Development on a small lifestyle farm block is no different and also needs to be well thought through as there are many specific environmental issues that have the potential to impact on the productivity of your property and the broader communities’ environment.

The first thing to contemplate when purchasing or beginning on new developments in and around your property is what you are legally able to do. You need to check your certificate of title along with your Regional and District Plans to determine the zoning your property is located in and the specific rules and regulations that accompany that zone. The certificate of title may also have restrictions on your landuse in the form of covenants or conditions bought about through the resource consent process. Once you have an understanding of what you can and can’t do on your property you may want to consider carrying out various activities to enhance your current living environment.

When determining what activities are legally permitted on your property you also need to be aware of what services are available to your property. Depending on what services your property is provided for it may be necessary to install your own, for example, water, and sewage. It is essential to plan the layout of where and what system you need to put in place and to ensure there is enough resource to carry out the plans you are proposing. The location of your waste water and storm water runoff is critical for health reasons alone; you do not want to get any cross contamination and cause you, your family or any stock on your property health scares. There are many economic types of domestic sewerage disposal units available and many simply designed structures for farm runoff.

If you are not connected to your town supply for water you need to ensure a source and a plentiful supply to sustain your domestic requirements. You may also wish to have enough water to provide for irrigation to your property to improve pasture or horticulture production as well as providing drinking water for any stock on the property. Without a reliable supply of water to your property future developments become limited. It is beneficial to become familiar and understand these systems so the design best suited to you and your property can be implemented.

If you have existing streams running through your property and are able to draw on the water (your Regional and/or District Council will be able to tell you this) it is to your advantage to ensure the water quality is maintained or that you are aware of improvements that can be carried out if necessary. There are several easy ways to improve water quality on a lifestyle block. The main two factors that influence the state of streams in New Zealand are erosion and temperature. Erosion is often caused by the stream banks collapsing into the stream bed, an example of how this could happen is when stock accesses the stream to drink, or cross and disturb the stream bank resulting in soil falling into the stream bed. Once sediment is in the stream it covers the stream bed smothering the habitat for macro-invertebrates (insects) which live and feed off the stream bed. Fluctuations of stream temperature can be caused by a lack of shade over the stream and can result in a lack of oxygen in the stream, which produces a build up of green slime. The green slime uses the remaining oxygen left in the stream to reproduce, taking away the dissolved oxygen for existing stream biota to thrive. Where there is a combination of sediment and high temperatures stream quality is often low.

Two easy ways to increase stream quality are to plant trees along the stream boundary creating a riparian zone or buffer. These trees can be strategically planted for aesthetics, shelter from the weather, traffic, privacy, and for your animals or for investment reasons with the intention of harvesting the trees in the future. There are many different tree species to choose from when planting up riparian zones and this should be researched to ensure the appropriate tress species is planted to complement the soil, planting location and the desired purpose. For more information on this see the goodGround SPECIAL report on Lifestyle Block Trees. By planting trees and or shrubs along stream edges you will also support the stream banks and reduce the amount of soil entering the stream. Another, but often a more expensive option is to fence the streams off so no animals can enter the area and therefore will not disturb the stream banks. You should also check with you Regional Council as many councils provide subsidies for fencing off streams and planting stream bank areas.

If you are interested in trees or growing fruit trees it may be beneficial to protect your investment with pest and weed control. There are numerous types and methods of controls for managing or eradicating either weeds or pests from your property. Depending on your way of life, traps can be set to capture pests and kill them immediately, which would mean that you would have to remove the dead animal and reset, to bait laying by yourself or by using a contractor. When controlling or eradicating weeds there is a range of herbicides available or there are methods which are less detrimental to the environment, for example, companion planting.

Any activities that you carry out on your property should be completed to industry best practice standards. Most operations carried out, whether it is fencing or tree planting, or installing an irrigation system, have regulations which must be met. These standards are easily obtainable through your local Regional or District Council or from the Ministry of the Environment.

The wide-open spaces of the country side are truly something to care for. You can do many things to maintain the quality of your life by taking responsibility to sustain the land, water and other natural resources. Get started by properly caring for your water supply, waste disposal systems, streams, and soil on your property. GoodGround is here to help you achieve this!

goodGround is please to announce its new service to ensure you benefit from the Scheme.

1. We now have the expertise to make your forest registration and mapping process easy.
2. Our proven method saves you time and gives you results.

One of the biggest problems for new lifestyle block owners is educating their children to the dangers that exist in their new environment. They may be used to dodging the cars as they cross Remuera Road but they will not be so adept at riding a farm bike. It is no use telling your kids that riding a motorcycle is too dangerous and they are not permitted to do so until they are 15. They will immediately point out that Johnny, the ten year old kid down the road, was allowed to ride a farm bike at the tender age of eight. Unless you want to be constantly nagged for the next five years, you need to work out how you can safely train your children to ride a motorcycle.

First you have to decide what is a safe age, considering their physical strength and whether they have that unmeasurable factor – common sense. If you feel their personality is such that they are likely to hoon around the paddocks showing off to their friends, then the time may not be right. Or you will need a more intensive training programme.

The Dangers

Lifestyle blocks are filled with hundreds of potential risks: large powerful machinery, watering holes, unpredictable animals weighing hundreds of kilos, pesticides, fertilizers and numerous buildings that are not child- safe. Injuries are most common among children 10 to 14 years of age, followed by children five to nine years of age. Two thirds of the injured were boys with the most frequent injuries being fractures/dislocations and cuts/lacerations/abrasions. Contributing factors are uneven terrain, equipment and machinery, and farm structures. For New Zealand, it had been found:

• * incidents involving motorcycles and All Terrain Vehicles (ATV’s) resulted in around 60% of all fatalities on farms
• * about 20% of all non fatal injuries require hospitalisation
• * the fracture of a lower limb occurred in 30% of all on-farm motorbike accidents (source ACC)

Hopefully those chilling figures have scared you into preparing a training programme to ensur your child does not become one of those statistics.

Motorcycles

First step is the equipment – if your child is not the same size as you, don’t put them on yourbike. Buy a motorbike that is the right size for your child. They will have the physical strength to handle this smaller and lighter bike. While they are growing, they will be gaining expertise on the smaller version and be ready to move up when they are the right size.

Ensure your kids wear the right protective clothing when riding. The first essential is for them to always wear a helmet. Children not wearing helmets have a head-injury ratedouble the rate of those wearing helmets. If the helmet does not have a visor,then goggles are a good addition. Dont let them go riding wearing their Barefoot Nikes  a sturdy pair of boots are much safer. If you can, get them to wear long pants and long-sleeved shirts as these will cut down on the severity of cuts and grazes. You can be sure that your child will fall off the bike at some stage and so you need to reduce the chance of a nasty injury occurring.

The best way to do that is to train them properly. Teach them how to handle the bike on a variety of terrain. You should start them on a smooth, flat chunk of paddock with a nice sod of grass to cushion any fall. Set out some cones or other markers and get them riding around those. Then change the markers to an S course. When they can negotiate that with ease change to a slalom course with tighter turns. At this stage you should get them in the habit of looking ahead for obstacles they need to avoid.

Once they have become proficient on the flat, you can move onto a gentle slope and have them practise riding up, down, and across the slope. They need to learn how to change gears to suit the steepness of the slope. And how to adjust their body position to align the bike correctly going across the slope. The advanced training comes when they learn how to stand on the footrests when going up or coming down a hill. This technique will give better balance and the bike will have better traction. Learning how to start and stop on the hill will complete their initial training and allow you some confidence to let them toddle off on their own.

There should also be some training on the mechanical side  what to check on the bike before they take it out of the shed and some basic maintenance procedures. Your local motorcycle dealer can help with those two issues. No doubt you will want to establish a set of rules regarding bike safety and any transgression would see the bike locked away while they dwell on their mistake.

All terrain vehicles

ATVs are three or four-wheeled motorbikes that are popular on farms because they are strong and versatile. But they are also very dangerous. The ATV is the number one cause of death on NZ farms. Most injuries or deaths are caused by rider inexperience, lack of protective equipment or hazardous driving. People aged between 10 and 24 years are most likely to get hurt or killed riding an ATV. Despite its three or four wheels, the ATV is not the most stable of vehicles-most injuries and deaths involve the ATV rolling over the rider.

Some of the most frequent ways an ATV can cause injury and death include:

• * when the ATV is carrying a passenger
• * the legs of the rider or passenger getting caught by the tyres
• * the ATV flipping over backwards while negotiating a steep incline
• * the ATV hitting an obstacle and rolling over
• * the rider being hit by a low-hanging obstacle, like a branch
• * unevenly distributed or poorly secured loads tip the ATV while in motion
• * the rider is unfamiliar with the controls
• * the rider doesn’t know how to ride the ATV properly
• * the rider is driving recklessly, such as trying to perform stunts
• * the ATV is poorly maintained, leading to mechanical failure

Your risk of injury and death can be reduced by knowing the capabilities of your ATV. Suggestions include:

1. Read the manual and pay particular attention to the safety instructions
2. Study the warning labels and heed them
3. Some ATV suppliers provide a safety video. If they do, make sure that anyone who will be operating the ATV watches the video and understands the safety recommendations
4. Ask your ATV supplier for recommendations on training courses.
5. Keep the ATV in good mechanical repair.
6. Dont over load the ATV.
7. Use the ATV strictly according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
8. Leave all safety guards in place.
9. If your ATV needs accessories, make sure to use the original manufacturer’s equipment or their recommended products.
10. Fit accessories properly and don’t customise the vehicle or you may compromise the ATV’s stability.
11. Perform a safety check each time before you ride.

Whenever possible, it is a good idea to ride on familiar tracks. If you’re not confident that you can negotiate a particular stretch of terrain, go another way around. You need to think about the position of any drains or other obstacles ahead of you. Also the nature of the surface affects how you ride the ATV. You need to be very careful when riding the ATV on wet tarseal roads, as the slippery road surface may be difficult to handle. Similarly steep slopes, especially when wet, can easily cause the ATV to roll over.

Tractors

After mastering the farmbike, the next likely demand from the junior lifestyleblocker is to drive the tractor  if you have one. Be aware that it is illegal for a child under 12 years of age to drive a tractor or ride on one when it is towing any implement, unless it is a trailer designed to carry passengers.Training a child to drive a tractor is a much more extensive exercise than teaching them how to handle a farm bike. This is a seriously big chunk of farm machinery and it can cause seriously big chunks of damage when it runs amuck!

You can train your kids to drive the tractor in much the same way as outlined for the bike training exercise. But even when they have learned to drive the machine, there are a lot of safety measures that need to be taken  ones that you should be undertaking if you have small children with access to the tractor. Ensure that everyone working on the farm is thoroughly familiar with operating procedures and safety requirements. A tractor can roll over and crush the driver. Hands, hair and clothing can be caught by unguarded power take-off shafts. People can fall from a moving tractor or be struck by its wheels. These types of accidents can be prevented by keeping the tractor in good repair, fitting safety equipment and by operating the tractor safely at all times.

One of the very first ways of doing this should be: when starting and reversing machinery, always check – where are the children? It even pays to get down and walk around the tractor before reversing out of the implement shed as that is a favourite place for kids to play ‘hide and seek they may just be hiding under the tractor tray. Other safety measures include:

1. When the tractor is parked, lock the brakes and remove the keys from the ignition.
2. Leave any equipment that might fall, such as a front-end loader, in the down position, with the blade resting on the ground.
3. Keep the tractor properly maintained with regular checks of brakes, tyres, steering, hydraulics as well as seat belts, safety shields and guards.
4. Always leave a tractor Power Take Off (PTO) in neutral or locked.

You should also:

• * adhere to the manufacturers’ instructions for operation
• * don’t remove or modify safety features
• * fit guards to cover the moving parts of machinery
• * only allow a worker to perform a task when you are confident they can handle it
• * keep visitors well away from operating machinery and warn them of potential hazards
• * don’t operate your tractor close to drains and other potential hazards
• * make sure that steps and control pedals are non-slip and kept clean

All moving machinery parts should be guarded so that clothing, hair or appendages can’t get caught.Power-take-off driven implements, such as hay balers and mowers, are particularly dangerous when children are around. Again it pays to walk around the tractor to check that no-one is likely to be hurt when the PTO equipment is started up. And before engaging the PTO lever, make sure that there is no object in the path of the blades or other moving parts of the equipment. Engage the PTO only from the tractor seat and if you leave, disengage the PTO lever and completely stop the tractor. Shafts on all PTO-driven equipment should be guarded at all times as this is a regular cause of injury to children.

Safety suggestions for power take-off shafts include:

• * guard the entire length of the shaft
• * anchor the shaft guard to stop it from rotating
• * enclose the joints with a guard
• * keep shields in place when using the tractor
• * don’t leave running machinery unattended

An emergency plan is vital. Ensure easy access to a suitable first aid kit and make sure at least one person on the farm is trained in first aid. You could also regard your mobile phone as part of your plant – have it with you. It also pays to keep emergency numbers next to the telephone and to plan routes to the nearest hospital. You should regularly review your emergency plan and make sure your children understand what to do.

Water

One of the biggest dangers is water a child can drown in just a few centimetres of water. Children used to playing on a section in Riccarton may be unaware of the risks that bodies of water can provide. It is a given that you supervised them very carefully on the excursions to Sumner Beach but that may not always be possible when you are busy on the farmlet.You need to identify risk areas and train your children to respect the danger that those bodies of water represent. For toddlers, these may be as small a body of water as a water trough. It does not take very long for a toddler to climb into a water trough.

More obvious hazards are farm ponds which should always be fenced as should manure pits.

Animals

The city-raised child is also unlikely to be used to being around anything more dangerous than the family Labrador. Fully-grown beef cattle can weigh several hundred kg and can inflict serious injuries to children not experienced with animals. Some points to look out for:

• * Never get between a baby animal and its mother  they are very protective of their young and may become quite aggressive.
• * Stockyards are not a safe place for children as animals in stockyards are more likely to be nervous or stressed and this can make them dangerous.
• * Always try to keep animals calm, especially when children are present. Problems can occur when animals are alarmed or annoyed and children are inadvertently likely to make them so.
• * If your children are working with animals make sure they wear sturdy footwear to avoid crushed or bruised feet. Barefoot Nikes are no protection against a rock hard hoof!
• * The same applies for horse riding, with strong, heeled boots recommended and of course an approved riding helmet.

