Farm lease, Bellwether Downs, 240 hectares

Farm lease agreement template with grazing rights and a fencing table

A grazing lease is a bet on country, and the two things that decide whether it was a good one are the stocking rate and who fixes the fence. This three year lease over 240 hectares caps stock in dry sheep equivalents, ties ground cover to a measurement twice a year, and puts every improvement in a table with a name beside it.

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Farm lease, grazing

Bellwether Downs

Between Graeme and Robyn Tilbrook, landholders, and Kanga Creek Pastoral Pty Ltd, lessee

New South Wales, 240 hectares
Three years from 1 April 2027
Farm lease · Bellwether Downs, 1450 Wattle Flat Road, Molong NSW 2866Page 2 of 8
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Farm lease · Bellwether Downs, 1450 Wattle Flat Road, Molong NSW 2866Page 8 of 8
Contents
1. The parties and the land
1
2. Term and rent
2
3. Permitted use and stocking rate
3
4. Livestock identification and biosecurity
3
5. Water
4
6. Fences, gates and infrastructure
4
7. Pasture, weeds and chemicals
5
8. Fire
5
9. Access and what the landholders keep
5
10. Insurance and liability
6
11. Ending the lease
6
12. General
6
13. Signing
7
1. The parties and the land

This lease is made on 18 February 2027 between Graeme Tilbrook and Robyn Tilbrook of 1450 Wattle Flat Road, Molong NSW 2866, called the landholders, and Kanga Creek Pastoral Pty Ltd, ABN 54 882 610 447, called the lessee, over 240 hectares of grazing country forming part of the property known as Bellwether Downs, being the paddocks listed below and the laneways between them.

