New dynasties are taking charge of the Australian cattle industry

The latest is the sale announced this week of six vast properties in Western Australia's Kimberley across almost three million hectares, or 30,000 square kilometres.

The Kimberley Cattle Portfolio runs up to 50,000 breeders across mostly leased land the size of Belgium.

Owner Chinese-Australian businessman Hui Wing Mau is offloading assets after a massive property downturn in China which hard hit his Shimao Group.

The end of some cattle dynasties and the emergence of the new beef titans can be traced back to the sale of S. Kidman & Co in 2016.

The iconic Kidman company was then one of Australia's largest beef producers, with an average herd carrying capacity of 185,000 cattle and 10.1 million hectares of land.

Billionaire miner Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting and its joint venture partner Shanghai CRED bought Kidman & Co with a stunning $386.5 million bid.

The Hui family through its Archstone group bought the Kimberley's Bulka, Yougawalla and Margaret River stations in 2017 from media marketer Harold Mitchell along with large cattle herds.

Beefood Park, Moola Bulla, Mt Amhurst and Shamrock stations were added later.

In early 2022, Ms Rinehart began selling off almost two million hectares of her holdings, including several Kidman properties, in a breath-taking move to dispose of many of her stations carrying 108,500 cattle across northern Australia.

Seven big stations in Western Australia and the Northern Territory covering some 1.876 million hectares went on the market in what was then believed the biggest single agricultural portfolio ever to be offered up in Australia.

She is believed to have realised around $300 million in what was a successful sale.

Later in 2022, the Rinehart companies sold off even more stations - Brunchilly Station (457,200 hectares, 1,129,765 acres) in the Northern Territory's Barkly Tableland, Glengyle (550,000ha, 1,359,089 acres), Durrie (660,000ha, 1,630,896 acres) and Naryilco (751,000ha, 1,855,761 acres) in Queensland's Channel country.

At the time, the company said the sell off was "consistent with the recent redirection of the agricultural portfolio within S. Kidman and Co. and Hancock Agriculture".

This redirection saw the expansion of her Wagyu beef empire with purchases of Packhorse Pastoral properties the 8360ha Stuart's Creek near Roma in Queensland and the 10,029ha Moolan Downs Station in Queensland's Western Downs region plus the 8371ha Ottley Station west of Inverell in northern NSW.

Meanwhile, Australia's largest and oldest public cattle company, the Australian Agricultural Company continued its foray into Wagyu beef production.

Today, AACo owns and operates properties, feedlots and farms comprising around 6.5 million hectares of land in Queensland and the Northern Territory.

The other big Australian miner Twiggy Forrest, through his investment company Tattarang Pty Ltd, accumulated a large shareholding in AACo.

Dr Forrest also owns substantial cattle holdings in his own right and bought up the 634,000ha Balfour Downs in the Pilbara last year.

Crown Point Pastoral Company, a partnership of the Costello and Oldfield families, took advantage of the Rinehart and other cattle station sales.

Today Crown Point is Australia's largest private land owner with big buys like the 733,700ha Mount Doreen Station in central Australia and also South Australia's Innamincka and Macumba stations.

As well Crown Point bought Ruby Plains and Sturt Creek stations as part of the Hancock divestment process.

It is now estimated this family partnership now owns more than nine million hectares in South Australia, Western Australia and the NT.

Crown Point also owns the giant Clifton Hills across 1.65 million hectares on the famous Birdsville Track in the far north of South Australia.

Hewitt Cattle Company has also emerged as a major player with financial backing from a Canadian superannuation fund.

The Hewitt's Brisbane-based company has been expanding into central Australia and central and western Queensland including the purchase of the Burenda herd and big NSW Riverina sheep operation at Tubbo Station in recent times.

It has quickly grown to own 5.6 million acres with over 200,000 head of livestock.

It is expected many of these newest big beef players will cast their eyes over the Kimberley Cattle Portfolio sale as well.