Of course children love animals and enjoy having their own pets. However, there are risks involved when children and animals are together. It is important that children are taught the skills to play safely with animals. This is especially so with dogs as many children are admitted to hospital each year as a result of dog bites. Children under four years of age are most at risk and are often bitten by their own dog at home, usually around their face and head. To protect your children, you should always supervise them when they are near dogs. They must be taught to never disturb a dog that is eating or sleeping. Dogs should be patted only gently and never intervene between dogs that are fighting. Children should be taught to never approach a strange dog and to stand still if a dog approaches. When choosing a dog, look for a breed that suits your lifestyle and one that is safe with children.

If your child is bitten by a dog, you need to first soothe the child. If the skin has been broken, then wash the area under cold running water. Apply an antiseptic cream and then put a dressing over the wound. Take the child to the doctor for a tetanus booster and check if antibiotics are required. If the bite is more serious, like where a piece of flesh has been bitten off, you need to call an ambulance. Then you should control the bleeding by applying firm pressure to the wound with a sterile dressing until the ambulance arrives. If the child is pale or drowsy,lie them down and keep their legs raised. Do not give the child any food or water.

Cats should be treated with caution. The main health risk comes from children touching a cat’s faeces. Make sure that children don’t play in the garden area that the cat uses and that they are kept away from litter trays. Any cat bites or scratches should be thoroughly washed and disinfected. Cats must be kept from the child’s nursery as a cat can smother a baby by lying on the baby’s face while it is asleep. Children should also be taught to always wash their hands after handling animals.

Farm safety – handling animals

Farmers can easily be injured by their livestock. To help prevent accidents, you should assess the breed, temperament, gender mix, size and training of your animals. Remember that they will be more aggressive during the mating season. Plan ahead for any task. Get help if you need it, but make sure your workers and your family are adequately trained and familiar with the temperament of your animals.

You should always wear suitable protective clothing (such as steel-toed boots) and use appropriate aids such as shepherd’s crook, cradles and dogs to make the job easier and safer.

Risk assessment

You can assess potential risks in many ways, including:

• * Walk through all animal handling areas and look for hazards
• * Read over injury records to pinpoint recurring dangers
• * Talk over safety issues with workers and other animal handlers
• * Remember that inexperienced workers are more likely to be injured.

Yard design, equipment and safety

General suggestions for improving yard safety include:

• * Yards and sheds should be suitable in size and strength for the animals.
• * Avoid blind corners and sharp turns in the design of your yard.
• * Keep the walkways dry and non-slip.
• * Make sure your gates, footholds and access ways are well positioned.
• * Keep all equipment in good repair.

Cattle

Suggestions for handlingcattle include:

• * Make sure the cattle know you are approaching.
• * Take care, cows may charge to protect their calves.
• * Use separate yards for bulls during the mating season, if possible.
• * Fit bulls with nose rings.
• * Avoid the danger of crush injury make sure there’s enough room for the cattle to move.
• * Try to work beyond the kicking range of the animal or close to its body.
• * Use headrails, cradles and crushes to restrain animals when necessary.
• * Dehorn your cattle if possible.

Horses

Suggestions for handling horses include:

• * Use appropriate riding equipment that is kept in good repair.
• * Wear suitable protective clothing, including a helmet if necessary.
• * Exercise a horse before you attempt to mount, if it tends to buck.
• * Make sure that inexperienced riders aren’t teamed with aggressive or nervous horses.
• * Use dogs rather than horse riders to control animals because high speed gallops are dangerous.

Pigs

Suggestions for handling pigs include:

• * Keep boars separate at all times.
• * Use a drafting board when moving boars.
• * Use nose ropes and crushes to restrain pigs when necessary.
• * To lift a pig, sit it down facing away from you, draw it close to your body and pick it up by the back legs, making sure to lift with your thigh muscles.

Sheep

Suggestions for handling sheep include:

• * Plan musters in advance.
• * Assume that every ram will act unpredictably.
• * Use dogs to control the mob.
• * To lift a sheep, sit it down facing away from you, draw it close to your body and pick it up by the back legs, making sure to lift with your thigh muscles

Animal diseases

Many diseases can be transferred from animal to human through blood, saliva and urine. Precautions include:

• * Have your animals regularly tested and vaccinated.
• * Familiarise yourself with the symptoms of animal diseases.
• * Treat any sign of illness promptly.
• * Practise good personal hygiene.
• * Wash your hands after handling animals.
• * Cover all cuts and open wounds before coming in contact with animals.
• * If you come in contact with animal blood, urine or saliva, wash well with soap, water and antiseptic.
• * Don’t feed offal to dogs.

In an emergency, always call 111 for an ambulance.

Things to remember:

• * Animals are unpredictable, especially during the mating season.
• * Make sure yards, sheds and equipment are in good repair.
• * Ensure that workers and your family are appropriately trained and familiar with the temperament of the animals.

Chemicals

Chemicals, poisons,pesticides and animal pharmaceuticals should be stored in a locked area which is out of sight and reach of children. You need to take care when storing, transporting and using chemicals to ensure your own safety and that of your children. Any chemical should be treated with extreme caution, since vapours or direct exposure can lead to a variety of health effects. Hazardous materials are required by law to include a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) and a label.The MSDS gives valuable information on how to safely handle the chemical as well as precautions for use and possible health effects. It will also have contact numbers where you can obtain further information.

Agricultural chemicals may be pure or diluted. Commonly used agricultural chemicals include such nasties as: 1080 poison, Cresol, Organophosphoruspesticides, Pyrethroids, Methyl bromide, Tryquat and even Strychnine. You can sometimes further reduce the hazardous chemicals by replacing them with less toxic options. A safer form of the product may be available like pellets instead of powder.

The effects of chemical exposure depend on the type of chemical and the degree of exposure. If chemicals are swallowed, splashed on the skin or inhaled, the immediate and long term effects can include:

• * Poisoning
• * Headache
• * Nausea
• * Skin rashes and irritation
• * Chemical burns
• * Cancer
• * Birth defects
• * Diseases of the lungs, liver or kidneys
• * Nervous system disorders.

Always follow the manufacturers’ instructions for proper storage and keep chemicals in their original containers. There have been many instances of children drinking a poison stored in a soft drink bottle. For the same reason, don’t remove labels from containers. Store chemicals in a well ventilated shed, fitted with locks and floors that do not allow seepage. It pays to also separate different classes of chemicals to prevent adverse chemical reactions.

Store animal feeds, seed sand fertilisers separately from chemicals to prevent tcontamination. Have mop-up materials like sand or soil always handy. Keep sources of fire well away from chemicals and make sure the area is well ventilated. It is a good idea to keep a record of the chemicals you buy, store,use and replace so you know what is where and their use-by dates.

Electricity

Electric fences,especially cattle fences, can be dangerous for younger children. Electricity is essential and is safe if used with care and respect. However, electrical installations and equipment on farms are often unsuitable when located in wet,outdoor conditions. Consequently there have been many farm fatalities due to electrical accidents. Portable electrical equipment together with extension cables and overhead power lines are the major causes of electrical fatalities.

The following are the main causes of electrical accidents:

1. the electrical plug contains a loose earth
2. unsuitable domestic plugs are used
3. temporary taped joints are used on extension cables
4. repairs are carried out by incompetent persons
5. incorrect fuses are used (including silver foil)
6. frayed cable insulations
7. too high electric fence voltages where the fence earth electrode was too near the farm installation earth electrode
8. erection of buildings under or near power lines
9. operating high rise machinery in the vicinity of overhead power lines
10. electrical switch boxes and wiring should be kept out of reach of children

If your child is being shocked with a household current:

• * Don’t touch the victim unless the power is off.
• * Unplug the appliance, or turn the power off at the main control area.
• * If you can’t turn off the power, use a dry wooden broom handle to separate the victim from the power source.
• * Call 111 or get emergency medical assistance.
• * If the victim is not breathing, perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
• * If the victim is conscious, keep them calm; lay them on their back; elevate their feet and cover them with a blanket.

If someone is being shocked with a current from an outdoor high voltage line:

1. Don’t try to separate the victim from the power source.

2. Don’t touch the victim unless you are absolutely certain the victim is not in contact with electrical wire.

Pests

Another hazard that can surprise children used to city life, is the likelihood of finding beehives or wasp nests on your lifestyle block. To reduce the risks of stings or bites, keep children away from insect nests. Contact your local council for help in removing the nest. If your child is stung, try to keep the child still and calm. Try to see if it was a wasp or bee that did the deed.Bees leave a sting, wasps do not. If you can see the barb left by the bee, use a fingernail or the blunt edge of a knife in a flicking motion to remove the sting. But dont dig into the skin. Put ice in a wet cloth and place it on the stung area. If pain and swelling persist, take the child to a doctor.

Some children may have an allergic reaction to bee, wasp or ant stings. This may result in breathing difficulties and can be life threatening. If you know a child to be allergic to stings, make sure they wear a medical-alert bracelet and always have the prescribed medication handy.

Confined Spaces

Any confined space on a farmlet poses a particular danger, especially to children,because the threat may not be apparent until it’s too late. Tanks, vats, wells,manure pits and other enclosed structures can suffocate a child through vapours, dust or low oxygen levels. There is the additional danger that any rescuer coming to the aid of someone who has collapsed inside a confined space can often be overcome too. Harmful fumes or low oxygen atmospheres are common in many confined spaces on farms. The safest approach with any confined space is to prevent children getting in there. Sewers and manure pits present extra dangers with gases such as methane and hydrogen sulphide likely to build up inside manure pits and displace the oxygen. Safety suggestions include:

• * Cover pits securely and post warning signs.
• * Include natural or mechanical ventilation in the pit’s design.
• * Try to devise ways to clean the pit from the outside.
• * Keep ignition sources well away from the pit, as methane and hydrogen sulphide are flammable.
• * If you must go inside the pit, wear self-contained breathing apparatus.

Another safety hazard is underground tunnels (tomos)and wells. Children can be attracted to such places as they are interesting places to play. You should:

1. Make wells and underground tunnels strictly out-of-bounds as play areas
2. Warn children of the dangers.
3. Cover or fence entrances securely and post warning signs.
4. Put a lid on the tank so animals and debris can’t fall in.

Become a Biodiesel Homebrewer

Biodiesel can be made from new or used vegetable oils, such as soybean oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, hemp oil, coconut oil, peanut oil, palm oil, corn oil, mustard oil, flaxseed oil, rapeseed oil, cottonseed oil, and waste cooking oil. It can also be made from beef and sheep tallow, pork lard, as well as other types of animal fat. It is made by chemical reaction with an alcohol like methanol or ethanol to produce chemical compounds known as fatty acid alkyl esters (fatty acid methyl esters when methanol is used). The term Biodiesel is commonly used to refer to these esters when they are intended for use as fuel. There is little difference between vegetable and tallow based esters in terms of engine emissions and engine operation.

Biodiesel is actually as old as the diesel engine itself. Rudolf Diesel, the 19th-century originator of diesel technology, used refined peanut oil to run his invention.Rudolph Diesel designed the Diesel engine to be run on a variety of fuels was quoted as saying the diesel engine can be fed with vegetable oils and will help considerably in the development of the agriculture of the countries which use it. Diesels workhorse engine took off, but the rise of cheap crude oil killed his vision of farmers growing their own fuel. Now, after a century of burning fossil fuels, the diesel engine is finding its way back to its agricultural roots thanks to biodiesel costing less than one dollar per litre to produce.

• * Biodiesel fuel burns up to 75% cleaner than conventional diesel fuel made from fossil fuel
• * Biodiesel substantially reduces unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and particulate matter in exhaust fumes
• * Sulphur dioxide emissions are eliminated (biodiesel contains no sulphur)
• * Biodiesel is plant-based and adds no Carbon Dioxide to the atmosphere
• * The ozone-forming potential of biodiesel emissions is nearly 50% less than conventional diesel fuel

Sources of Oil for Biodiesel Production

If you have access to inexpensive oil or tallow, it can be quite cost-effective for you to manufacture your own biodiesel.

Tallow

Tallow is made from animal fat of cattle, sheep, pigs or goats, which needs to be rendered (purified) to produce the tallow.

Recipe:

• One kg of animal fat
• Ten litres of water
• Three tablespoons of salt
• Three tablespoons of baking soda

To render the tallow, first take the beef fat and cut off anything that does not look like fat. Chop the fat into small pieces or mash it. Put the fat into a large pot and cover it with water. Add three tablespoons of salt. Boil it for 30 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove it from the heat and let it cool. Strain it through an old pair of pantyhose, then cover it. Refrigerate it until the top layer hardens, usually overnight. This solid top layer is the tallow. Take it, discard the rest, and repeat the rendering process. The second time you render the tallow, take the solid layer, put it into the pot, add enough water to cover it, and add three tablespoons of baking soda, not salt this time. Boil it for 30 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove it from the heat, allow to cool, then strain and place back into the fridge. When the top layer solidifies, discard everything else. Now you’re ready to use this rendered tallow to make biodiesel. Store the tallow in the fridge or freezer until you’re ready to use it.

The biggest source of tallow in New Zealand is from cattle and sheep. The animal slaughtering process is a major industry in New Zealand. The slaughtering process produces meat (36 %), rendering products (22 %), hides & skins (8 %), offal (3 %) and the remainder (31 %). Rendering produces tallow at a ratio of 22 % of the total end product, as well as meat and bone meal. The lower grades of tallow are used as the raw material for this process. Tallow is already the base raw material for a 45,000 tonnes per annum multi-feedstock biodiesel plant at Motherwell in Scotland. This plant uses tallow from a rendering plant and used cooking oil as the raw materials for a transesterification process.

Olive Oil

Producing Olive Oil

The oil comes from the mesocarp, or flesh cells, of the fruit of the olive tree and must be extracted from the solid material. The first step is remove the leaves and to wash the harvested olives. You can then crush the olives with either a stone mill or a metal crusher. This will produce a paste from which the oil droplets can be extracted. The traditional stone crusher consists of a stone base and upright millstones enclosed in a metal basin. There are usually scrapers to clean the millstones and paddles plus blades to circulate and expel the paste. This process ensures that the oil finally produced is not contaminated with metal. Where a food grade olive oil is wanted, the stone- crushed olive oil is usually then pressed or centrifuged. The stone crushers are slow and production is limited as it is not a continuous process.

