farm roads to fields

johnboy6930

whats the way to do this??take the soil off then put river gravel over it?and what width for bale trailers and so on.?and is there better stuff to put down than river gravel??

reilig

johnboy6930 wrote: »

whats the way to do this??take the soil off then put river gravel over it?and what width for bale trailers and so on.?and is there better stuff to put down than river gravel??

Definitely take the topsoil off or the stone will mash into it and the soil will ooze back to the top. I made my roadways 10ft wide minimum.

I wouldn't be a fan of river gravel unless you can get it for free. If you're buying from a quarry, the most practical stuff is blast rock. This comes in all shapes and sizes from 2ft pieces of rock to dust. You can put the bigger pieces of rock on the bottom to give a solid foundation and pull the dust over it to bind it together.

I got a road made just before christmas. Bought blast rock from my local quarry - it was the red stuff from the top of the quarry and they sold it to me for €120 per 22 ton load inc Vat. Its soft enough rock and crumples and compacts well under the tracks of the digger to leave a smooth surface which will last a very long time.

johnboy6930

reilig wrote: »

Definitely take the topsoil off or the stone will mash into it and the soil will ooze back to the top. I made my roadways 10ft wide minimum.

I wouldn't be a fan of river gravel unless you can get it for free. If you're buying from a quarry, the most practical stuff is blast rock. This comes in all shapes and sizes from 2ft pieces of rock to dust. You can put the bigger pieces of rock on the bottom to give a solid foundation and pull the dust over it to bind it together.

I got a road made just before christmas. Bought blast rock from my local quarry - it was the red stuff from the top of the quarry and they sold it to me for €120 per 22 ton load inc Vat. Its soft enough rock and crumples and compacts well under the tracks of the digger to leave a smooth surface which will last a very long time.

is it €120 per ton or for a load of it?? the river gravel is €5 a load for a 14ton dump trailer with a short draw at that..2ft pieces seem very big if the road is only half a foot high..is your roads deeper??

reilig

johnboy6930 wrote: »

is it €120 per ton or for a load of it?? the river gravel is €5 a load for a 14ton dump trailer with a short draw at that..2ft pieces seem very big if the road is only half a foot high..is your roads deeper??

€120 for a load.

I dig out no more than 6 inches of topsoil either.

2ft pieces can be laid long ways in the base of the road and give it solid foundation.

If you build a road with only gravel, it will move with heavy machinery on it and you'll end up with humps and hollows.

Swinefluproof

Clear off topsoil and if possible get some larger rock for the base as you will end up with a much sturdier roadway as has already been said. Limestone is ideal if you can get it but that's not always feasible. Was never a fan of river gravel myself, i find it erodes away too quickly but that;s just my opinion. Leave roadway about 12 feet wide for comfort. Definately more than 10 as alot of mower etc can be very wide and not very manouverable.

J DEERE

reilig wrote: »

Definitely take the topsoil off or the stone will mash into it and the soil will ooze back to the top. I made my roadways 10ft wide minimum.

I wouldn't be a fan of river gravel unless you can get it for free. If you're buying from a quarry, the most practical stuff is blast rock. This comes in all shapes and sizes from 2ft pieces of rock to dust. You can put the bigger pieces of rock on the bottom to give a solid foundation and pull the dust over it to bind it together.

I got a road made just before christmas. Bought blast rock from my local quarry - it was the red stuff from the top of the quarry and they sold it to me for €120 per 22 ton load inc Vat. Its soft enough rock and crumples and compacts well under the tracks of the digger to leave a smooth surface which will last a very long time.

How much did your roadway work out at per m in the end with the blast rock Reilig? Have used river gravel for roadways before. Never any problem with it shifting under weight of anything. It packs very well if its laid damp. I think you can be fined now for pulling gravel out of a river

johnboy6930

J DEERE wrote: »

How much did your roadway work out at per m in the end with the blast rock Reilig? Have used river gravel for roadways before. Never any problem with it shifting under weight of anything. It packs very well if its laid damp. I think you can be fined now for pulling gravel out of a river

you can take river gravel from rivers after the first of may..due to fish or something..and even at that they don't want you doing it

Bizzum

johnboy6930 wrote: »

you can take river gravel from rivers after the first of may..due to fish or something..and even at that they don't want you doing it

If you remove spawning gravels from a salmonid stream/river in the annual close season, typically from Oct to Mar you will be liable for prosecution.

Otherwise during the year you could also bring a lot of trouble on yourself depending on the nature of the stream/river.
There are plenty of gravel quarries about now none too busy, without going about destroying a valuable ecosystem.
One of the most valuable resources in a river for aquatic life are various gravels.

reilig

J DEERE wrote: »

How much did your roadway work out at per m in the end with the blast rock Reilig? Have used river gravel for roadways before. Never any problem with it shifting under weight of anything. It packs very well if its laid damp. I think you can be fined now for pulling gravel out of a river

6 load made 150 meters last november - that's Eur720. Digger for the day cost Eur400. He also drove all the posts along it, cleaned the drain and piped 3 drains (about Eur100 worth of work in my estimation so actual cost of digger for the road was Eur300 for the road.) That's Eur 1020 in total for the road or Eur6.80 per meter. Its capital investment so its tax deductable and it gives access to land for early slurry - saving money on fertilizer and giving better grass. It'll pay for itself in 2 or 3 years. Made mine across the top of the hill and I can go onto the fields in a number of places and prevent the damage to the land that I would have caused if I had to cross it with slurry. I expect that over the next 12 months, grass will grow on the dust on top of it and it will blend back into the landscape - but I will be able to travel on it 365 days per year.

