Arecord price of more than $13,000 per acre for broad acre farming land was paid at a Millicent auction on Friday afternoon.

The local Ballantyne family paid $3.2m for 244 acres with shedding at Wattle Range and this represents $13,114 per acre.

A vendor bid of $2.1m had got the auction under way and there were $100,000 increments.

Meanwhile, another neighbour paid $2.7m for 225 nearby acres (exactly $12,000 per acre).

Bidding had commenced with a vendor benchmark of $2.2m.

This purchaser was a company associated with Thomas Foods International and this enterprise has purchased a number of other premium South East farming properties in the past decade.

The prices-per-acre for both properties smashed previous Millicent auction records and never before has such a local single selling occasion netted an amount of $5.9m.

There were a number of underbidders for both properties.

The vendor was Trevor Hutchesson whose late grandfather Herbert Hutchesson took up the land after his marriage in 1900.

The auction was held at the Millicent Football Netball Club and attended by 65 interested people.

They included the vendor’s grandson and ex-AFL footballer Tom Hutchesson and other members of the Hutchesson family.

The farming communities of Furner and Hatherleigh were well represented at the sale.

Both properties were marketed by South East Property Sales and Management while the auctioneer was local agent John Chay.

“The sale of these two properties represented a rare opportunity to secure land in a very tightly-held area of renowned grazing country with high rainfall,” Mr Chay said.