Komet Oil Expellers

Komet Vegetable Oil Expellers are manufactured by IBG Monforts in Germany, whose range of products covers small hand-operated as well as industrial machines. Komet oil expellers feature a special cold pressing system with a single conveying screw to squeeze the oils from various oil-bearing seeds. The machines operate on a gentle mechanical press principle that does not involve mixing and tearing of the seeds. Virtually all oil-bearing seeds, nuts, and kernels can be pressed with the standard equipment without adjusting the screws or oil outlet holes.

The vegetable oil produced needs no refining, bleaching, or deodorizing, as long as the natural taste, smell, and colour are acceptable. Generally, any sediment in the oil will settle to the bottom of the collecting vessel after approximately 24 hours and form a hard cake. You can then pour the oil through a paper or textile filter to remove any remaining impurities.

Metal crushers work by rotating at high speed, throwing the olives against a metal grating. The oil is usually extracted from the paste by a continuous centrifuge. The advantages include speed, continuous operation, low cost and high output. The primary disadvantages include the likelihood for metal contamination.

This method will produce olive oil, must and pomace. The oil must consists of edible olive oil and vegetable water. The waste consists of solid and liquid waste. The solid waste can be used by a lifestyle block holder for fuel, fertilizer, mulch, herbicide and as food for livestock. The most exciting use is for fuel due to the extremely high cost of energy these days. In Europe, a common use of pressing waste is as fuel to heat households and pottery kilns. If completely dried, the solid waste can be pressed into very intense burning logs.

For use as fertiliser or mulch, the olive waste should be mixed with soil and bark but should not be concentrated over tree roots because they may burn. The olive waste can be distributed your orchard or garden as it serves as a natural herbicide, discouraging grass and weed growth. This waste material is also a component of feed for animals such as cattle and poultry but goats and sheep will eat it as is, separating the edible portion from the woody parts.

First Press from The Olive Oil Source a complete make-your-own oil press.

Rapeseed Oil

Rapeseed, also known as Rape or Oilseed Rape, is a bright yellow flowering member of the family Brassicaceae. It is very widely cultivated throughout the world for the production of animal feed, vegetable oil for human consumption, and biodiesel. It is the third leading source of vegetable oil in the world in 2000, after soybean and oil palm. The rapeseed is the valuable, harvested component of the crop. The crop is also grown as a winter-cover crop. It provides good coverage of the soil in winter, and limits nitrogen run-off. The plant is ploughed back in the soil or used as bedding.

Processing of rapeseed for oil production provides rapeseed animal meal as a by-product. The feed is mostly employed for feeding cattle, but can also feed pigs and chickens. The meal has a very low content of the glucosinolates responsible for metabolism disruption in cattle and pigs.

Vegetable Oil

The other option for the production of biodiesel is used or waste vegetable oil. The first step is the collection of the waste cooking oil. This collected raw material is processed by transesterification to yield biodiesel. Recently there was an item on TV about a group on Waiheke Island that were making biodiesel from waste cooking oil. There are many people already collecting used cooking oil from restaurants and takeaway outfits. Most of the time, the owners of such establishments are happy to have someone take away the oil for free as it saves them the tricky job of disposing of it. But if the process becomes more popular, then it is likely they will start charging for the waste oil as happens in USA now. Used cooking oil can go rancid (smell bad) or even be rancid when you get them. Avoid using rancid oils for biodiesel production.

If you can make your own oil or have access to inexpensive oil or grease, such as a by-product of some process, it may be quite cost-effective for you to manufacture your own biodiesel from these byproducts. The quantities of raw materials (oil, methanol, and sodium hydroxide) vary to some degree, depending on the quality of oil that you use. The amount of methanol and sodium hydroxide must be sufficient to cause a reaction with the vegetable oil, but you should not use excessive amounts of these catalysts. The cost of the methanol and sodium hydroxide is significant so you dont want to waste them. As you develop your own biodiesel-making expertise, you will be able to adjust the amounts used to optimize your process and minimize how your usage of the catalysts.

Vegetable oils and animal fats are triglycerides, containing glycerine. The biodiesel process turns the oils into esters, separating out the glycerol. The glycerol sinks to the bottom and the biodiesel floats on top and can be siphoned off. The process is called transesterification, which substitutes alcohol for the glycerol in a chemical reaction, using caustic soda as a catalyst.

How to make a small batch of biodiesel

Vegetable oils and animal fats are triglycerides, containing glycerine. The biodiesel process turns the oils into esters, separating out the glycerol. The glycerol sinks to the bottom and the biodiesel floats on top and can be siphoned off. The process is called transesterification, which substitutes alcohol for the glycerol in a chemical reaction, using caustic soda as a catalyst.

Methanol (methyl alcohol) is used to make methyl esters. The catalyst can be either sodium hydroxide (caustic soda, NaOH) or potassium hydroxide (KOH), which is easier to use and it produces potash fertilizer as a by-product. Sodium hydroxide is often easier to obtain and it is cheaper. If you use potassium hydroxide, the process is the same, but you need to use 1.4 times as much. KOH and other chemicals, such as isopropyl alcohol (isopropanol) for titration, are available from chemicals suppliers.

CAUTION: Sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide are dangerous. Don’t get it on your skin or in your eyes.

You will need the following items to make your first batch:

1. One litre of vegetable oil such as sunflower, canola or soyabean.
2. A variable speed blender with a slow speed option. It needs to have a glass container as the methanol used in this process will attack a plastic container. Of course you wont be able to use this blender any more with food products.
3. A scale that will accurately measure 3.5 grams
4. A bottle Sodium Hydroxide, usually available as a drain cleaner from your local hardware store. Make sure the label says contains sodium hydroxide. Some drain cleaners are chlorine (Calcium Hypochlorite) based and will not work.
5. At least 200 ml of methanol (Methyl Alcohol or Wood Alcohol). Methanol is available as a car petrol lines antifreeze in service stations, auto parts stores and hardware stores. Make sure the label says contains methanol as many antifreeze products are based on or isopropanol (isopropyl alcohol) and that will not work. Methanol is both poisonous and flammable so take the necessary precautions.
6. A glass container, like a beaker, that is graduated for 200 ml.
7. A glass or plastic container that is graduated for 1 litre.
8. A wide-mouth glass or plastic container that will hold at least 1.5 litres.
9. A standard spoon (plastic or stainless steel is best).
10. Safety Glasses and Rubber Gloves as Sodium Hydroxide and Methanol are extremely poisonous and must not come into contact with skin or eyes. Methanol is particularly dangerous as it can attack your eyes even if it comes into contact with your hands. Use extreme care when blending the methanol and caustic soda, as there may be splashes of chemicals from the blender. Put on your glasses and safety gloves before opening the chemicals. Do your work near a sink or a hose, or have a bucket of water handy to wash any part of your body immediately if it comes in contact with these chemicals.

Process

1. Get the materials organised in a well lit, well-ventilated area. This process is best done at or above 21 Degrees C. Temperatures lower than 15 C may result in an incomplete reaction. Prepare for the possibility of spills by spreading paper or plastic on your work surface. Don your safety gear.
2. Measure 200 ml of methanol and pour the methanol into the glass container of the blender.
3. Place a piece of flat white plastic onto the scale and tare back the scale to zero. Weigh out 3.5 gm of Sodium Hydroxide.
4. Turn the blender on slow speed and slowly add the Sodium Hydroxide to the methanol. After two minutes stirring, the Sodium Hydroxide should have completely dissolved into the methanol. You now have a mixture called sodium methoxide which must be used right away to make biodiesel. It is not possible to make a large batch of methoxide and store it for use later as it loses potency over time.
5. Add one litre of vegetable oil to the blender. Blend on low speed for 20 to 30 minutes. The ideal speed for this process is one that only just creates a vortex in the oil without splashing the mixture around or frothing it up.
6. After about 30 minutes to 1 hour, you will notice a layer of darker-coloured glycerine settling to the bottom of the container. The lighter layer on top is biodiesel. Wait a few hours the glycerine to settle completely. At that point, you can carefully pour off the lighter biodiesel from the top or use a pump to remove the biodiesel from the jar. You can then discard the glycerine or save it to use in soap making.
7. Pour the finished biodiesel into your diesel tank and hit the road! You have just saved yourself some money and are on the way to saving a fortune.

Recipe Variations

You can also use potassium hydroxide and ethanol as the catalyst as these products may be cheaper.

Ingredients

One litre of vegetable oil

10 gm (1% by weight of the oil) of potassium hydroxide (catalyst)

200 gm of ethanol (200 proof) this is the minimum amount.

Process:

Dissolve the catalyst in the ethanol which will require stirring and slight heating. Add ethanol/catalyst mixture to the oil and stir the mixture vigorously. After 120 minutes of reaction time at room temperature the mixture should be allowed to sit overnight while separation occurs. A successful reaction produces two liquid phases: biodiesel and glycerine. The heavier glycerine will collect at the bottom after several hours of settling. Phase separation can be observed with 10 minutes and can be complete within 2 hours of settling but may take as long as 20 hours. Pour off the biodiesel from the top of the tank.

If you were not successful, make sure that you follow the recipe exactly, and try again. Unsuccessful batches can happen for a variety of reasons. If you are using new oil, a batch can fail because you didnt use pure enough methanol. Or you may have used old sodium hydroxide or you did not mix the solutions long enough. Maybe the temperature was too low. If you do not have two distinct layers in the blender, you probably did not use enough sodium hydroxide. If you have a solid white material in the blender, this is soap.

REMEMBER YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR ACTIONS AND YOUR SAFETY AND THE SAFETY OF EVERYONE AROUND YOU.

These are dangerous chemicals and care is necessary, especially if there are children at home.

A Larger Biodiesel Process

If you want to make a larger quantity of biodiesel, there are several good recipes available for making a high-quality fuel. As we pointed out earlier, some of the chemicals used are dangerous and safety precautions are essential. Wear protective gloves, apron, and eye protection and do not inhale any vapours. Methanol can cause blindness and death, and you don’t even have to drink it as it can be absorbed through the skin. Sodium hydroxide can cause severe burns, even death. Together these two chemicals form sodium methoxide. This is an extremely caustic chemical – treat it as such. Always have running water handy when working with these chemicals. The workspace must be thoroughly ventilated and no children or pets allowed. Methanol should be stored in appropriate sealed containers, and these should be plainly marked as containing methanol. Sodium hydroxide also absorbs water and will become unusable unless it is kept in a tightly-sealed container.

Process Equipment

Biodiesel can be made in anything from a small blender to an elaborate processor complete with separate tanks for processing, washing, methoxide mixing, settling, and filtering. Most people start by making small batches with minimal equipment and then gradually move up to making large batches using large processors built specifically for making biodiesel. Obtaining equipment is not as easy in New Zealand as it is in Europe or USA where pre-made kits ready to assemble are available for purchase.

In the USA, professionally-built processors can cost as little as $750 but also go up to several thousands of dollars for the more sophisticated plant. Make-your-own kits can be purchased for as little as $300 we aim to have these available to the New Zealand market shortly.

Kiwis are an enterprising lot and will be able to make complete processing plants from junk lying around the farm. Building a processor can be completed in an afternoon in a garage and the processor can be ready to process biodiesel within a few hours of starting the project. Parts are relatively cheap to obtain and there is plenty of information available through online forums and discussion groups. You can source the necessary equipment, such as pumps for transferring oil, methanol, and glycerine as well as various containers for holding oil and completed biodiesel without too many problems. The list below gives the basic gear needed for a small scale biodiesel plant:

Equipment required:

• One 200 litre drum.
• * One 3/4 HP electric motor.
• * Two pulleys which produce 250 rpm and a max of 750 rpm at the mixer blade.
• * A belt for the above.
• * One 30 cm rolled steel rod.
• * Two steel shelf brackets (for the blade).
• * One 38mm brass ball valve.
• * A hinge and a spring to act as a belt tensioned.
• * One 2000-watt electric water heater element.
• * A water heater thermostat.
• * One piece of 38mm diameter piece of steel pipe 10 cm long with male threads on one end.
• * Assorted bits: angle iron, wood, screws, etc.

Assembly:

1. Cut a large opening (about half the top) in the top of the steel drum.
2. Drill 38mm hole in the bottom of the drum.
3. Weld the 38mm diameter pipe in the hole at the bottom of the drum.
4. Attach the 38mm brass ball valve to the pipe. This is the drain valve.
5. Drill a hole in the side of the drum at the bottom, same size as the heater element.
6. Fit the heater element making sure it is not touching the side of the drum.
7. Wire up the heater element.

Chemical mixer:

1. Attach one pulley to the rolled steel rod.
2. Attach the other pulley to the spindle of the electric motor.
3. Weld the propeller to the other end of the rolled steel rod (shelf brackets).
4. Attach the rod, pulley and propeller assembly to one side of the hinge.
5. Weld a piece of angle iron across the top of the drum.
6. Weld the unattached side of the hinge to the angle iron so the propeller and rod assembly sits in the middle of the drum. The hinge should swing the propeller and rod back and forth.
7. Mount the electric motor on the side of the drum.
8. Fit the belt to the pulleys and tighten by wedging a block of wood into the hinge.

You also need to make a simple wooden measuring stick with 10 litre increments.

Other bits:

An hydrometer is a good piece of kit to have to measure the specific gravity of the biodiesel. The specific gravity of biodiesel should be between 0.860 and 0.900, usually 0.880. The specific gravity of vegetable oil is 0.920 therefore the specific gravity of biodiesel should be lower than the vegetable oil used to make the bio-diesel.

Process Times

Biodiesel typically takes 2-5 days from start to finish to make a batch. Most people making biodiesel make anywhere between 100 litres to 500 litres at a time using a batch process.