240 ha
Area leased
$38,000
Rent a year
3 years
Term
1,800 DSE
Stocking cap
Paddock
Country and improvements
Hectares
Water
River Flat
Improved pasture, laser levelled, two hay sheds not included
62
River and trough
Long Paddock
Native pasture with scattered box, sheep and cattle yards at the south gate
78
Dam
Ridge
Steeper native country, timbered on the eastern fall
54
Trough from bore
Bore Paddock
Improved pasture, bore, tank and pump shed
38
Bore and trough
Holding
Small paddock next to the yards, used for drafting and trucking
8
Trough
Total area leased
240
Paddock
Country and improvements
Hectares
Water
River Flat
Improved pasture, laser levelled, two hay sheds not included
62
River and trough
Long Paddock
Native pasture with scattered box, sheep and cattle yards at the south gate
78
Dam
Ridge
Steeper native country, timbered on the eastern fall
54
Trough from bore
Bore Paddock
Improved pasture, bore, tank and pump shed
38
Bore and trough
Holding
Small paddock next to the yards, used for drafting and trucking
8
Trough
Total area leased
240
Paddock
Country and improvements
Hectares
Water
River Flat
Improved pasture, laser levelled, two hay sheds not included
62
River and trough
Long Paddock
Native pasture with scattered box, sheep and cattle yards at the south gate
78
Dam
Ridge
Steeper native country, timbered on the eastern fall
54
Trough from bore
Bore Paddock
Improved pasture, bore, tank and pump shed
38
Bore and trough
Holding
Small paddock next to the yards, used for drafting and trucking
8
Trough
Total area leased
240
1.1
What is not leased
The homestead and its garden, the machinery shed, the two hay sheds on River Flat, the workshop, the house paddock of 6 hectares and the airstrip are not leased and the lessee does not enter them. Hay and silage stored in the sheds belong to the landholders.
2. Term and rent
2.1
Three years, with a right to talk about three more
The term is three years from 1 April 2027 to 31 March 2030. By 30 September 2029 the parties meet to discuss a further three year term, and the lessee has first right to match any offer the landholders receive for the same country on the same terms before 31 December 2029.
2.2
Rent, when it is paid and how it is reviewed
Rent is $38,000 a year plus GST, which is about $158 a hectare, paid quarterly in advance as $9,500 plus GST on 1 April, 1 July, 1 October and 1 January. Rent rises by 2.5 percent on each anniversary. There is no crop share, no share of livestock and no agistment fee on top: the rent is the whole of what the lessee pays for the use of the land.
2.3
Rates, levies and outgoings
The landholders pay council rates, the Local Land Services rate and land tax. The lessee pays electricity for the bore pump, its own telephone and internet, and the cost of any water carted onto the property.
3. Permitted use and stocking rate
3.1
Grazing only
The land is used for grazing sheep and cattle and for conserving fodder cut from the leased paddocks for use on the leased paddocks. Cropping, including a fodder crop that is ploughed in, needs the written consent of the landholders and a separate agreement about inputs and the state the paddock is left in.
The stocking cap is 1,800 dry sheep equivalents across the whole area
That is about 7.5 dry sheep equivalents a hectare, which suits this country in an average season. The lessee may carry more for up to 60 days with written consent. Ground cover is not to fall below 70 percent on the flats or 80 percent on the Ridge paddock, measured at the four marked points each March and September.
3.2
Destocking in a dry season
Where ground cover falls below the figures in the callout at a measurement, the lessee reduces numbers within 21 days until cover recovers, or feeds in a confinement area agreed in writing. Neither party wants bare paddocks, so the measurement is done together and the result is written on the shared record sheet in the pump shed.
4. Livestock identification and biosecurity
4.1
Property identification code and tags
Stock on the leased land are run under the property identification code for Bellwether Downs, which the landholders hold and the lessee is authorised to use for this land. Cattle and sheep carry the electronic identification devices the law requires, and the lessee records every movement on and off the property in the national database within the time allowed and gives the landholders a copy of each record on request.
4.2
The biosecurity duty runs both ways
Both parties have a general biosecurity duty under the Biosecurity Act 2015. The lessee keeps a farm biosecurity plan for the leased land, does not bring stock with a known disease onto the property, quarantines introduced stock in the Holding paddock for 14 days, and tells the landholders the same day if a notifiable disease or a priority weed is suspected. Visitors, contractors and stock trucks come in through the front gate and use the wash down point.
5. Water
5.1
What the lessee may take, and what it may not
The lessee may take stock and domestic water from the river, the bore and the dams for the stock on the leased land. This lease transfers no water access licence and no irrigation entitlement, and the lessee does not irrigate. The bore is not run above 4 litres a second and the pump hours are written on the sheet in the pump shed each month.
5.2
Keeping the water working
The lessee checks every trough at least twice a week, clears the float and the inlet, and repairs a leaking trough, pipe or ball valve at its own cost within two days. The landholders repair or replace the bore, the pump, the tank and the main line. A dry trough is reported the same day, not at the end of the week.
6. Fences, gates and infrastructure
Item
Responsibility
What that means here
Boundary fences
Shared
Materials paid by the landholders, labour by the lessee, both agree before work starts
Internal fences
Lessee
Kept stock proof, wires tensioned, posts replaced as needed
Electric fence energiser
Lessee
Checked weekly, earth stakes kept moist, battery replaced at lessee cost
Yards and loading ramp
Lessee
Kept safe and clean, damage repaired within 14 days
Bore, pump and tank
Landholders
Repaired or replaced, with the lessee reporting a fault the same day
Laneways and tracks
Lessee
Graded ruts filled, no vehicle on a wet track
Gates
Lessee
Left as found, chained closed on the road boundary at all times
6.1
Dividing fences with neighbours
A dividing fence on a boundary with a neighbour is dealt with under the Dividing Fences Act 1991. The landholders remain the owner for that purpose and deal with the neighbour, and the lessee does not agree a fencing contribution with a neighbour without written consent. Where a fence is replaced during the term, the lessee supplies the labour and the landholders supply the materials, as the table says.
7. Pasture, weeds and chemicals
7.1
Weeds
The lessee controls weeds on the leased land at its own cost, including serrated tussock, St John wort, blackberry and African lovegrass, and treats an outbreak within 30 days of it being found. Where a weed is beyond ordinary control, the parties agree a program and share the cost equally.
7.2
Chemicals, records and drift
Only products registered by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority are used, at label rates, by a person holding the chemical accreditation the label requires. The lessee keeps a spray record for each application showing the product, the rate, the paddock, the date, the wind direction and speed, and the operator, and gives the landholders a copy each June. No spraying happens within 100 metres of the homestead, the airstrip or a neighbour boundary without telling the landholders and the neighbour first. Withholding periods and export slaughter intervals are observed.
7.3
Fertiliser and soil
The lessee may apply fertiliser at its own cost. A soil test is taken on River Flat and Bore Paddock at the start and at the end of the term, at the cost of the lessee, and the results are shared. The lessee does not remove topsoil, gravel or timber from the property and does not clear native vegetation.
8. Fire
8.1
Firebreaks, permits and equipment
The lessee slashes or grazes the firebreaks shown on the property map by 30 November each year. No fire is lit during the bushfire danger period without a permit, and no welding, grinding or slashing happens on a day of total fire ban. The lessee keeps a 600 litre fire fighting unit on the property through summer, filled and working, and tells the landholders and the fire service immediately about any fire on the land.
9. Access and what the landholders keep
9.1
The landholders keep living here
The landholders and their family may cross the leased paddocks to reach the house, the sheds and the airstrip, may keep using the laneways, and may fish and walk on the river frontage, in each case without disturbing stock and leaving gates as found. The landholders may inspect the leased land four times a year on seven days written notice, and at any time in an emergency.
10. Insurance and liability
10.1
Cover each party holds
The lessee holds public liability insurance of at least $20 million noting the interest of the landholders, insures its own livestock, plant and fodder, and holds workers compensation for anyone it employs. The landholders insure the buildings, the bore, the pump and the fixed improvements. Each party gives the other a certificate of currency before the term starts and after each renewal. The lessee is responsible for injury or loss caused by its stock, its people or its vehicles.
11. Ending the lease
11.1
Notice, breach and the last day
Either party may end this lease during the term on six months written notice, which gives the lessee time to sell or move stock. Either party may end it immediately for a serious breach not fixed within 28 days of written notice, including rent unpaid for 28 days, stock carried above the cap without consent, or a chemical used contrary to its label. On the last day the lessee removes every animal, all plant, portable yards, feeders, hay and rubbish, leaves the gates as found and the troughs working, and hands back the keys to the pump shed.
11.2
Stock left behind, and the final inspection
Stock still on the land 14 days after the last day may be moved by the landholders to the Holding paddock at the cost of the lessee, and after a further 14 days and written notice may be sold with the proceeds applied to what is owed. The parties inspect the land together in the last week of the term against the photographs taken at the start.
12. General
12.1
Assignment, notices and the law
The lessee does not assign this lease or sublet any part of the land without written consent, which is not unreasonably withheld for a related company. Notices are given by email and by post to the addresses on page one, and a notice about stock or water may also be given by phone and confirmed in writing the same day. A variation takes effect only when both parties agree it in writing. This lease is governed by the law of New South Wales.
13. Signing
13.1
Execution and the records that go with it
Each party signs below and keeps a copy. Signed with this lease are the property map marking the leased paddocks and the firebreaks, the photographs of each paddock taken in the week before the term starts, and the opening soil test results.
Graeme Tilbrook and Robyn Tilbrook, landholders
Name
:
Date
:
For Kanga Creek Pastoral Pty Ltd
Name
:
Position
:
Date
:

