Driving in and out of cattle yards, whether you’re in the Land Rover or on an ATV, is a bit of pain. You have to stop the vehicle, get out, open the gate, get back in the vehicle, drive through and then repeat the whole process again when you drive out.

Many farms have bump gates that you can nudge open and closed, but they tend to scuff the vehicle and can hit an animal. Electric actuator-type gates exist, too, but are often too slow to be truly effective.

You inevitably cart muck into your vehicle, too, and there’s always the danger that an animal will make a run for freedom.

This wholly unsatisfactory situation prompted Norfolk beef farmer Jim Alston, from Aylesham, to look for a better way of doing the job. There was nothing on the market, so he designed one himself and has now produced something that’s very different from anything on the market.

Called the DOFYgate (Driver Operated Field and Yard), it’s a lightweight, carbon-fibre gate that’s operated by a hand-held fob up to 30m away. Each side of the gate folds in half as it lifts and the process is remarkably quick. In fact it takes just 3sec to close, compared to the 20sec it usually takes to close a conventional gate.

It doesn’t need mains power, either. It uses a rectangular 5.1mA battery – the sort you see in very big torches – and a pair of solar panels keep the charge topped up. Mr Alston says there’s enough power in the battery to open and shut the gates 2,500 times.

The gate is electrified but, unlike an electric fence, it only sends out a charge when it is touched. That helps keep power usage down, he says.

Also, it’s a two-stage system whereby the gate sends out a charge of 3,000V first, then a 7,000V one if the animal keeps pushing. “The idea is to deter them, not frighten them,” says Mr Alston.

The DOFYgate can fit on to pretty much any existing gate and you don’t have to remove the existing gate posts to install it. Cost is £1,900 for the two gates and all the fittings.