With the roads close to impassable in some parts of the country, county councils called on the contracting community to put their shoulder to the wheel and help to keep the roads clear.

Contractors are uniquely placed to help as they have the gear and the staff to get the job done. The Irish Farmers Journal joined up with Patrick Nolan of Joe Nolan and Sons for a few hours to see what was involved.

Patrick was driving a Fendt 820 Vario pushing a 9ft plough and his father Joe was driving a Fendt 824 with a similar plough.

Early hours

The two ploughs were out in the early hours of last Wednesday morning and were still at work in the early days of this week.

Patrick estimated they had covered well over 150km with the ploughs and covered another 100km with a gritter. On the wider routes on their list, the Nolans ran the two ploughs in a staggered line. This allows for one lane to be fully cleared in one pass.

They have been doing 14-hour days for the last week and don’t see an end in sight just yet.

The Nolans were one of a massive number of contractors working all over the country to keep the road passable. Sitting up in the tractor with Patrick, it became clear this job is not for the faint-hearted, as you are never 100% sure what may be covered in the snow.

Although the leading edge of the ploughs are spring-loaded, hitting a solid object under the snow can throw the tractor across the road or maybe even break the front link arm in an extreme case.

This is one of the main advantages of using local contractors – they know which areas can be cleared and which routes are important to an area.

When working on main roads, cats’ eyes are an issue and some may even get removed during the process. A small price to pay for having clear and safe roads.