Martin Fennell from Ballykett, Kilrush, Co Clare, recently constructed a three-bay machinery shed on his farm. Martin has a refreshing passion for safety which is evident in every corner of his yard, with this shed the most impressive of all.

Machinery shed

The entire project consisted of not only a machinery shed but also two dung steads and a storage tank for dirty water. A three-span A-roof design was chosen. The shed is 14.5m long by 9.1m wide, and measures 4m high at the eaves.

The shed is fitted with three automatic roller doors along the front. An access door is also in place on one side of the shed. All three roller doors can be controlled with a remote control or with a fixed switch inside the shed.

“Having the doors on a remote means that I don’t have to go jumping in and out of the tractor to open the shed doors, just the little things like that can be the difference between having an accident or not,” according to Martin. The roller doors were supplied and fitted by a local provider, Michael Johnson. Where many farmers will often try and fit a machinery shed into a corner of the yard, ample room was left in front of this shed, which increases the ease of machinery movement.

All roller doors have individual isolation switches at the top of them. This means that when the switch is hit the doors cannot be operated from the ground.

“If I am working on the motor of the door or carrying out any repairs, if I hit that isolation switch I don’t have to worry about somebody coming along and putting up the door where I could get caught,” Martin said.

Machinery sheds do not qualify under TAMS II. However, this did not stop Martin from ensuring all work was carried out to TAMS specifications. This involved installing cages under roof lights and installing additional rafters to ensure safety and strength if anyone had to carry out work on the roof.

Martin also chose a cement fibre roof. Additional steel was used in the mass concrete walls which were also thicker, at 10in, than would generally be constructed for such a project. A toilet will soon be installed in the shed to ensure the yard and house can operate independently of each other.

Dung steads

Two dung steads were also constructed adjoining the machinery shed as part of the overall project. The dung stead to the left has two channels which will feed water into a storage tank that is 12ft wide by 12ft long and is 8ft deep. Water from the channels can be diverted to either a dirty water storage tank or to a stream if the water is clean. Installing two channels means that even if the back of the dung stead is full, clean water falling on the front can be diverted away from the storage tank.

The dung stead to the right may be roofed in the future and used to hold a freshly calved cow and calf, but for the moment a channel along the front means that it can also be used to hold farmyard manure if required.

All work, excluding the roller doors, was carried out by Declan Fennell from Cooraclare, Co Clare, including fabricating and erecting the shed. “Martin is a very tidy farmer who wanted everything done to the highest standard but he has a great shed at the end of it,” according to Declan.

Significant investment

This investment was seen as the final piece of the jigsaw on Martin’s yard, where he currently keeps 30 suckler cows. He now believes that he has all the facilities in place for his herd. When questioned if a three-bay shed was necessary, Martin’s response did not surprise:

“If anything, I would have gone to four. You can never have enough storage space on farms. I will get over the initial cost in a few years but I will have a shed for the rest of my life.”

The shed was a considerable investment, with the total cost coming to €50,000 excluding the VAT.

“I could probably have put up this shed for €10,000 less but I wanted it to be safe. Everything that you do on a farmyard should be done from a safety point of view.”

Martin also availed of the low-interest loans that were available to farmers. “The low-interest loans mean that you can get access to money very cheaply. I would have been mad not to go for it.”

Martin’s attitude to farm safety is one which must be commended, especially in light of the tragedies over the past week with two farmers heartbreakingly losing their lives after falling from heights while trying to repair damaged sheds.

Improving farm safety is a message which has been repeated continuously.

However, there are still needless deaths occurring on Irish farms and unless the mentality of Irish farmers change then such deaths will continue to happen.