A compact beef unit made up of 113 acres of land in a single block, winter housing for 400 cattle and a three-bedroom house has recently come on the market near Kells, Co Antrim.

The sale of the property is being managed by Ballyclare-based auctioneers J.A. McClelland and Sons and offers are being invited in the region of £1.25m (€1.45m).

The farmyard is positioned at the end of a short, concrete lane off the Steeple Road and is made up of a range of modern farm buildings. The main feature is the roundhouse shed, positioned in the middle of the yard.

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The building is designed for maximum ventilation and safe handling of cattle. It has a solid concentrate floor and individual pens are in segments, coming out from handling facilities located in the middle of the shed.

Feed barriers run around the perimeter of building and the umbrella-shaped roof is made from a high-tensile polyester fabric. There is a hole in the centre of the roof to allow a continuous upward movement of air for ventilation.

Slatted house

Adjacent to the roundhouse building is a conventional slatted house. The shed measures 140ft by 80ft and has the capacity to hold 200 cattle. Slatted floors are fitted with slat rubber and there are solid floor creep areas. There is a central feed passage and another feed barrier is on the open side of the shed. The building also has a calving pen and a straight crush.

The yard contains a 225,000 gallon, above-ground slurry store, an open silo, a four-bay covered midden, a 35ft square straw shed and an eight-tonne split meal bin. There are two three-bay machinery sheds with open fronts and a three-bay solid floor livestock house with two pen divisions and a partial open front.

All the farm buildings have been constructed within the past 10 years and have been well maintained. The only building in the yard that is over a decade old is a round-roof shed measuring 60ft by 28ft. It has an adjoining gravel floor lean to shed that also measures 60ft by 28ft.

There are two workshops beside the farmyard that both measure 46ft by 29 ft and were previously used as part of a farm diversification business. One of the buildings has secure stores, office space and a sliding door for vehicle access. The other workshop has office space and a roller shutter door.

Land

The land is made up of clay soils and there are 113 acres in total. This includes five acres of woodland planted in various locations, which mainly act as shelter belts. The 108 acres of agricultural land are in grass and have been well maintained.

Fields surrounding the yard have been recently reseeded and swards contain a high proportion of rye grass. Further from the yard, towards the bottom of the farm, some fields have rushes present.

Although the yard is positioned to one side of the farm, there is an excellent network of laneways that allow access to all fields throughout the single block of land. The main hardcore laneway runs from the farmyard to a derelict homestead. After that there are a series of narrower tracks that are made up of either hardcore material or bare soil.

Most fields are an adequate size for a rotational grazing system and field boundaries are well fenced with sheep wire. There is also a strand of bull wire around most fields that can be connected to mains electric.

The woodland provides good shelter at the periphery of the block and well-maintained hedgerows in all fields also provide shelter throughout the farm. Water to the farmyard, field drinkers and the house is supplied from a private borehole.

House

The two-storey house was constructed in 2012 and is in excellent condition. The laneway at the Steeple Road has electronic gates and the house is located to edge of the farmyard, a distance from livestock sheds. There is an enclosed parking area around the house and a detached garage with roller doors.

The entrance hall at the front of the house is spacious and has a ceramic tiled floor that leads to the stairs and receptions rooms.

There is a living room and a sunroom on the ground floor and the house is heated by oil-fired central heating.

The kitchen has marble worktops, a range of integrated appliances and a red brick fireplace with a wood-burning stove. A utility room, boiler room, shower room and office are also located on the ground floor.

Upstairs, the master bedroom has built-in wardrobes, a dressing room and an en-suite. The two other bedrooms measure the same size as the master bedroom, at 16.5ft by 12ft. A well finished bathroom is also located on the first floor.