Increasing accuracy & efficiency in sheep farming | James Almond

Agronomist and sheep farmer James Almond runs an intensive farming unit at Lancefield in the heart of Victoria, Australia. With 1200 Australian White ewes lambing twice a year James needed a robust sheep handler that could stand up to the frequent handling of these big ewes which are notoriously hard on people and machinery.

He was sifting through available brands and was impressed when he noticed a Te Pari Racewell HD4 Sheep Handler in use at a client's farm. Once he'd contacted the Te Pari team himself, James was convinced that this was the perfect handler to fit his needs as a solo farmer.

The HD4 Sheep Handler is fantastically easy to use, says James, especially once the sheep have been through the machine a time or two and know what to expect. They run into the handler smoothly and are not stressed when they're stopped for weighing or treatment.

"The value of Te Pari is we can weigh our animals, be accurate and sure of our weights when we're selling lambs to abattoirs or auctions." 

He's rapt with how easy the Te Pari scales are to use, too. The Te Pari T30 Scale display is wireless and far stronger than a conventional tablet. It's easy to read, and James can see all the details at a glance from anywhere in the yards.

Another invaluable feature for a solo operator is the Racewell's auto-drafting gates. They make it easy for James to weigh the ewes and automatically separate them into two mobs. That means he can treat each mob according to the ewes' particular needs. 

It's ideal at drenching time because James knows precisely how much product to use. Each sheep is drenched to its weight, so James is not wasting money, nor over or under-drenching the animals. It's a win all round.

He can do the whole operation by himself and says of the Racewell:

"It's better than a labour unit, A) because of cost but also because it's accurate."

The Racewell HD4's sturdy remote is yet another efficiency that makes the machine easy to use. From a distance, James can spot a ewe which needs special treatment and remotely clamp her when she runs through the handler. 

"You can dag the ewe and draft it off if it needs veterinary assistance; that remote is an invaluable tool as well." 

Without a doubt, James finds his sheep handler extremely reliable. At the same time, he's pleased with Te Pari's after-sales service. On the rare occasion that something does go wrong, he can quickly fix it himself or give the team a call. 

James couldn't be happier with his Te Pari Racewell HD4 Sheep Handler, and that's why he maintains:

"With Te Pari it's not just the sale, they actually back their product and that's the whole thing I like about it."