Breakdown of typical process time intervals:

• * Collecting the oil: 1-2 hours
• * Filtering the oil: 1-2 hours, depending on the amount of oil
• * Titration of the oil: 10-15 minutes
• * Transferring oil to the processor: 10-20 minutes
• * Heating the oil: 1-4 hours (depends on amount of oil, and efficiency of heating)
• * Making the methoxide: 5-20 minutes
• * Mixing the methoxide into the oil: 20-30 minutes
• * Mixing the oil & the methoxide: 2-3 hours
• * Settling the oil: 8-10 hours
• * Draining the glycerine: 5-10 minutes
• * Transferring the Biodiesel to the washing tank: 10-20 minutes
• * First mist wash: 2-3 hours
• * Second mist wash: 2-3 hours
• * First bubble wash: 6-8 hours
• * Second bubble wash: 6-8 hours
• * Transferring Biodiesel to drying containers: 10-20 minutes
• * Drying Biodiesel: 2 hours to 2 days, depending on drying conditions
• * Transferring to storage containers: 10-20 minutes

The recipe consists of 10 litres of new vegetable oil and 2 litres of methanol plus 35 grams of caustic soda (Sodium Hydroxide). Don’t breathe the fumes and keep the whole process away from food and children. As caustic soda reacts with aluminium, tin and zinc, use glass, enamel, stainless steel or HDPE (High-Density Polyethylene) containers for methoxide. Don’t use open containers for processing and mix the methanol in closed containers.

1. Add the caustic soda to the methanol in a glass vessel, stirring for at least two minutes. This produces sodium methoxide. Dont try mixing up a batch of methoxide and storing it. React the methoxide with the oil as soon as it has been made.
2. Warm ten litres of new oil in a closed stainless steel vessel on a hotplate to about 50C to thin it so it mixes better. Don’t let it get too hot or the methanol will evaporate. (Methanol boils at 64.7C).
3. Stir well, and carefully add the sodium methoxide to the oil. The reaction should start immediately, with the mixture rapidly separating into a clear, golden liquid on top with the light brown glycerine settling out at the bottom. Keep stirring for an hour, keeping the temperature constant and then let it settle overnight.
4. Next day, siphon off the biodiesel, leaving the glycerine in the bottom of the bucket.

Biodiesel must be washed before use to remove soaps, excess methanol, residual caustic soda, free glycerine and other contaminants. The easiest way of doing this is just to add water. The water will emulsify the glycerine and turn it into glycerine soap which will sink to the bottom. So spray ten litres of water onto your biodiesel and let it settle overnight. Drain off the water from the bottom of the container using a valve and repeat the process until the water draining off is clear. Heat the washed biodiesel up to 50C to evaporate any residual water, and then filter it through a 5-10 micron fuel filter.

Biodiesel from Waste/Used Cooking Oil

The difference in the process when using waste cooking oil instead of new oil is that you will need more caustic soda as a catalyst to start the process as the quality of your oil is poorer. When using waste oil, you will need to perform a titration to determine how much additional catalyst is needed. You could try making multiple small batches of biodiesel, varying the quantity of sodium hydroxide until the reaction works but titration is simple enough and it will save you time and materials. There are several different methods of titration methods but the simplest is one using a chemical indicator called phenol red. This titration method should give you an accurate indication of the additional amount of sodium hydroxide needed to neutralise the free fatty acids in the waste vegetable oil. Other titration methods are similar except for the method used to determine when a prepared solution changes from an acid to a base.

The Titration Procedure

1. Pour 10 ml of room-temperature iso-propyl alcohol into the one-cup jar.
2. Add 2 or 3 drops of phenol red to the alcohol.
3. Using one of the eyedroppers, slowly, drop by drop, add the 0.1% lye-water solution until the alcohol just starts to turn red. Stir the alcohol while dropping in the lye-water.
4. Using the other eyedropper, add exactly 1 ml of the oil to be titrated.
5. Now, filling the eyedropper with exactly 1 ml of 0.1% lye solution, start dripping this solution into the medicine measure while stirring.
6. Keep track of how many ml of 0.1% lye solution are needed for the liquid to turn and stay red.

The number of millilitres of 0.1% lye solution needed is equal to the number of extra grams of pure sodium hydroxide catalyst needed to produce the proper reactions to make biodiesel. For example, if it takes 3 ml of 0.1% lye solution to turn the oil and isopropyl alcohol solution to a base, you will need to add 3 grams of sodium hydroxide to the 3.5 grams for new oil, or 6.5 grams total per litre of waste oil.

The Process Start with ten litres of waste oil, two litres of methanol and 50 grams of caustic soda (or the exact amount if you have carried out a titration as above). Add the caustic soda to the methanol until it is dissolved. Add the resulting sodium methoxide into the waste oil. Stir for one hour. You can use an electric mixer or a sump pump for this stirring process. After mixing is complete, allow the mixture to settle overnight. Then siphon off or pump out the biodiesel from the top of the container. Wash the biodiesel by spraying water at a low velocity on top of a tall column of biodiesel. The water will wash away any excess alcohol and catalyst. It will emulsify with the biodiesel so the less this mixture is agitated the better, as agitation will cause more emulsification and poorer quality biodiesel. Let this mixture sit for 24-48 hours until the water has settled and then run it through a fuel filter before adding to your diesel fuel tank.

Larger scale Biodiesel Production

Raw Materials

For the oil, you may use new, de-gummed vegetable oil. If you are a farmer, you can press and de-gum your own oil. If not, you can buy pressed raw oil.

Industrial biodiesel process

Raw materials

These are the typical quantities of raw materials and chemicals to produce 1,000 kg of biodiesel and 112 kg of glycerol. Refined vegetable oil – 1030 kg. Methanol – 102 kg. Catalyst (sodium methylate) – 6.2 kg. Mineral acid – 6 kg

Batch processing is convenient for small productions of less than 10,000 t/year. Larger production levels call for a continuous machines where the reaction and distillation of the alcohol is a batch processing and the decantation is continuous.

1. The base of methanol and vegetable oil are mixed in a static mixer.
2. In the reactor, esterification of the free fatty acids occurs.
3. In the second static mixer, a catalyst is added to the methanol-oil mix for the transesterification.
4. Transesterification takes place in the second reactor.
5. The product of the reaction (biodiesel, glycerol and methanol solvent) are neutralised by adding a mineral acid in the third mixer.
6. The alcohol is separated in the flash vaporizer or distillation unit. The vapours of methanol are condensed and sent to the reception unit to be introduced again in the cycle.
7. The remaining products in the flash vaporizer (biodiesel, glycerol, salts and water) are sent to a continuous decanter, to separate the biodiesel from the rest of the byproducts. The light phase (biodiesel) of the solution in the decanter is sent to the storage tank and the heavy phase (90% pure glycerol, water and salts) is sent to another storage tank for later purification.

Glycerol is a marketable byproduct of the biodiesel transesterification process. The equivalent product to biodiesel-glycerol is synthetic glycerol that is petrochemically-produced and liable to increase in price as oil prices climb.

Biodiesel Benefits

Within minutes of biodiesel being added to the fuel tank, and especially when used in high blend ratios (50% to 100%) a reduction in engine noise will be noticed. The engine will operate more smoothly but with a distinct change in the smell of the exhaust sometimes described as a smell of popcorn. The longer the biodiesel is run in the engine, the better is the performance. Research has been done comparing biodiesel to petrodiesel across a wide range of parameters. One of the most significant differences is the drastic reduction in tailpipe emissions biodiesel produces over petrodiesel. Reductions in hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide, and particulate matter are significant. For many people that use biodiesel, these reductions in emission nasties are sufficient reason to use this alternative fuel. Besides reduced emissions, research has indicated an increase in engine longevity, a decrease in engine maintenance, and better engine performance.

Engine Modifications

If you start using biodiesel regularly, it is wise to use a diesel fuel filter/water separator with any diesel engine. These are available through some auto parts stores. The other problem is that biodiesel has a solvent effect. It may dissolve some old residues and these will clog your fuel filter. If you change your fuel filter regularly when first using biodiesel, that should not prove a problem. You may have a problem with natural rubber hoses and seals made prior to 1992. The biodiesel may degrade these types of rubber and they will need to be replaced. Newer diesel engines have polymer hoses and seals, using polymer materials like Viton and these will work fine with biodiesel. Since most diesel injector pumps don’t have rubber parts directly in contact with the fuel, it is relatively easy to replace just the hoses and seals. A fuel mixture of 20% biodiesel and 80% petroleum diesel will have no effect on older natural rubber hoses.

Biodiesel Problems

The temperature at which the fuel will no longer pour is called the pour point or gel point. Biodiesel has a higher pour point than petroleum diesel (biodiesel gels at a higher temperature). Some oil feed-stocks, such as coconut oil or animal fats, result in biodiesel that will gel at relatively high temperatures, but biodiesel made from sunflower or rapeseed oil will have a lower pour point.

Biodiesel will go cloudy at temperatures below 13 degrees C. While this clouding is easily reversed by raising the temperature of the fuel back above 13 degrees, it may cause temporary clogging of your fuel system and stop your engine. Petroleum diesel fuel can be used down to minus 24 degrees C. It is a good idea to use a blend of at least 50% petroleum diesel with your biodiesel, if you are going to be operating in cold weather.

Additives to petrodiesel can lower the gelling temperature, but there are no such additives for biodiesel. You can experiment with different blends of biodiesel and petroleum diesel to determine what works best for you. Simply mix up batches of fuel with different ratios of petroleum diesel and biodiesel in glass jars and put in a freezer. Use a thermometer to determine the temperature of the fuel. Periodically check on the fuel to determine at what temperature it gets cloudy. This temperature is the “cloud point”. It is best to determine this point at home before you head out on the road and get stranded in a snowstorm because your mixture is too rich in biodiesel. Of course, if you are going to be operating during the warm months, or in the northern parts of the country, you can use 100% biodiesel with no problems.

Using Vegetable Oil as Diesel Fuel

You can also modify your car so that it can run on biodiesel in the winter and the same modification will allow you to run the vehicle on unmodified vegetable oil during the summer. The basic system is to install an extra fuel tank, heated by coolant from the engine. The vehicle is started on a non-gelling fuel (petrol in winter, biodiesel in summer) and then you switch to the gellable fuel after it has been heated.

The basic modification involves fitting a fifty litre tank into the boot of your car. The first step is to obtain all the various hoses, fittings, and other parts necessary for the conversion. Then take 8 metres of 1 cm flexible copper pipe and bend it using a tubing bender to fit as much of it into our tank as possible. This makes a heat exchanger and hot coolant from the engine will run through it to heat the fuel in the tank.

You can build a cardboard model of the eventual fuel tank as this is very helpful. You need to connect the copper coil to the model using two bulkhead fittings. Holes for the fuel filler plate and the fuel level gauge are then made on the cardboard model. Test the model in the trunk to make sure there is clearance for all hoses and connections. Then take the tank model to your local engineering workshop and get them to make an aluminium version and add on brackets to secure it to the vehicle.

Get them to install the tank in the boot and run the coolant hoses from the engine compartment under the car and into the tank. Connect the coolant hoses in the engine to the hoses running to the heater core (the device which heats the passenger compartment). To keep the fuel warm from the boot to the engine, the fuel line runs in a “pipe within a pipe.” The inner pipe holds the fuel; the outer pipe has the hot coolant. Dont use polyethylene as it not rated to withstand temperatures above 100C so you must use copper tubing.

In the engine compartment the fuel line connects to a solenoid switch which allows switching between two fuel tanks with a toggle switch on the dashboard. After the solenoid, install two fuel filters, one at 30 microns and the other at 10 microns. The second fuel filter has a special coolant-based heater built into it to give the fuel one last burst of heat before going to the engine (this feature is only necessary for vegetable oil fuel and is not necessary if you are just using biodiesel.)

In the boot, install a fuel temperature gauge and a thermoswitch. The thermoswitch should be wired in series with the solenoid switch, and will prevent you from trying to use the heated tank before it is hot enough. All the wiring for the gauges and switches should be run to the dashboard, and positioned to the right of the steering wheel. You should set the fuel level gauge on top, a fuel temperature gauge below, and the toggle switch for the solenoid.

How It Works

On a cold day, you start the car on the main tank, which has a non-gelling blend of biodiesel and petrodiesel. When the car is going, flip the switch to the heated tank and start driving. After about ten km, if on biodiesel, the fuel in the heated tank is warm enough and the thermoswitch engages, allowing the engine to take fuel from the heated tank. About ten km from the end of your drive, switch back to the main tank to purge the fuel lines of any gellable fuel.

The above process may seem too difficult for the average lifestyle block holder but the use of biodiesel is much more straightforward and worth considering from both an economic and environmental point of view.

We hope that you found this goodGround special report informative and useful. goodGround is growing… so please keep a look out for our growing library of special reports in all fields of land use and care.

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Lifestyle block owners shoulder an extra burden from these surging fuel costs. Firstly they live further away from schools, shops and services than their urban counterparts and they have to operate gas-hungry machines like four wheel drive vehicles, trucks, ride-on mowers, farm bikes and sometimes tractors, on the larger blocks. And they have to pay higher charges by trucking companies servicing the rural communities. So what can be done to reduce fuel costs for the long-suffering lifestyle block holder? There are some alternative fuels that are now affordable, thanks to the large increases in oil costs, and they are becoming more available. Lets explore the options:

What are alternative fuels?

Most motor vehicles run on petrol or diesel fuel. But there are a number of other ways of powering a motor vehicle and these are labelled alternative fuels. They include the commonly-known ones like electricity and natural gas plus several more that are not so well known as yet like ethanol, and methanol.

What are the benefits of alternative fuels?

Each alternative fuel has their advantages and disadvantages, but all of them have the potential to produce less pollution than petrol or diesel. Even compared with a new car with the latest emission control technology, these alternative fuels can result in reduced pollution. Most lifestyle block owners are already environmentally conscious and will want to explore these alternatives.

Using alternative fuels also reduces the need to import oil. Many of the alternative fuels are produced in New Zealand so increasing their use would mean more jobs and an improved balance of trade. Less dependence on imported crude oil would see more stable fuel prices and less danger of being affected by events overseas like war in Iraq or Cyclone Katrina.

What alternative fuels are available today?

1. Electricity

Electric vehicles

Electric cars have been around for a very long time. In the early 1900s, there were more electric vehicles than there were petrol-powered cars. The reason was that petrol was very expensive in those days. It also was hard to start an internal combustion engine; you had to turn a crank inserted into the front of the engine block to get it to start. Petrol driven vehicles were also noisy and emitted clouds of smoke. Electric vehicles were quiet, efficient, and pollution-free. It is no wonder there were more than 50,000 EVs on the roads of the United States in the early days of the last century.

