Livestock and cars don’t mix well. This year, Offaly farmer James Kane finally got tired of walking his dairy cows along the public road morning and evening for milking and so he built the cows their own road.

Getting stone locally wasn’t a problem – the general area sits on sand and gravel deposits. That includes James’s own farm. During the road-building boom, he sold off a large quantity of fine sand under a deal with an outside gravel company. But for this new roadway he sourced material from Trevor Hinch, who operates a pit just 1km away.

James then hired local ground-work contractor Celsus Doolan from Kilnabin, who operates as Doolan Plant Hire, to make the road.

Picture one

This is the longest stretch of new farm road and it runs parallel to the public road. To earlier generations, that would have seemed an extravagance; not so nowadays. Here, we are looking from the end of this roadway back to the farmyard 500m away. The road is 4m wide, enough to take four cows abreast and for farm machinery.

There were some hollows along the route and Celsus filled them up with stone. Along some of its length, the new road is 1m to 1.5m above the public road that sits beside it. The farm roadway now runs more level than the public roadway.

Picture two

This is the material used to make the body of the road. It’s known locally as pit face gravel and it is excellent for this job. The aggregate size is small – few of the stones are over 4in. The pebbles and larger stones are angular, not round, meaning they will bind in together well and won’t shift easily under traffic.

Celsus said that this is natural gravel, straight out of the ground. He said that a 20t eight-wheel lorry load of this material, placed to a depth of 10in and on a 4m wide road excavation, would cover about 12m. So, for 1,000m of road you would need 80 lorry loads or 1,600 tonnes.

Picture three

Along most of the road Celsus dug out 12 inches (300mm) and then put in 10 inches of gravel. This was then topped with 2in of blinding. The surface was then rolled with a 12t vibrating roller.

Picture four

This is one section where the farm road was raised up. This was previously an entrance from the public road. Celsus used these concrete lego blocks to support the new roadway.

Picture five

This is the section where the farm road is higher than the public road beside it. The fence to the left is temporary – it is to be relocated closer to the road. This picture shows just how level and smooth this road is. It’s ideal for cows to walk on. The road hasn’t been used yet.

Picture six

This other section of new roadway has been put into use, bringing cows to the other end of the farm. James is pleased with how the cows are walking on it and how clean it is staying.

Picture seven

Altogether, James Kane put in 800m of new farm roadway and it cost him €7,000 including VAT. That works out at about €8.75/m. Farmers in areas with no gravel deposits, who have to pay more for stone to be hauled in, could find themselves paying considerably more.

The new roadways have a number of benefits for James. They will allow him utilise fields for early grazing for the first time. This will allow him to expand cow numbers – he plans to add two units to his milking parlour.

The other big benefit of the roadway is safety and the resulting easing of stress and worry.