Years Of Persistance Result In Safe Crossing LIVESTOCK Dairy (17) 21-4-23 We recently read a story in Farmweek about an 80-ft. long "cattle tunnel" that was built under a busy highway for dairy farmers Charles and Barbara Bickford of Plainfield, Vermont. The tunnel, built by the state Agency of Transportation, allows the Bickfords to herd their cows under the high-way instead of across it. Getting the $200,000 tunnel built wasn't easy. The Bickfords had been trying for 27 years. State officials had originally promised to build the tunnel as part of a major road improvement project, but the project stalled repeatedly. After years of persistent lobbying, they finally got the state legislature to pass a bill last year authorizing construction. The Bickfords' farm is located on U.S. Route 2 near the top of a hill. Traffic on the road is steady. The road runs right through the Bickfords' place, with their house and milk barn on one side of the road and a pasture on the other side. As traffic grew heavier over the years, the Bickfords built two silos on the barn side of the road so they could feed cows at night when traffic was heaviest without having to drive them across the road. Signs with flashing lights were used to warn drivers when cows were crossing. Son Dale Bickford, the fourth generation of the family on the farm, has three kids of his own who helped get the cattle across and says it wasn't a safe crossing for the kids, either. The tunnel consists of an 8-ft. dia. steel pipe with an asphalt floor and is long enough to accommodate highway expansion if the road is ever widened. It was completed about one month ago. "It works even better than we thought it would. The cows love it and come home with no problems. They walk single file through the tunnel on their own without having to be persuaded," says Barbara. "After the original story was published we got calls and letters from all over the U.S. One farmer said his cows had to go through a similar tunnel but that it was only 6 ft. wide. It was so long and narrow that when one cow tried to turn around she got stuck and was trampled to death. Our tunnel is wider so that hasn't been a problem."

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