But EVs soon died like the horse-drawn carriage. Petrol became cheaper and petrol-driven engines became more efficient. Plus the electric starter was invented. A petrol car could go much farther than an electric one. So, petrol-powered vehicles soon became the main method of transporting people. But EVs are making a dramatic comeback.

Today’s improved technology has made electric cars a more practical option. Electric vehicles don’t burn petrol as in an internal combustion engine. EVs have an electric motor that turns the wheels and a battery to run that motor. They use electricity stored in the car in batteries which can be lead acid batteries, like the batteries in regular cars. Or they can be ni-cad (nickel-cadmium) like the kind that run portable electronic devices, only much larger. Sometimes, 12 or even 24 batteries are needed to power the car. Any electric car that uses batteries needs a charging system to recharge the batteries. The charging system has two goals:

1. To pump electricity into the batteries as quickly as the batteries will allow

2. To monitor the batteries and avoid damaging them during the charging process

The most sophisticated charging systems monitor battery voltage, current flow and battery temperature to minimise the charging time. The charger sends as much current as it can without raising the battery temperature too much. Less sophisticated chargers might monitor voltage or amperage only and make certain assumptions about average battery characteristics. A charger like this might apply maximum current to the batteries up through 80 percent of their capacity, and then cut the current back to some preset level for the final 20 percent to avoid overheating the batteries.

The normal household charging system has the advantage of convenience – anywhere you can find an outlet, you can recharge. The disadvantage is the length of the recharging time. It can take 6 to 7 hours to fully charge the vehicle using this technique, using a 240-volt circuit. Simply plugging into the wall with a heavy-duty extension cord starts the charging process. Electric vehicles today can only go about 150 km before needing recharging. But 150 km is plenty for most people who only drive a short distance to and from work, to and from school, or to do some shopping.

Better batteries that hold more energy and last longer are being developed which should be able to go 250 to 300 km before recharging. This new technology improves the range of these vehicles as well as their performance. Electric cars can now travel further and the cost of buying one is coming down. As more and more EVs are made, the price of EVs should come down to about the same as petrol cars. Fuel and maintenance costs are already less than they would be for a comparable petrol-powered vehicle.

Hybrid cars

Many carmakers are working on hybrid vehicles: a combination of a small internal combustion engine and an electric motor. The primary power comes from the petrol engine, but it uses the electric motor when it is accelerating or climbing hills. The electric motor does not need an external power supply for recharging. Its batteries are recharged by regenerative braking. This means that energy from forward momentum is captured during braking. This energy is then used to recharge the batteries. At very slow speeds, the car runs on its electric motor. Driving around the city and at higher and motorway speeds, it shifts to both the gasoline motor and the electric motor, while also recharging the battery. Other automobile companies will also be releasing other types of hybrid vehicles soon. This newer breed of combination electric-petrol cars like the Toyota Prius have proven hugely successful with a big uptake by environmentally-conscious car owners.

Other Fuels

1. Natural gas, or methane, originates in the ground, but can also be made from biomass. While it produces very low levels of pollution, it is not as convenient to refuel. Vehicles may have a limited driving range, since the equivalent amount of natural gas takes up about four times as much space as a litre of petrol. A car that runs solely on natural gas can be more expensive but petrol-powered cars can be converted to run on natural gas in addition to petrol. Commuter vehicles like buses, taxis and police cars are more likely be suited to natural gas, since they often travel the same route every day and return to a central refuelling station.
2. Propane, or liquified petroleum gas (LPG), is actually a mixture of gases and is more commonly used for firing up the good old Kiwi ‘barbie’. It is also used for heating where there are no reticulated supplies of natural gas, like in the South Island. It is less expensive than petrol now, but the cost is likely to rise as demand increases. This is especially so since there is a limited supply with the Maui field due to be exhausted in a few years. Some new gas fields have been discovered but it will be some time before they come into production. Propane is presently more widely available than other alternative fuels but requires refuelling with special equipment and careful attention to safety procedures. Propane vehicles may have a shorter driving range, and all repairs have to be done by a technician who is qualified to work on such pressurised fuel supply systems.
3. Renewable energy is any energy source that can be either replenished continuously or within a moderate timeframe, as a result of natural energy flows. These include solar energy (heat and electricity), wind power, and hydropower. All of these can be used by lifestyle block holders to heat water, pump water or to produce small amounts of electricity.
4. Ethanol is a liquid alcohol fuel produced from biomass such as trees, grasses, grain or agricultural waste. For cars and other light-duty vehicles, ethanol is typically sold as a blend of 85% ethanol and 15% petrol but these are not available in NZ as yet. Ethanol produces lower emissions of ozone-forming compounds and toxic air pollutants. However, mileage is reduced because this fuel has a lower energy content than straight petrol.
5. Methanol is also called wood alcohol or methyl alcohol and is made from natural gas, wood, coal or biomass. The New Plymouth synthetic petrol plant Think Big disaster is based on production of methanol from natural gas. Like ethanol, it usually mixed with 15% petrol for use as a motor fuel for cars and light trucks, while heavier trucks run on straight methanol. The blend produces lower emissions but also reduces mileage to about two-thirds that of a similar petrol-powered vehicle.
6. Biodiesel is a fuel made from vegetable oil and can be used in any conventional, unmodified diesel engine. No engine modifications are necessary to use biodiesel and there is no need for any engine conversion – you just pour it into the fuel tank. You don’t have to convert the engine to run it on biodiesel, but you do need to make some adjustments and check a few things.

Biodiesel

Petroleum diesel leaves a lot of dirt in the tank and the fuel system. Biodiesel is a good solvent; it tends to free the dirt and clean it out. Be sure to check the fuel filters regularly at first and start off with a new fuel filter.Engines running on biodiesel run normally and have similar fuel mileage to engines running on diesel fuel. Auto ignition, fuel consumption, power output, and engine torque are relatively unaffected by biodiesel.

Biodiesel can be used alone (Straight Vegetable Oil or SVO) or mixed in any amount with traditional diesel fuel. Biodiesel is more lubricating than diesel fuel and it increases the engine life. It can be used to replace sulphur, a lubricating agent that, when burned, produces sulphur dioxide – the primary component of acid rain. All diesel fuel sold in France contains 5% biodiesel to replace the undesirable sulphur. One wonders why New Zealand is not doing the same.

Biodiesel can be made from any vegetable oil including oils pressed straight from the seed (virgin oils) such as soy, sunflower, canola, coconut and hemp. The oil is strained and usually “esterified”, by combining the fatty acid molecules in the oil with methanol or ethanol. Vegetable oil esters have been shown to make good-quality clean-burning diesel fuel. Biodiesel can also be made from recycled cooking oils from fast food restaurants. Animal fats like tallow and fish oil can be used to make biodiesel fuel.

goodGround’s special report Make Your Own Biofuels gives you recipes for making biodiesel from waste oil and from tallow. The use of Biodiesel dates back over 100 years to the invention of the diesel engine.Biodiesel can be stored anywhere that diesel fuel is stored. Biodiesel is safe to transport as it has a high flash point (ignition temperature) of about 300 deg. F. By comparison, petroleum diesel fuel, which has a flash point of 125 deg. F.

All diesel fuelling facilities, including pumps, tanks and transport trucks can handle biodiesel without modifications. Biodiesel is safe to handle because it is biodegradable and non-toxic. According to the National Biodiesel Board, neat biodiesel is as biodegradable as sugar and less toxic than salt. Biodiesel has a pleasant aroma similar to popcorn popping in comparison to the all-too-familiar stench of petroleum diesel fuel. Biodiesel reduces carbon dioxide emissions, the primary cause of the Greenhouse Effect, by up to 100%.

Since biodiesel comes from plants and plants that breathe carbon dioxide, there is no net gain in carbon dioxide from using biodiesel. Biodiesel has some clear advantages over SVO: it works in any diesel, without any conversion or modifications to the engine or the fuel system. It also has better cold-weather properties than SVO but not as good as petrol. Unlike SVO, it’s backed by many long-term tests in many countries, including millions of kilometres on the road.

Biodiesel is a clean, safe, ready-to-use, alternative fuel, whereas it’s fair to say that many SVO systems are still experimental and need further development. But biodiesel can be more expensive, depending what you make it from and whether you’re comparing it with new or used oil. Unlike SVO, it has to be processed as you have to make it. But the large and rapidly growing worldwide band of home-biodiesel-brewers don’t seem to mind. They manufacture a batch every week or so and soon get used doing so. Many have been doing that for several years.

Many people using SVO as a fuel, use Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) which commonly comes from used cooking oil because it’s cheap or free. WVO has to be filtered and dewatered, and probably should also be de-acidified. The process is simpler than making biodiesel but using SVO is not as straightforward as using biodiesel. You can find that process in the Special Report Make Your Own Biofuels.

Costs and prices

Biodiesel users who are using waste oil feedstock say they can make biodiesel for 50 cents per litre or less. Most people use about 3000 litres of fuel a year (about 60 litres a week) which works out to around $1,500 a year. An SVO fuel system costs about the same so you’ll be ahead in a year, not a long time in the life of a diesel motor. But will it last as long with SVO? Yes, if you use a well-engineered fuel system. It might be simpler to just buy your biodiesel vehicle instead. Most major European vehicle manufacturers now provide vehicle warranties covering the use of pure biodiesel – though that might not be just any biodiesel. Some insist on rapeseed methyl esters (RME), and will not cover soy biodiesel in the USA.

Germany has more than 1,500 filling stations supplying biodiesel, and it’s cheaper than ordinary diesel fuel. It’s widely used in France, the world’s largest producer. Virtually all fossil diesel fuel sold in France contains between 2% and 5% biodiesel. New EU laws will soon require this throughout Europe. Some states in the US are legislating along similar lines. There are a growing number of US suppliers. Biodiesel is more expensive than ordinary diesel in the US but sales are increasing rapidly and will accelerate with the recent petrol price increases. Prices may not drop much but they will become much more attractive if crude oil hits US$100 per barrel, as is widely predicted. In the UK, biodiesel is taxed at a lesser rate than petroleum diesel and it is available commercially. But there’s a lot to be said for the great feeling of independence you’ll get from making your own fuel. If you want to make biodiesel yourself, there are several good recipes available for making a high-quality fuel. We have included several recipes in our Special Report Make Your Own Biofuel. Some of the chemicals used are dangerous and safety precautions are essential.

There are at least three ways to run a diesel engine on bio-power, using vegetable oils, animal fats or both. All three work with both fresh and used oils.

1. Use the oil just as it is – usually called SVO fuel (straight vegetable oil)

2. Mix it with kerosene (paraffin) or diesel fuel, or with biodiesel

3. Convert it to biodiesel

The first two methods sound the easiest, but it’s not quite that simple.

1. Straight vegetable oil Straight vegetable oil (SVO) systems can be a clean, effective and economical option. Unlike biodiesel, with SVO you have to modify the engine. The best way is to fit a full single-tank SVO system with different injectors and glowplugs, injector pump adjustment, fuel pre-heating, temperature controls and extra filters. With the German Elsbett single-tank SVO system you can use petroleum diesel, biodiesel or SVO, in any combination. Just start up and go, stop and switch off, as usual. There are also two-tank systems which only pre-heat the oil, to make it thinner. You have to start the engine on ordinary petroleum diesel or biodiesel in one tank to warm it up, then switch to SVO in the other tank, and switch back to petroleum or biodiesel before you stop the engine, or you’ll coke up the engine and the injectors.

2. Mixing it If you’re mixing SVO with petroleum diesel or kerosene, you are still using fossil fuel. That may be cleaner than most fuels but still not clean enough, many would say. But for every gallon of vegetable oil you use, that’s one gallon of fossil fuel saved, and that much less carbon in the atmosphere.

People use various mixes, 30% petroleum diesel and 70% vegetable oil, or a 50/50 mix. Some people just use it that way, start up and go. Others say it at least needs pre-heating and probably a two-tank system too, like SVO as above. The same goes for mixes with vegetable oil and biodiesel. In both cases, you might get away with just using it, as is, with an older Mercedes 5-cylinder IDI diesel. That is one very tough and tolerant motor – it might not like it but you probably won’t kill it. It may not be wise to try it in some expensive diesel motor where it has not been approved. People have tried putting 3 litres of pure rapeseed oil, bought from their local supermarket, straight into the tank of a diesel vehicle. That produced a 50/50 mix of diesel and vegetable oil. The only differences noted were that the engine ran about 10C cooler and the exhaust smelt like a fish and chips takeaway!

The danger of using such a high proportion of vegetable oil is that the cold starts will become a problem. Then the filter will probably start plugging up. In time, the oil injectors will likely to get coked up and the spray pattern will become unreliable. This will set the stage for ring sticking, glazing of the cylinder walls, increased lube oil consumption and eventual engine failure. More than 20% or so SVO oil in the diesel motor is not a good option.

To be safe, you’re going to need what amounts to an SVO system with fuel pre-heating anyway. You’ll use much less petroleum diesel or biodiesel by using it in the second tank for start-ups and stops rather than mixing it 50/50. Or just use 100% biodiesel and don’t bother with extra tanks and pre-heating the fuel. Mixes are a poor compromise but they do have advantages in cold weather. Some kerosene or #1 diesel mixed with biodiesel lowers the temperature at which it starts to gel, and a mix with biodiesel will do the same for an SVO system.Some suggest you can add a solvent to the vegetable oil to lower the viscosity; usually 3% white spirits or mineral turpentine. This is rather an experimental approach but work is going on with blends of SVO with other solvents, such as butanol and ethanol. You can make a test batch of biodiesel using one litre of fresh oil in a blender.

The recipe is in our Special Report Make Your Own Biofuels.

These last three alternatives are classed as biofuels and are the ones likely to be of most interest to lifestyle block owners who want to find renewable fuels for their energy needs. Biodiesel, methanol and ethanol are clean, grow-your-own fuels that can be made in small communities from renewable, locally available resources for the most part using very simple equipment. These fuels are among a wide range of sustainable rural energy options. Biofuels can be used to power small-scale farm and workshop machinery, electricity generators as well as local vehicles.

