A Decade of Dependability with Racewell
3 April 2025
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By Aimee Johnston
When the rain came down on Christmas Day 2024, Matthew was probably hoping it would stop so his family could enjoy a rare day off and some sunshine. We doubt he wanted to stop for the next 12 months, bar the odd sprinkle here and there, though. It’s a reminder that you can’t depend on the weather when farming. But Matthew can depend on the Te Pari Racewell DR3 Auto Drafter. After all, he’s been using it for over a decade now.
The Racewell has been a permanent fixture at Hermitage Station since 2014. The 1900-acre sheep and beef breeding farm at Rotherham, 90 minutes north of Christchurch, features high hills and rolling land. It’s a nice slice of New Zealand and one Matthew and his wife Vicki have called home for the last 20 years. The business has grown, as have their children over that time, and they’ve come to rely on Te Pari to operate quickly and efficiently.
“We use it (the Racewell DR3) at weaning times so we can get right down as low as possible, to get every lamb off Mum,” says Matthew. “And then we use it for monitoring hoggets…to make sure they’re on track for mating in April. Then we finish most of our own lambs, depending on the feed supply and where we’re at with it, and will draft at higher or lower rates.”
The Te Pari Racewell DR3 shares the same goals as our other products, with a design focused on making farming easier. For example, drafting at weights is literally as simple as pressing a button. “If we want them at 19kgs, then I’ll just put a weight in the drafter to say draft anything above this, and we get our numbers that way,” explains Matthew, who uses a Gallagher TW-3 Weigh Scale that’s also used for his cattle.
One of the key features of the Racwell is the integrated cells at the top of the weigh crate. With the weigh crate suspended from the weighing equipment at the top of the machine, the entry and exit height of the drafter is lower. Also, there’s no need to place the machine on level ground for accurate weighing and to protect crucial components. What does this mean in real farming situations though? It means the DR3 is fast. Incredibly fast.
“The best we did…on a set of satellite yards running off a generator…was 1400 lambs in two hours. So we were doing 700 an hour,” says Matthew. That’s not a one-off either. “Around 600 to 700 seems to be about standard, depending on how they’re flowing. It gets really good sheep flow. We have someone standing at the front to slow them down a bit!”
That’s not really necessary though, as there’s an anti-slip rubber floor. Even quick-hooved sheep won’t slip. They also won’t baulk at any loud banging noises - as there aren’t any. The whole system is designed to be quietly effective, with impact resistant polyethylene covers helping to reduce noise (and protect critical pneumatic and electric components).
Hurried sheep that push up normally impact weighing accuracy because the entry gates are connected to the weighing platform. Our design keeps both entry and exit gates separate to prevent this from happening. Another advantage is the reactive entry gate. If an animal is stuck in the entry gate, it’ll automatically reopen and let the animal walk all the way in. Only then does the weighing process begin.
When it comes time to draft lambs to go off for processing, the integrated EID reader will keep track of which lambs are going where thanks to the unique design with an antenna that goes around the entire weight crate. There’s no missing scans and there is no issue with EID tags being in different ears.
For Matthew, this means he can draft on weight or by EID tag really easily. But he can also easily draft manually with ease, thanks to the dual controls. The top of the racewell houses all the controls needed to operate the DR3, or the operator can stand back (or maybe even sit down for a precious moment) and use the remote from anywhere in the yard.
Even though we referred to the DR3 earlier as a ‘permanent fixture’, it doesn’t need to be. There’s a purpose-built trailer available as an optional extra. The drafter sits inside the trailer system and is winched up into it, and out of it. Only one person is needed to load and unload the drafter.
We don’t think the DR3 Auto Drafter will find itself off Matthews farm anytime soon though. After 11 years, it still works as well as it did on day one. That’s because its steel frame is hot-dip galvanised after fabrication and backed by a 10-year galvanising warranty. Mind you, that warranty has now expired for Matthew, but he’s not concerned at all. He knows the heavy-duty steel frame and high-strength steel construction will take a hammering and keep working without issue. It’s why, after a decade of constant use, he’d be happy to recommend the Te Pari Racewell DR3.
“I would recommend it to anyone who’s looking at getting a sheep weighing and drafting system. We couldn’t be happier with it.”
If you liked this case study and the story of how Matthew has benefited from a decade of dependability with the Te Pari Racewell, then feel free to check back for updates.
…you might not see any for another 10 years, though, as that’s the kind of time frame we work with for Te Pari products because we build them to last. And last.