Section by section

What each section is for, so you can keep the ones you need and drop the rest.

Contents
Thirteen numbered sections across an eight page lease including the cover.
1. The parties and the land
Both parties, the five paddock table totalling 240 hectares, and what is not leased.
2. Term and rent
Three years with a right to negotiate more, quarterly rent, the 2.5 percent rise, and outgoings.
3. Permitted use and stocking rate
Grazing only, the stocking cap callout with ground cover floors, and destocking in a dry season.
4. Livestock identification and biosecurity
The property identification code, electronic tags and movement records, and the biosecurity duty.
5. Water
What water may be taken, that no licence transfers, and who maintains troughs against bore and pump.
6. Fences, gates and infrastructure
A seven row responsibility table, and how dividing fences with neighbours are handled.
7. Pasture, weeds and chemicals
Weed control at lessee cost, registered chemicals with spray records, and fertiliser and soil tests.
8. Fire
Firebreaks slashed by 30 November, permits, hot work rules and the fire fighting unit.
9. Access and what the landholders keep
Crossing rights, the river frontage, and four inspections a year on seven days notice.
10. Insurance and liability
Twenty million public liability, stock and plant cover, workers compensation and certificates.
11. Ending the lease
Six months notice, immediate termination for serious breach, the last day and stock left behind.
12. General
Assignment, notices including urgent notice by phone, and the governing law.
13. Signing
Execution with the property map, the opening photographs and the soil test results.
Signatures
A block for the landholders and one for the lessee company.

