A 176-acre farm, situated at Forenaughts Great, Furness, Naas, Co Kildare, was offered for public auction last Thursday in Kilashee House Hotel, Naas. A bid of €2.4m was not enough to tempt the vendors on the day – even though the property was guided at €12,000/acre, or €1.2m, prior to auction. Selling agents Jordan Auctioneers said negotiations were currently ongoing, with no outcome pending as of yet.

Bidding

Before a good crowd, auctioneer Paddy Jordan started with lot three comprising circa 29.5 acres. An opening bid of €300,000 was made and it was quickly followed up with a bid of €320,000.

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Proceedings moved briskly from here, as two men fought it out for the parcel, with bids rising by €20,000 each time to €360,000. The two bidders then moved up in offers of €10,000 at a time, until a final offer of €450,000 (€15,254/acre) was made.

Paddy Jordan held this offer and moved onto lot two, which comprised the farmyard and circa 146.5 acres. Receiving no bids, he then offered the property in its entirety. A new bidder from the back of the room immediately offered €1.5m for the property.

An offer of €1.6m was then made from the other side of the room. The offers rose in bids of €100,000 before reaching €2.4m. Receiving no further offers, Paddy Jordan took a break to consult with the vendors. Once he returned, the entire property was offered again, but no fresh bids came. The vendors then decided to withdraw the property and speak with the man who had offered €2.4m.

Interest

The farm at Forenaughts had generated a lot of interest in the build up to the auction as it features some of the best land in Co Kildare. Auctioneer Paddy Jordon had described the land as being “ideally suited for a dairy farm or a stud farm”.

Set out in one 176-acre block, the farm is laid out in seven fields that are accessed from a central farm roadway. With the exception of 40 acres under tillage, the land is mostly under permanent pasture and is classified under the Elton series of soils for Co Kildare, which are derived from limestone with a small mix of shale and sandstone.

It comes with cattle accommodation for 150 animals, which includes two covered silage pits with a slatted lean-to on either side, a six-bay hayshed and a large machinery/grain store.

In addition to this, there is almost a mile of road frontage and entitlements to the value of circa €27,000. Punchestown and Goffs bloodstock sales are about five minutes’ drive away, while some of the studs in the vicinity include Palmerstown, Broguestown and Forenaughts.