Positioning a cow track

When deciding on a route for your new cow track there are a number of things to keep in mind. Work through our checklist to make sure you’ve thought of everything.

Before deciding on the route for your new cow track, consider the layout of your farm.

Start with a farm map and work out the best position for your tracks, even if they won’t all be installed straightaway.

Here’s a checklist of points to consider when deciding how to position your cow tracks:

Use

Does the track need to service all areas of the farm? Think about your cropping patterns so that your track gets maximum use.

Width

A 5 m track, of which 4 m is surfaced, will enable good flow for up to 200 cows. Each additional 100 cows requires an extra 1 m width.

Hollows

Avoid siting your tracks in hollows, as uneven surfaces require more maintenance.

Shade

Try to make sure your tracks aren’t going to be in heavy shade. A south-facing side of a hedge is better, if you have the choice.

Slope

Is the proposed track on a slope? The gradient may determine the type of surface used. On sloping land, follow contours wherever possible.

Gradient

The maximum gradient for a track with a loose surface can be up to 12%, but it should ideally be no more than 8%.

Distance

To save materials, the track should be designed and planned to run the shortest route from A to B.

Energy

Keep the distance walked per day to a minimum, as the greater the distance, the more energy used and the less available for milk production.

Fences

Fences alongside the tracks need to allow cows to use the full width of the track.

Bottlenecks

Avoid sharp turns or narrow areas in your track, as this may cause bottlenecks.

Rivers

Maintain a suitable buffer between the track and any watercourse. If the track is to run, seek advice from the Environment Agency, which must be consulted for works in, over, under or adjacent to rivers.

You may also need Internal Drainage Board (IDB) consent for tracks next to a watercourse.

Planning

Check with the landowner and/or local authority about planning issues. Your choice of track materials may affect permissions needed.

Wildlife/archaeology

Avoid areas of wildlife interest and sites of archaeological or historical importance. Check whether any consents are needed.

Field boundaries

If possible, position your track alongside field boundaries rather than directly across the middle of a field.

Ideally, visit several different farms with cow tracks to see how they are working in practice and how you could modify them for use on your farm.

One more consideration is whether a suitably placed cow track can also be the ideal place to mobility score the herd as they go out to or in from pasture.

Doing this will give you an indication of the track's performance as well as the herd’s mobility.

Regular scoring can help to identify cows in the first stages of a lameness problem and therefore early effective intervention and treatment.