australia’s beef export sector is booming and in February reached an all-time high. In a press release, Greg Campbell, Managing Director said the sale is an effort “to capitalize on the present demand for quality Australian agricultural assets.”
On Thursday, cattle prices in Australia were around $4.34 Australian, or $3.33 in U.S. dollars per kilogram of carcass weight. In February prices increased to $4.512 in Australian dollars, equal to about $3.46 U.S.
Ernst and Young Adelaide are handling the sale of the property and aren’t expected to release any details before May.
A brief history
S. Kidman & Co. was founded in 1899 by Sidney Kidman, who was born May 9th, 1857. At age 13, he left his South Australia home to work as a sheep drover. From there he started his own business with his brother and gained the reputation as “The Cattle King.” He passed away on September 1st, 1935 when he was 78 years old.
Join the conversation and tell us what you would do if you had access to that much land? Would you sell some? Keep it all?