Energy crops

Energy crops, also called “bioenergy crops”, are fast-growing crops that are grown for the specific purpose of producing energy (electricity or liquid fuels) from all or part of the resulting plant. The plants that have been selected for further development as energy crops are mostly perennials such as switch grass, willow and poplar. They were selected for their advantageous environmental qualities such as erosion control, soil organic matter build-up and reduced fertiliser and pesticide requirements. There are many other perennial plant species which could be used for energy crops. In addition, some parts of traditional agricultural crops such as the stems or stalks of alfalfa, maize or sorghum may be used for energy production.

Plants store energy during the photosynthesis process, where they combine carbon dioxide from the air and water from the ground to form carbohydrates, which form the biochemical building blocks of biomass. The solar energy that drives photosynthesis is stored in the chemical bonds of the carbohydrates and other molecules contained in the biomass. Biomass is a renewable source of energy if the biomass is cultivated and harvested in a way that allows regrowth without depleting nutrient and water resources, it is a renewable resource that can be used to generate energy on demand, with little net additional contributions to global greenhouse gas emissions.

Burning biomass efficiently, results in little or no net emission of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, since the crop plants actually took up an equal amount of carbon dioxide from the air while they were growing. However, burning conventional fossil fuels such as gasoline, oil, coal or natural gas results in an increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the major greenhouse gas which is thought to be responsible for global climate change. Worldwide, biomass is the fourth largest energy resource after coal, oil, and natural gas – estimated at about 14% of global primary energy (and much higher in many developing countries).

Biomass is used for heating (such as wood fires and stoves in homes and for process heat in bioprocessing industries), cooking (especially in many parts of the developing world), transportation (fuels such as ethanol) and, increasingly, for electric power production. Installed capacity of biomass power generation worldwide is about 35,000 MW.

Revenue from Bioenergy crops

Compared with annually-harvested arable crops (which provide an income within 12 months of planting), the returns from selling a perennial bioenergy crop are delayed until the crop is ready for harvest (after two or more years). Tree crops are usually harvested every 3-5 years, although harvests on different plots may be staggered so as to provide a regular annual income.

A field of switch grass would not usually be harvested in the first year, to promote good establishment; thereafter it can be harvested annually, and should last for a 10-year rotation. Willow may be harvested from year 4, with subsequent harvests every 3 years, and replanting after 22 years (7 harvests). Poplar takes 6-10 years to reach harvest size for energy. Like many investments, you should expect to wait a few years before making a profit on bioenergy crops.

Energy production from Biomass

When biomass is burned, it produces heat (as in any simple fireplace or furnace). In most power plants (steam-cycle or steam-turbine systems), this heat is captured by boiling water to generate steam, which turns turbines and drives generators that convert the energy into electricity. New technologies now being evaluated include several types of biomass gasifiers in which biomass is heated to convert it into a gas. This gas is used directly in a gas turbine, which drives a generator (a simple gas turbine system). In some cases, the waste heat from the gas turbine may be used to drive a secondary steam turbine, thus converting more of the fuel energy into electricity (a combined-cycle system). It is these biomass gasifiers that may offer electricity supply solutions for individuals or communities. Research is continuing to develop small modular biomass conversion systems (100 kW – 5 MW) to provide electricity cost-effectively to communities and industries. The main need for further development of biomass-electric technology is to improve the efficiency of energy conversion, to lower emissions, and to reduce the cost. Gasification offers greater flexibility, both in the range of possible biomass feedstocks and in the end-use of the energy. For example, as well as driving a gas turbine, the gas from a gasifier can power a fuel cell to generate electricity, or it can be used to generate steam in a gas boiler, sometimes in combination with natural gas. Large steam-turbine systems in power plants 200 MW or larger (such as most coal-fired power plants) are relatively efficient at energy conversion, but smaller biomass-fired steam-turbine systems (20-100 MW) require further research to improve their cost-competitiveness with fossil fuels. Biomass gasification systems may be able to combine high efficiency with cost-competitiveness in this size range (20-100 MW).

Bioenergy Economics

The projected cost of biomass supply for energy generation depends on location, and a variety of other factors such as differences in yields, different input prices, and differences in the profitability of alternative uses for the land being used for biomass generation.

It has been calculated that in most parts of the U.S. farm gate prices of US$35-45/ton would be needed to encourage significant amounts of biofuel production like switch grass. Transport costs of $15/ton would need to be added to allow for the cost of delivery to conversion facilities up to 80 km away. If trees were planted as a supply of bioenergy feedstock for a power plant it would take around 400 hectares of poplar (grown as a short-rotation crop) at a usable yield of 11 metric dry tonnes/hectare to supply an electric power plant with a capacity of one megawatt (1 MW).

The capital cost of building a biomass-fired steam-turbine plant is about $3000-3500 per kW of installed capacity, including a return on the investment. The currently high capital cost is a function of small plant size, which also increases operating costs in terms of capacity per employee. The capital cost of future gasifier power plants, based on equipment costs alone, is estimated at $1500 per kW in 2020. Projected total costs for the year 2020 for electricity from biomass gasifier/gas-turbine combined-cycle systems range from 7 to 10 cents/kWh.

To produce ethanol from biofuels is estimated to cost about $0.40 to $0.60 /litre. Currently, in the US, ethanol is produced from maize, and sells for around $2.00/USgallon ($0.50/litre). Costs are also expected to fall over time with improvements in technology and operating experience.

Their production does raise some interesting questions is it better to process a grain crop to make ethanol fuel or use the grain for livestock feed the livestock? The proponents say that the distillation process used to produce ethanol converts the carbohydrates in the grain but leaves the protein. The protein residue is an excellent stock feed, especially if supplemented by forage crops. Another question often raised – is ethanol energy-efficient?

This is a very controversial issue and relates to what environmentalists call the net energy of ethanol production. Simply put, the question is: is more energy used to grow and process the raw material into ethanol than is contained in the ethanol itself? A US Department of Agriculture study concluded that ethanol contained 34% more energy than is used to grow and harvest the corn and distill it into ethanol. None of this considers the fact that ethanol is a much cleaner fuel than petrol, reducing air-pollution, plus that it is a renewable fuel made from plants. Unlike fossil-fuels, manufacturing it and burning it does not increase the greenhouse effect. Burning biomass, efficiently, results in little or no net emission of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, since the crop plants actually took up an equal amount of carbon dioxide from the air while they were growing. However, burning conventional fossil fuels such as gasoline, oil, coal or natural gas results in an increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the major greenhouse gas which is thought to be responsible for global climate change.

Summary

From the above, we can see there are indeed viable options and alternatives to oil-based energy and fuels. The way prices of such fuels are heading mean that we will all have to consider renewable energy or bioenergy; not just for environmental reasons but also for economic reasons.

We hope that you found this goodGround special report informative and useful. goodGround is growing… so please keep a look out for our growing library of special reports in all fields of land use and care.

Cattle, because of their size, strength, speed and potential for aggression, need to be handled carefully but with confidence. The most important aspect of handling any livestock is to be able to recognise and interpret an animal’s reactions. The beast’s body language will indicate its probable actions.

Three basic elements of animal handling.

These are the handler, the animal(s) and the yards or facilities. All these elements are interdependent and we can break down the attributes of each element as follows:

1. Handler — should possess a positive attitude to stock; an understanding of animal behaviour and the ability to recognise and interpret animal actions. Handling practices will be less stressful to the animals and safer for the handler if the behavioural characteristics of livestock are understood.
2. Livestock — these differ greatly in their ease of handling due to factors such as sex, mental state, breed characteristics and previous handling experiences. If they have been handled roughly in the past, they will be more stressed and difficult to handle in the future. Breed differences mean some cattle are more excitable but each animal is an individual and has a different reaction to stress.
3. Facilities — poorly designed yards lead to confusion and stress on cattle. Well-designed facilities allow for a good low of the livestock – this is the basic design element. New pens and yards can be stressful so allow the cattle to get used to the facilities.

Let’s examine the main characteristics of cattle that affect the way they should be handled:

Vision – cattle have excellent wide angle vision, around 330 degrees, due to the position of their eyes. This means cattle can see behind themselves without turning their heads. This means they can determine an approaching threat from almost any direction. They do have some difficulty determining depth at ground level, when they are moving with their heads raised. To see the ground clearly, the cow has to lower its head. This is why cattle baulk at shadows or distractions at ground level when they are moving along with their heads up. If you give them time to look down at any change of surface or ground level distractions, they will be more comfortable.

Herd instinct – cattle prefer to maintain visual contact with each other. An animal left alone in a yard will become agitated and may attempt to jump the fence to rejoin its herdmates. Each animal should be able to see others ahead of it as they like to follow the leader. If you have blocking gates in a chute, they need to be able to be seen through so the cattle can see the animals ahead. If a cow sees a dead-end it will baulk. Don’t force an animal in a single file chute unless it has a place to go and use the cattle following behaviour to fill up the chute. Wait until the single file chute is almost empty before refilling it. Make single file chutes are at least 6 metres long, 10 to 15 metres for larger facilities.

Behavioural characteristics - cattle will remain immobile when first threatened. Their first reaction is to stand still and assess the situation. If frightened, their natural instinct is try to escape.

Social behaviour - varies with age, breed and sex but social order in a mob is usually established at about 2 years of age and maintained by threats and butting. But when mobs are mixed, social order has to be re-established so aggression occurs until a new order is established. This sorting out period may make it a difficult time to move stock. Within the mob, there is an order of dominance. This can be seen during feeding when certain animals are always first to eat. Other animals tend to stand back until the dominant animals have finished. Dominance may also be seen when cattle are on the move and the same animals will usually lead the mob. They will also be the first of the mob to enter gateways. This dominance trait becomes a problem when the animals are in confined spaces such as holding yard and can be a cause of significant stress within a mob. Crowding of cattle will also increase aggression as the animals try to maintain personal space.

Response to light - uniform lighting is important as cattle avoid shadows which cause them to baulk. They may refuse to cross strong shadow stripes which can make moving them difficult. Cattle in the dark will move towards the light so if you are loading at night, shine a light onto the truck. Cattle may refuse to enter a dark indoor chute from a sunlit outside yard. You need to extend the chute outside the building or cover the outside yard area. Avoid glare in their faces as livestock tend to baulk if they have to look into the sun. Face your loading chute south and move the stock north to south when handling in summer.

Head movement – cattle look in the direction they are about to go so experienced stock-handlers can predict which way a beast will turn by noting the position of its head. To turn a beast, stock-handlers can then position themselves to turn the animal’s head. A good handler will watch the cattle in a mob and can anticipate a change in direction, or a breakaway, by noting the head movement of the cattle at the lead and edges of the mob. The handler can then take the appropriate action before problems occur.

Response to movement - cattle baulk at moving or flapping objects. Use solid sides for the construction of crowding pens, single file chutes and loading chutes so that the cattle cannot see movement outside the chutes or pens. Similarly, it pays to stand back from the head gate so that the cattle cannot see you.

Understanding the Flight Zone

The flight zone is the animal’s personal space. Just as you are uncomfortable with someone standing inside your comfort zone (usually an arm length) so are cattle. If you move inside their flight zone, the animal will move away. When you back off, the animal will stop moving. The size of the flight zone depends on wildness or tameness of the cattle, angle of handler approach and state of excitement of the cattle. The flight zone radius may be 2-10 metres for cattle used to handling and 200 metres for cattle that are only mustered once a year. If a handler shouts and excites cattle, this can enlarge the animals’ flight zone. Very tame cattle are difficult to move because they no longer have a flight zone.

Knowing how to work the flight zone means an experienced handler can manipulate the animal with a minimum of effort. When the flight zone is penetrated, the animal will move away. A good stock-handler knows when to penetrate this zone and when to retreat so that the cattle move quietly in the desired direction. Attempting to drive animals by standing directly behind them is often not effective because they turn and look at the handler. An animal is best driven when the handler is situated at a 45–60° angle from a line perpendicular to an animal’s shoulder. Working at the edge of the flight zone, at this angle behind an animal’s shoulder, will see the animal circle away from you.

Point of balance – this is the point at the precise centre of the animal. Looking from a side view, this is behind the shoulder, and from in front, it is at the centre of the head.

Experienced stock-handlers use the point of balance of an animal to move it. If the stock-handler goes behind this line, the beast moves forward. By moving towards the front of the animal, the beast will move backward or turn away. Similarly, standing in front of the animal, you can deflect cattle sideways by moving either side of an imaginary line drawn through the middle of the animal’s length. This is because the animal wants to see the handler at all times.

This same principle applies to driving mobs of cattle as the principles of position and movement are the same for moving mobs or when handling individual animals. A mob of cattle has a collective flight zone around the group. When the handler penetrates this zone, the mob will move. When a mob is progressing in the right direction, the handler should work at the edge of the flight zone. By alternately entering and retreating from the flight zone at the optimum position of 45–60°, the handler can keep the mob moving in the desired direction and at a convenient pace.

Mobs/gateways - once a mob is moving through a gate, the handler should stay on the edge of the flight zone and only enter this zone if the cattle stop moving. A common mistake by inexperienced handlers is to stay within the flight zone when the majority of the mob has no escape route. This inevitably leads to cattle turning back and breaking away from the mob as they seek an escape route other than the crowded gateway.

Chutes - curved working chutes make for easier handling as they prevent the animal from seeing the truck, squeeze chute and handlers it is almost in the truck. A curved chute takes advantage of the animal’s natural circling behaviour. When you enter a pen the animals will form a circle around you and face you. As you move through the pen, they will circle around you. So a catwalk along the inside of the chute means the handler will be standing in the best position to move the animal and will allow the animal to circle away from the handler. Never have a catwalk overhead as this will disconcert the animal. Handle small groups in yards, say 8 to 10, instead of 20 as the cattle need room to turn.

Cattle also do not like being singled out either in the paddock or in yards. They can become extremely agitated and aroused. Cattle also show signs of stress when they are isolated. A single animal left alone in a crowding pen or working chute will try to rejoin its herdmates and may charge the handler. If a lone animal refuses to move, release it and bring it back with another group.

Cows with young calves can be very protective, so handling them in the presence of their mothers can be dangerous. If you have children, this danger will be of great concern as calves always are of great appeal to children.

