An Australian cattle farm stretching a staggering 15,746 square kilometres is ‘larger than 49 different countries’. Anna Creek Station is one of the largest privately-held pieces of property in the world. It spans as tall as the Netherlands, as wide as Wales, and is bigger in size than Israel, according to the YouTube channel Half as Interesting.
The Australian farm is extremely vast yet has very sparse vegetation due to the little rainfall – it gets about 20cm per year and reaches scorching temperatures of 55C. Due to the level of grass being so low, a large surface area is required to keep up with the grazing needs of the 17,000 cattle that live on the land.
For comparison, the largest cattle farm in the US, King Ranch, is less than 1/7 of the size of its Australian counterpart, yet it supports twice the number of cattle on its more vegetated landscape.
Despite the sheer scale of the land, the farm only has 11 employees. This comprises one manager, eight station hands, a plant operator and a cook. The farm relies heavily on technology to operate its water pumps remotely, also using low-flying planes to locate the cattle which are then rounded up by stationhands riding motorbikes, requiring a much smaller workforce.
If the farm workers need to pop into town, the nearest is Coober Pedy which houses just 1,762 residents and a handful of businesses.
Anna Creek was discovered in 1858, initially stocking thousands of sheep in a different location. After continued attacks on the animals by dingoes, the station was relocated with cattle as the main focus.
After being owned by various families, Williams Cattle Company acquired the land in December 2016 for an estimated $16 million (£12.2m)
Australia is home to several other farms considered to be the largest in the world including Clifton Hills which boasts a whopping 55,000 cows and over 1,800 employees. Davenport Downs, Home Valley and Innamincka all also have over 3m acres of land.
