The Unstoppable Duo: How Polaris Powers a 600-Acre Welsh Farm
With 1800 animals, more than 600 acres and just a father and son working a farm in North Wales – they say it would be impossible to manage without their Polaris vehicles.
Mathew Roberts is the fourth generation to work Ty Draw Farm, in the village of Llanasa in Holywell, and farms with his father David.
They have 1,500 sheep which are a mix of Texel cross mules and Suffolk cross mules, 300 cattle and 100 acres of arable land where they grow barley, fodder beet and red clover.
It is quite an undertaking for the duo who mainly look after all the farm jobs themselves – with help from a Polaris Ranger and a Polaris Sportsman quad.
“It is impossible to do the job without them when you have 600 acres. Dad uses the Ranger all day every day. He wouldn’t be without it. He prefers the comfort and the stability in the fields. I prefer the quad, but we couldn’t have one without the other.”
Whether it is getting feed out into the fields for the livestock, tackling maintenance jobs on the farm, getting around the land or even bringing in injured or sick animals – it is all done using the Ranger or the Sportsman.
“They can do things other vehicles can’t”, Mathew said. “We can feed with both vehicles – it is just a preference of which we like the best.
“If a sheep is unwell or injured we will go with both vehicles, I catch it with the quad and dad has the trailer on the Ranger and will take it back home. I have a box on the back on the quad for the sheepdogs.”
The farmers have gone back to Polaris vehicles after trying other brands and say customer service is a big factor.
Mathew said: “We are on our second Polaris Ranger, we change them every two years and I have had the latest quad bike for two months.
“It is not just about Polaris, it is about the dealer we use, they are fantastic. We use Clwyd Agricultural.
“We did have a Polaris back in 2010 and have tried different brands but have come back to the Polaris.”
In future they are not ruling out opting for the Polaris Kinetic Ranger which is an electric UTV and is growing in popularity amongst farmers and estate workers in particular.
Mathew added: “We are happy with the ones we have got, but in the future the Kinetic might fit in. We keep the machines for two years, we put a lot of miles on them so the reliability is the main thing for us. We use them every day of the year.”
However, sustainability and Net Zero is also at the forefront of farming at Ty Draw.
Last year Mathew and David were named the 2024 NFU Cymru/Mutual Welsh Livestock Champion of the Year and were given the Silver award for Sheep Farmer of the Year at the 2023 British Farming Awards.
They carry out farm trials to reduce emissions, aim to grow better grass for silage and resilience using varieties such as Red Clover and have invested in data tech such as ear tags for livestock monitoring amongst other approaches.