Bulls will always fight with other bulls and are prone to break down fences to play happy families with your neighbour’s cows – a happening that will not endear you to your neighbour. On a small lifestyle block, a bull can easily get bored so watch for signs that he is overly-interested in your neighbour’s cows or bulls.

One of the biggest problems of having only one bull is that after the first mating, you will need to change your bull as he cannot mate with his own offspring – the genetic pool will be too small and mutations are nearly certain to occur. So after a year or so, you have to go through the whole saga again – choosing a bull, buying him, getting him home, checking his performance and so on.

Every breed of beef cattle has its strengths and weaknesses, depending on the terrain, production facility and current market circumstances. To give you an idea of the range of choices, the following is a list of all the cattle breeding associations in New Zealand:

• Angus, Aubrac, Belgian Blue, Beef Shorthorn, Blonde d’Aquitane, Charolais, Chinina, Chiangus, Devon, Gelbvieh, Galloway, Hereford, Highland, Limousin, Marchigiana, Maine Anjou, Murray Grey, Parthenaise , Piedmontese, Red Poll, Romagnola, Salers, Santa Gertrudis, Shaver Beef, South Devon, Sussex, Wagyu, Welsh Black

Other breeds more of interest to lifestyle block holders will be the compact breeds. Traditionally, farmers have spent the last 30 years breeding their cattle larger in order to get better returns from meat processors. Today, with the explosion in numbers of small acreage farms, owners are looking for cattle breeds that are financially viable and easy to manage. They are looking for meat carcass yields to give them good dollar returns but also ease of handling and manageability on small acreage is essential. Miniature cattle can offer these opportunities and out-perform the larger breeds in many important ways.

The two main breeds of miniature cattle are Miniature Herefords and Australian Lowline. They are exceptional beef cattle that thrive on limited feed intake thus lowering production costs while producing half-size cuts of lean, flavourful, high quality beef. Miniature Cattle will winter on roughly one-third the feed of many of the crossbred cows popular today. They are fast maturing and have excellent birth to weight gains. They reach market weights earlier and for roughly one-third the feed costs and have very lean carcasses. Miniature Cattle are naturally quiet in temperament, are easy to handle and raise. This makes them very popular for small acreage farmers. They also have great advantages to the large beef farmers, who are looking ahead to producing smaller, high quality cuts of meat. Plus there are the advantages of less damage to pasture and facilities and more efficient feed conversion with higher carcass yields. This makes Miniature Cattle a very dual purpose animal suited to small farm requirements. On smaller farms, they may actually out-produce their bigger cousins and at the same time offer an easier management option to the large numbers of small farmers.

Certainly there are more and more choices of livestock available to the lifestyle block holder and the wonders of Artificial Insemination mean these are available to anyone.

Once the breed of cattle has been selected, the question then arises – what age and sex of cattle do we raise? The choice is between calves, heifers (immature cows), steers (neutered males), cows or bulls. Let’s examine the economic benefits of each class.

Calf Rearing

An attractive option for lifestyle block owners is to rear calves. The children will be delighted to help with the rearing and will learn from the process. You will need some basic facilities but these can be constructed quite cheaply. The essentials are:

• * A covered area of approximately 2 square metres per calf
• * Clean, dry pens with fresh bark chips or sawdust – change this bedding regularly
• * Protection from winds and draughts
• * Adequate ventilation
• * Good drainage
• * Good vehicle access for transporting calves and feed
• * A supply of water for the calves to drink

The usual process is to buy male bobby calves from a dairy farmer who will be keeping the female calves as herd replacements. If you have a farmer nearby, that will save you the cost of transport and the dairy farmer will make a little more than selling them to the works – usually about $25-30 more. Buy privately from a farmer with high calf rearing standards, if you can. If you buy from the market, you should buy only heavy, healthy calves. They should be four days old and have been fed at least 2 litres of colostrum. Light calves tend to grow slower and have more animal health problems. A Friesian bull calf should be at least 40 kg. Weak, small calves will not catch up in growth to a healthy calf – despite what the auctioneer might say! Buy only calves that have a shiny coat and bright eyes. Don’t buy a calf if it is showing any signs of sickness or ill health. A damp patch around the anal area, or fluid faeces on the ground are clues that the calf has been scouring and such calves should not be bought. Don’t buy calves that were born premature as they may have been deprived of quality colostrum. If so, they will need a lot of food to catch up.

Care should be taken transporting the calves from the point of sale to the rearing facility. Using dirty or overcrowded trailers can lead to problems with the joints and the navel cord. These will show up as joint problems or navel infections before long. A trailer that has been divided into small compartments is ideal as each calf should have a square metre of space with no more than 5 calves per compartment.

On arrival at your farmlet, you will need to teach the young calf how to drink, be it from a bucket, bottle or teat. As noted above, the newborn calf should be fed 10% of their body weight in colostrum in the first 24 hours after birth. Warming the colostrum feed will help to increase the temperature of the newborn calf. The better quality colostrum will come from an older mother’s milk. She will produce a greater volume and her milk will have more antibodies. Milk extracted soon after the cow gives birth will give the best quality colostrum which can be then stored in a freezer.

It is important that calves be fed according to their size. A typical 40 kg Friesian calf should not be fed more than three litres of milk per day for the first week. Once the calf is one week old, it should be fed about 10% of its body weight each day. Do not over feed the calf as this will cause stomach problems (scouring). This is less likely to occur if the calf is fed twice each day. You can also dilute rich milk with water to make it more easily digested and this will be easier on the calf’s stomach. Scouring is also a symptom of viral and protozoa infections. Often the only way to identify the cause of scouring is to perform a faecal culture. The scouring calf should be removed from milk and fed electrolytes three times per day to replenish lost fluids. Products to stop or treat scouring are readily available or you can seek veterinary advice if you are new to calf rearing.

The normal practice is to feed calves on whole milk for 2 – 3 weeks and then switch to skim milk. Skim milk will cost you around $3 per kg. The calves should not drink more than six litres of skim milk per day. Because skim milk has less fat, it should be supplemented with cereal meals like barley or maize. Such meals will cost around $0.65 per kg. They should be fed to the calf in the dry condition.

After 3 – 4 weeks, you can also start allowing the calves to graze, by introducing them to clean high quality pasture. The paddock should be sheltered, with short, leafy pasture and be handy to the rearing facilities. The best pasture, as far as calf-rearing is concerned, is a grass and clover mixture still in the leafy stage and not longer than 15 cm (6 inches). The earlier the calves learn how to graze, the better the growth rates will be. The calves should be weaned off milk around 8 – 10 weeks old, depending on the strength and size of the individual calf. They should be provided with top quality pasture during this weaning period. They should be rotationally grazed – that means moving from paddock to paddock. A dairy farmer would move the calves to a paddock a couple of days before the milking herd is to graze that paddock. Even on a lifestyle block with limited grazing, it is not a good idea to leave the calves grazing the same paddock until maturity as the risk of worms is greater. It is important that the calves be vaccinated at an early age, usually against salmonella, Brandenburg and especially, rotovirus. The latter is a big problem in New Zealand as it debilitates the immune system of the calf, making it susceptible to all sorts of other nasty diseases. A worm drench is usually necessary around weaning as they start eating larger amounts of grass.

Your target weight for a Friesian weaner calf will be around 100 kg and with good rearing practices, your calf should reach that weight in 12-13 weeks. Calves reared to 100kg by mid November command a premium, but after that date, the return is reduced by $30 to $40. The total cost of rearing a calf to around 100 kg, including food and vaccination, will be around $200 so obtaining the best price is important. Calf prices vary each season but hopefully your 12 week old weaner should be worth around $300.

Breakdown of Rearing Costs:

(2006 approx.figures)

Bobby Calf

$85

Milk (25kg MS @ $3.50 per keg)

$87.50

Meal 12 kg @ $0.65 per kg

$7.80

Total  $180.30

Plus vaccination costs.

Intensive Beef Finishing

All successful beef finishing system have one thing in common, namely profitability is determined mainly by the amount and quality of feed eaten. In this case, the profit is determined by buying well, maximising weight gain and selling when the market is right. The objective of any beef finishing operation is to maximise the margin between the buying and the selling price within any one year. Usually the replacement cattle are bought at the same time as the finished cattle are going to slaughter. This margin is largely influenced by the following factors:

1. your ability to obtain the best price for their finished cattle
2. your skill in replacing these cattle at a price less than the ruling market price
3. your ability to put liveweight gain on their cattle so they reach the targeted carcass weight and quality requirements as quickly as possible
4. turning over your cattle as often as is possible

There are many different breeds, classes, ages, and condition of cattle that can be purchased for finishing. The particular market you are targeting will determine the type of cattle purchased. For example, if you want to target the local trade you might choose early maturing cattle such as Angus heifers with typical carcass weights of 210 -220 Kg. But if you were targeting the North American manufacturing beef market, you might choose Friesian bulls and finish to carcass weights of 300 Kg.

There are many options for beef finishing.

Weaners to Yearlings

The first one is to take weaners through to yearlings. Bull beef is one of the most common beef enterprises where bulls of dairy origin are purchased as weaners. Most of the bulls reach the targeted slaughter weight during their second summer, although some may need to be carried through for a second winter. Of course, having bulls on a lifestyle block may not be that desirable, especially if there are children living on the block. Only buy bulls if you are prepared to have holes in your paddocks and you can put up with a lot of noise.

If you have not reared your own calves, you will need to get a stock agent to purchase a mob for you. Or, if you have sufficient knowledge and experience, you can buy the numbers you need at the nearest stock auction. The weaner might cost between $250 – $350 depending on breed and condition, with the beef type breeds being the most expensive.

You can arrange for the weaners to be delivered to your block by a reputable transport firm. But you will need an unloading ramp to unload the stock from the truck. For small numbers of animals, it might be easier to hire a stock trailer and collect them yourself from the market. So what are the essential needs for raising yearling bulls:

• * A good supply of water
• * A good yard/handling facility
• * A restraining device for treating the animal
• * Shelter belts to provide shelter from wind and heat
• * Electric fences to rotate your pasture
• * A supply of hay, hayledge or silage for winter/ mid summer feeding
• You will also have to consider where you will sell your yearlings.

Bull Beef

Dairy beef production involves the raising of dairy-bred bulls for the processing or manufacturing beef trade. You can buy 100 kg weaner bulls in November and raise them over the next 14-15 months when they will have reached 270 kg or so. Two-year-old bulls will reach average carcass weights of 315 kg. Or you can keep for 2.5 years when a carcass weight of around 330 kg would be average.

Bulls grow 10-20% faster than steers, so they achieve heavier slaughter weights earlier and can be slaughtered at 15 to 18 months of age. Bulls have a maintenance requirement of about 15% higher than that of steers, which means that the feed requirement of bulls is actually greater than that of steers of the same liveweight. For the cattle of same liveweight and feed intake, bulls will gain about 10-15% extra liveweight than that expected from steers. Typical buying/selling margins would be around $500/head in a good season.

Raising Heifers

Here you would buy 180 kg 18 month heifers in March and kill at 18 months at old at 230 kg carcass weight. Heifers may suit a small holding more than steers or bulls so this alternative, while not as profitable as the quicker-gaining males, might be preferred by lifestyle block holders.

Raising Steers

In this option, yearling steers are usually purchased in late winter and sold for slaughter at 26-30 months with a typical carcass weight of around 300 kg. You will pay around $400 for a good beef type, depending on breed and condition. You will need the same requirements as listed above. You can choose to take your dairy beef Friesian steers onto maturity. Friesians steers are a better choice than Jersey steers. Their heavier carcass weight and higher grades gave them a monetary advantage over the average Jersey carcass. Friesian and Friesian-Jersey-cross cattle are suitable for production of manufacturing or hamburger-like beef products.

There are two options:

1. Buy a 200 kg weaner steer in April and kill at 18 months at 280 kg

2. Buy 200 kg weaner steer in April and kill at 2.5 years at 330 kg

Breeding Cows

With this option, you keep cows breeding and producing calves as much as possible. You would be best to buy cows that are already in calf as that saves you the trouble of AI or finding a bull. If you buy in calf heifers you might have more problems than you can handle, that being their first calving. In calf cows will command a premium but the additional cost is probably worth it for a lifestyle block farmer. You will need well-fenced paddocks to prevent problems at weaning time. The new mothers and calves will need a sheltered area as the calves need to be kept warm and dry. It is not important to house a calf that is with its mother, as the constant supply of milk will keep it warm.

You then have the options of selling the bobby calf, rearing the bobby calf to a weaner, taking the weaner through to a yearling or further if desired. It is estimated that it costs $850 to rear a heifer to the stage of entering the dairy herd. The breeding of dairy cows is not an option on a lifestyle block as it means you have to have a milking shed and this is too expensive to consider for a small herd.

The profitability of all the options above will vary from month to month depending on movements in beef prices, currency, feed costs etc. If, at some point in the future you want to know which is the best option for raising cattle, then the best plan is to become a subscriber of goodGround. Then it is just a simple matter of emailing our farming expert and asking what option he recommends based on the costs/prices ruling at the time. That small investment might return you hundreds, even thousands of dollars, once you have the right advice.

Once you have forked out for your bull, you have to be able to handle him. If you don’t have a trained dog, this can be a big problem, especially with older bulls. These tend to get very territorial and can be difficult to handle. They are dangerous animals, especially when on their own, and get worse as they get older.

If you have children, this danger will be of great concern. (See goodGround’s special report on ‘Lifestyle Block Family Safety’ for more vital information about this.) Bulls will always fight with other bulls and are prone to break down fences to play happy families with your neighbour’s cows – a happening that will not endear you to your neighbour. On a small lifestyle block, a bull can easily get bored so watch for signs that he is overly-interested in your neighbour’s cows or bulls. One of the biggest problems is that after the first mating you will need to change your bull as he cannot mate with his own offspring – the genetic pool is too small and mutations are nearly certain to occur. So after a year or so, you have to go through the whole saga again – choosing a bull, buying him, getting him home, checking his performance and so on.

Some other common problems with bulls:

• They eat half as much again as a cow.
• They will dig holes to mark their territory. If you repair the holes, they will dig them out again.
• They make a lot of noise, especially at night and when your neighbour has cows or bulls near to your bull’s paddock.
• They can cost you a lot in vet’s bills as they get older as they are susceptible to arthritis and feet problems.