J DEERE

Was giving myself a rough budget of 7 euro per metre, id be paying cash though so might get good deal. Have about 300 metres to do. Be a massive management tool re. getting animals out earlier and grassland management. Interesting article from the Journal from a while back.

http://www.farmersjournal.ie/site/farming-17-euro-metre-for-farm-roadway-with-fence-10543.html

johnboy6930

Bizzum wrote: »

If you remove spawning gravels from a salmonid stream/river in the annual close season, typically from Oct to Mar you will be liable for prosecution.

Otherwise during the year you could also bring a lot of trouble on yourself depending on the nature of the stream/river.
There are plenty of gravel quarries about now none too busy, without going about destroying a valuable ecosystem.
One of the most valuable resources in a river for aquatic life are various gravels.

its fellows like you that **** everything up.. bringing fellows down on us to stop us doing this.but its a different story in 6 mouths time because the roads are flooded out because the gravel wasn't taken out and the floods being pushed.
sure we could go to the quarries and pay a couple of hundred on a load of gravel but why?when these men a practically paying us to take it way..lads have been going to the rivers for hundreds years for gravel.farmers are screwed enough as it is..

johnboy6930

Bizzum wrote: »

If you remove spawning gravels from a salmonid stream/river in the annual close season, typically from Oct to Mar you will be liable for prosecution.

Otherwise during the year you could also bring a lot of trouble on yourself depending on the nature of the stream/river.
There are plenty of gravel quarries about now none too busy, without going about destroying a valuable ecosystem.
One of the most valuable resources in a river for aquatic life are various gravels.

its fellows like you that **** everything up.. bringing fellows down on us to stop us doing this.but its a different story in 6 mouths time because the roads are flooded out because the gravel wasn't taken out and the floods being pushed.
sure we could go to the quarries and pay a couple of hundred on a load of gravel but why?when these men a practically paying us to take it way..lads have been going to the rivers for hundreds years for gravel.farmers are screwed enough as it is..!

Bizzum

johnboy6930 wrote: »

its fellows like you that **** everything up..

I think you'll find the one ****ing things up, as you quite eloquently put it, is you.
Come on outta the dark ages.
Go on ahead and break the law if it suits, sure you can come on here and whinge then.

johnboy6930

Bizzum wrote: »

I think you'll find the one ****ing things up, as you quite eloquently put it, is you.
Come on outta the dark ages.
Go on ahead and break the law if it suits, sure you can come on here and whinge then.

don't know about dark ages but if you take it out after the first of may it will be taken out

1chippy

waiting till may isnt that big of a hassle. easier on your own ground anyway as it should be fairly dry by then unless your building a road to the stream. im not into fishing or what would be known as a greeny but i would love to see salmon or any sort of fish back in the streams and rivers around us. I dont approve of anyone just drawing out stone from just anywhere either. A lad up from us decided he wanted to do this on a small stream and ended up causing our garden to be left beneath 8" off water.

Bizzum

As farmers we are custodians of the land we farm. We are only minding it for the those that follow in our footsteps.
I hope that my kids and their kids will have the pleasure of seeing the majestic Atlantic Salmon and indeed wild Trout and an various other inhabitants of our streams and hedgerows.
There are a small minority of people who happy enough to throw this all away.
Thankfull the majority of farmers value the ecosystem that they work at the coalface of day in day out.

When it's gone it's gone.

johnboy6930

Bizzum wrote: »

As farmers we are custodians of the land we farm. We are only minding it for the those that follow in our footsteps.
I hope that my kids and their kids will have the pleasure of seeing the majestic Atlantic Salmon and indeed wild Trout and an various other inhabitants of our streams and hedgerows.
There are a small minority of people who happy enough to throw this all away.
Thankfull the majority of farmers value the ecosystem that they work at the coalface of day in day out.

When it's gone it's gone.

i totally agree with that statement.and i do hope the same for my kids.clearly doing this in the wrong mouths puts salmon,trout in danger during there spawning season. But you couldn't disagree with me that if gravel build up over years it does block the whole river up. so a clean out every couple of years during the correct mouths are ok tho??

Bizzum

johnboy6930 wrote: »

i totally agree with that statement.and i do hope the same for my kids.clearly doing this in the wrong mouths puts salmon,trout in danger during there spawning season. But you couldn't disagree with me that if gravel build up over years it does block the whole river up. so a clean out every couple of years during the correct mouths are ok tho??

In my experience I have yet to see gravel being a major cause of flooding. Gravel is almost 'fluid' in its behaviour. If it is causing a problem it is often as a result of other factors impacting on the gravels. If flooding is persistent I would be looking beyond gravel as the cause.
If spawning gravels are removed even after this years spawning season, it obviously reduces the spawning opportunity for next and subsequent years. It also impacts on the existing ecosystem as many many macro invertebrates favour and depend upon it's presence. These bugs are the lifeblood of any river and maintain the fish population year round. Indeed even beyond fish, birds like the Dipper feed upon these little chaps.