Clauses in this document

How to adapt this agreement

For a share farming arrangement rather than a cash lease, replace clause 2.2 with a share of the crop or the stock, and add a schedule dividing the inputs, because the whole argument in share farming is who paid for the urea. For cropping country, delete the stocking cap and replace it with a rotation clause, a stubble retention rule and a soil test at both ends, and be specific about which chemicals may be used on which paddock given the plant back periods. For a lease of a whole property including the house, add the residence to the paddock table, delete the access clause that keeps the landholders crossing the land, and deal with the house separately, because a farm house inside a commercial lease raises residential tenancy questions that a grazing lease is not built for.

Which law the terms follow

The general biosecurity duty in clause 4.2 comes from the Biosecurity Act 2015 in New South Wales, which applies to both parties regardless of what the lease says. Livestock identification runs under the national scheme, with the property identification code held by the landholders and movements recorded in the national database. Dividing fences with neighbours are dealt with under the Dividing Fences Act 1991, which is why the lease keeps the landholders as the party who deals with a neighbour and stops the lessee agreeing a contribution on their behalf. Agricultural chemicals must be registered by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority and used at label rates, with withholding periods and export slaughter intervals observed. The lease is governed by the law of New South Wales.

What makes this document work

The stocking cap is a number with a measurement behind it

Eighteen hundred dry sheep equivalents across 240 hectares, about 7.5 to the hectare, plus ground cover floors of 70 percent on the flats and 80 percent on the Ridge, measured at four marked points each March and September. Clause 3.2 then requires destocking within 21 days if a measurement falls short.

Fencing splits materials from labour

The infrastructure table gives boundary fences a shared responsibility, with materials paid by the landholders and labour by the lessee, and clause 6.1 keeps the landholders as the owner for dividing fence dealings with neighbours. That is the split that actually gets fences built rather than argued about.

Chemical use is a record, not a promise

Clause 7.2 requires registered products at label rates by an accredited operator, a spray record showing product, rate, paddock, date, wind direction and speed and operator, a copy to the landholders each June, and notice before spraying within 100 metres of the homestead or a boundary.

Questions people ask

What should a farm lease agreement include?

The land and what is excluded, the term, the rent and how it is reviewed, what the land may be used for, a stocking limit, who maintains water and fences, weed and chemical duties, fire obligations, insurance, and how the lease ends including what happens to stock left behind.

How is farm rent usually calculated?

Per hectare, per dry sheep equivalent, or as a share of the crop. This lease uses a flat cash rent of $38,000 a year over 240 hectares, about $158 a hectare, paid quarterly in advance and rising 2.5 percent each anniversary, with no crop share and no livestock share on top.

What is a dry sheep equivalent?

A standard unit of grazing pressure used to compare different classes of stock on the same country. Setting the cap in dry sheep equivalents rather than head lets the lessee run cattle, sheep or a mix without renegotiating, while keeping total pressure fixed at 1,800 across the leased area.

Who is responsible for fences on a leased farm?

Under this lease, internal fences, gates and the electric energiser sit with the lessee, boundary fences are shared with materials from the landholders and labour from the lessee, and dealings with a neighbour about a dividing fence stay with the landholders as owner, under the dividing fences legislation.

Does a farm lease transfer water rights?

Not here. Clause 5.1 lets the lessee take stock and domestic water from the river, bore and dams for stock on the leased land, and says plainly that the lease transfers no water access licence and no irrigation entitlement, and that the lessee does not irrigate.

Who carries the biosecurity duty on leased land?

Both parties. Clause 4.2 puts a general biosecurity duty on each of them, requires the lessee to keep a farm biosecurity plan, quarantine introduced stock for 14 days, and report a suspected notifiable disease or priority weed the same day, with visitors and stock trucks using the front gate and the wash down point.

How much notice ends a grazing lease?

Six months either way under clause 11.1, which is set that long deliberately so the lessee has time to sell or move stock rather than dumping them into a falling market. Serious breach, including stock carried over the cap without consent, allows immediate termination after 28 days to fix.

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