You will also need to monitor your bull’s fertility and libido – he may have plenty of one but not much of the other, i.e. high fertility but low sex drive and vice versa. You may need the services of a vet to determine this.

If that has not put you off owning a bull, then go for it. Get onto your favourite stock & station agent and ask him to select one for you, either from a breeder or at an auction. A young, even a yearling, bull is probably the best bet as they will be healthier than an older bull.

If you know a fair amount about cattle, then you can buy one direct from a bull breeder. You should make sure that the bull conforms to the norm for that breed and has plenty of bulk in the rear. The bull should be able to walk freely and not be ‘post-legged’ where his hind legs are stiff or too straight. He is going to spend a lot of time walking and balanced on his hind legs. The bull should have large testicles as generally the size of the testicles will determine his sperm capacity. The bull must be polled (no horns breed) as having horned stock on a lifestyle block is just asking for trouble.

If you feel you need a bull, but the costs of owning one are too high, they you might investigate sharing one with a neighbour. This will not only halve the costs but also see the bull more gainfully used. Being more active will mean he is less likely to get bored and cause trouble. The normal arrangement is to have the bull week about. It does mean some cows may miss being served when ready but you should catch them next time, seeing cows have a three week cycle.

Artificial Insemination

Other options are to lease a bull from a bull stud or to take your cows to a neighbour’s bull. But if that still looks too expensive or too much hassle, then the obvious option is Artificial Insemination (AI) or Artificial Breeding (AB). In AI, sperm is collected from a bull and then, after dilution, is used either fresh or frozen to inseminate a cow when she is on heat. The biggest advantage is the wide choice of semen – you are not restricting yourself to that one bull’s genetic traits. You can use a different breed to that of your cows which is called ‘crossbreeding’. This hopefully will provide offspring that have ‘hybrid vigour’ where the characteristics of the offspring are better than the average of both parents. With the convenience of AI, you can then select which breed you want to reinforce when it comes time to artificially inseminating those offspring. Or you can sell off the crossbreeds and repeat the exercise.

You may choose to keep things simple and just produce ‘pure breeds’ by using the same breed of bull as the breed of your cows. The female calves can then be kept to build up your herd numbers.

So what’s the bad news about AI? You will need a dedicated facility where the AI technician can work. This means a good set of yards and a holding facility where the cow can be restrained so the technician can safely get behind the cow. There needs to be a clear working area behind the restraining area with a bench for the technician’s equipment. A washing facility is essential. You will need a bucket of cold water ready to thaw the semen stick. The whole area should be free of chemicals that might affect the semen, with all cow dung and dirt cleaned away. A shaded area or shed is ideal as the semen should be protected from direct sunlight. Don’t take the obvious shortcuts like using one semen straw for two cows or using hot water to thaw the semen straw – you are only reducing your chances of a successful AI.

The other problem with Artificial Breeding is determining when your cow comes on heat. This is roughly every three weeks and lasts about 12 – 24 hours. The best time for insemination is towards the end of this oestrus cycle. So if you see the cow on heat in the morning, you need to AI it that afternoon; if you see her on heat in the afternoon, then AI should take place the next morning. So you don’t have much time to observe if the cow is on heat and get onto the AI technician. It takes a little experience to determine if a cow is on heat but the signs are quite distinct.

• The cow will become restless, walking around a lot
• She will be roaring
• She will be mounting other cows
• She will have clear mucous coming out of her vulva

These signs are sometimes not very obvious and it can happen that a cow fails to show heat signs but has ovulated. That means that you have lost three weeks but hopefully she will come on heat again in three weeks’ time.

What breed of cattle should you choose?

Every breed of beef cattle has its strengths and weaknesses, depending on the terrain, production facility and current market circumstances. To give you an idea of the range of choices, the following is a list of all the cattle breeding associations in New Zealand:

• Angus
• Aubrac
• Belgian Blue
• Beef Shorthorn
• Blonde d’Aquitane
• Charolais
• Chianina
• Chiangus
• Composites Breed
• Devon
• Dexter
• Gelbvieh
• Galloway
• Hereford
• Highland
• Limousin
• Marchigiana
• Maine Anjou
• Murray Grey
• Parthenaise
• Piedmontese
• Red Poll
• Romagnola
• Salers
• Santa Gertrudis
• Shaver Beef
• South Devon
• Sussex
• Wagyu
• Welsh Black

The predominant breeds are Angus, Angus/Hereford cross and Hereford. Other substantial breeds include Simmental, South Devon, Shorthorn, Limousin, Charolais and Murray Grey. The majority of dairy cattle are Friesian, with Jersey the next most common. Other breeds of interest to lifestyle block holders will be the compact breeds such as Australian Lowline and Miniature Herefords.

Lowline cattle were developed from the Angus herd which was established at the Trangie Research Centre in 1929, to provide quality breeding stock for the Australian cattle industry. Lowline cattle are 60% the size of normal cattle so you can run ten Lowlines where you would run six standard beef cattle. This is because a mature Lowline bull is about 110cm high and the cows grow to about 100cm. Their small size makes them easy on the land as they will not pug it up as much as a heavier beast. A distinct advantage is that yards and fences do not need not be as high as for other more standard cattle breeds. Lowline cattle are a docile breed, easy to handle and well conformed. They have become known for their feed efficiency and lower production costs. They produce half-size cuts of lean, flavourful beef.

Certainly there are more and more choices of livestock available to the lifestyle block holder and the wonders of Artificial Insemination mean these are available to anyone.

Hopefully this article has shown you that it is indeed practical to have cattle on a lifestyle block. Sure there are important issues to consider but modern technology like Artificial Insemination means any small block holder can stock cattle without having to worry about bulls rampaging around your property. But there are a huge range of options on just what age of cattle you should carry – calves, weaners, heifers, steers, cows, bulls????

Breeding History

The Romney dominated the New Zealand sheep industry for many years, accounting for 75% of the national flock at one point. The originally Romney Marsh UK breed went through considerable changes to become a distinct New Zealand breed, producing good carpet wool. Wool that is used for carpet is much coarser than the soft, fine wools that are usually used for clothing. Later the Drysdale breed was scientifically developed in the 1950′s by taking a Romney but giving it a dominant gene which stimulated production of long, non-crimping fibres. This made the wool even better for carpet wool production. That concept of designing a sheep breed to produce a certain quality of meat or wool has become very commonplace.

Main Breeds

The main NZ breeds are dual purpose breeds (meat and wool) and have the following characteristics:

Romney – as mentioned above, the NZ Romney descended from the English Romney Marsh breed, which was first introduced to New Zealand in 1853. Originally the sheep were farmed in the lower-lying land regions that were cultivated by the first settlers. When later arrivals began to break in steep, hilly land for farms, they found the Romney suited those conditions rather well. As the breed adapted over the years to their new surroundings, their wool improved, making it the ideal wool for carpet. The Romney were then crossbred with other breeds to give different wools. They are now farmed almost everywhere, being of a medium size, with average fertility of 90% to 140%.

Drysdale - commercially developed in the 1950′s the Drysdale is a result of scientific research. Essentially, the breed is a Romney carrying a powerful gene which stimulates production of long, highly-medullated (non-crimpy) fibres. A dual purpose animal, the Drysdale produces good quality meat and wool. The biggest benefit of the Drysdale breed is easy care lambing. The ewes are excellent mothers and have a good temperament. A 25mm wool cover at birth ensures a high lamb survival rate. Fleece weights average about 5-7 kilos, or about one kilo more than most crossbreds. Drysdale wool is known for its whiteness which gives vibrant colours when dyed. The Drysdale wool fibre has an average of 41 microns and is ideal for carpet manufacture. Noted for its crisp hand, Drysdale wool is ideal for blending with Romney wool when a hard or crisp hand is required. The Drysdale has an average lambing percentage of over 115%.

Perendale – this breed was developed by Massey University by crossing Romney with the Cheviot breed. It is small to medium in size with medium fertility of 100% to 150%. It has medium to strong bulky wool and produces finer wool than most wool from cross-bred sheep. This combination gives the wool amazing spring-back which means that carpets retain their bounce and bulk longer. The Perendale is often blended with Romney wool when this characteristic is to be further enhanced. The Perendale breed accounts for 10-15% of New Zealand sheep population.

Coopworth – this breed is another one based on Romney and was developed back in the 1960′s by crossing Border Leicester with Romney. The Coopworth produces a lustrous fleece, noted for its good staple length, clean colour and good spinning qualities. It is medium to large size with easy lambing characteristics and good fertility of 110% to 160%. This desirable mix has seen the Coopworth become the second most popular breed in New Zealand.

Border Leicester – the original breed arrived in New Zealand in 1859, and later was used as a crossing sire to produce heavier lambs for Romney, Corriedale and Merino ewes. The Border Leicester also contributes high fertility and good mothering qualities to these crossbred strains. The lambs are large and lean with rapid growth rates. The Border Leicester has also been used to develop New Zealand’s Coopworth (a Border-Romney cross) as well as the Borderdale (Border-Corriedale cross); a large strong-woolled breed, used mainly on plains in the South Island. The Border Leicester has good fertility of 120% to 160%. It has long, lustrous wool with the individual staples being easily separated. It is used to make carpet yarns both hand-knotted and machine-made.

Merino – most famous as the sheep of the Australian outback, the Merino is very popular in the South Island and dry regions of the North Island. It is a small to medium sheep known for its very fine wool. Because of that, it is often used to fine up coarser-woolled sheep. The quality of the wool makes it ideal for making woolskins for floor rugs and car seat covers and a large proportion of the skins are used by tanneries, both here and in China.

Texel – this breed originated on the Texel Island, near Holland and are the leading sheep breed in Europe. Texels were first introduced into New Zealand in 1991. They are known for being hardy and can survive the most fierce winter conditions. They are a medium-sized but very muscular sheep, with big hind quarters. Texels are good mothers and always stay close to their lambs. Their wool is a clean, white colour with good bulk. It is particularly suitable for the top-quality carpet market. Texel are often used to improve muscling in other breeds as their meat is lean, tender and fine-grained.

East Friesian – although this is quite a new breed in NZ, it has been long established in northern Germany and Holland as a milking breed. They originated in the Friesland/Ost (East) Friesland, from where they gained their name. They have gained rapid acceptance in NZ mainly because of their milking ability and they are often used as a crossbred to improve milking ability. Their breeders believe that the East Friesian will also provide the basis for establishment of a sheep milking industry producing fetta cheese and other sheep-milk products. They are the most productive milking sheep breed in the world, producing 500-600 litres per 210 to 230 day lactation. Friesians are a large sheep with very good lamb growth rates and producing very lean carcases. The wool is bulky, white and medium–coarse (approx 35-37 microns). They have a huge fertility rate of up to 280% in mature ewes.

Finn (Finnish Landrace) – the Finn is an ancient breed originating in Finland. The short-tailed Landrace breed are common in Europe. They are a medium-sized sheep that proved too fertile as a separate breed but are an excellent cross to improve lambing percentage in low fertility breeds such as the Romney. NZ Finn is the only breed available where the fertility genes are stable and major increases in lamb production can be achieved in first cross animals. The fecundity of Finns is a genetic trait maintained in most European short-tailed sheep, and is basically a response to feed input. The Finn has a fertility of 260%, an amazing rate that is as high as any breed in the world. Finns have very good mothering abilities and are highly resistant to facial eczema, although that resistance disappears in the crossbred progeny. NZ Finn sheep have a long, lean carcase and this tendency is passed onto crossbred lambs. Being fine-woolled, Finns may eventually become recognised as a useful dual-purpose breed. The wool is around 25-30 microns with a high lustre.

• A particular bonus for lifestyle block owners is that these breeds dont need dagging  a chore not enjoyed by anyone.
• Their other very valuable attribute, especially here in New Zealand, is that they are not prone to fly strike.

The main self-shedding breeds are:

Dorpers - purebred Dorpers do not need shearing, as they have a light covering of hair and wool which sheds naturally. Some Dorpers may require light shearing as some animals shed much better than others. The growth of the wool depends on seasonal conditions. When the weather gets colder, the wool grows to cover the vital organs but leaves the head, throat, legs, underbelly, genitals and backside free of wool. As the days warm up, the Dorper will respond by shedding its fleece leaving it with a covering of only short hair over the heat of summer. As the Dorper has no wool around its breech it is not prone to fly strike, nor does it need to be crutched. The Dorper is primarily a meat sheep, and produces fine-grained, tender meat that is light- coloured with a lean, even fat covering. Dorpers are very hardy, non-selective grazers meaning they will achieve maximum growth from little feed. The lambs graze at an early age so they grow rapidly and can attain a live weight of 36kg by the age of 3-4 months. Dorpers are very good mothers with calm dispositions making them easy to handle.

Wiltshire - the Wiltshire Horn is an attractive and active breed in which both sexes have horns. It is a self-shedding breed, with a basic fleece which it sheds every spring. It is a very ancient breed which was developed in the rough hill country of middle England to be able to range widely to forage without any shepherd supervision. Thus they are a very hardy, intelligent and self-sufficient breed. The breed has a natural high fertility, twins being the norm, and the mothers are very protective of their lively and precocious offspring, and will defend them against dogs. Lambing problems are very rare as they are born small with long legs, and soon grow quickly to produce lean and fine-textured, sweet meat. The rams are sought after for terminal sires for meat lambs as they give exceptional hybrid vigour for large and well graded lambs. With its many unique attributes it is an ideal breed for small farmers who dont want all the usual hassles involved with keeping sheep.

Pitt Island - a breed that originated as a Merino but changed dramatically over many years of isolation on the remote islands south east of New Zealand. This has seen them develop self-shedding tendencies contrary to their original Merino traits.

Martin Albrecht, goodGround’s lifestyle block expert has his own flock of Pitt Island sheep, and says “The texture and flavour of Pitt Island meat is the best I have ever tasted!”.

Ryeland this is a small to medium size sheep that is ideal for small block farmers who want a true all-purpose type of sheep; not too big to handle safely, but also docile, fertile, thrifty, and capable of providing fine wool for hand-spinning and high quality meat. The Ryeland fills this role admirably, while still having the necessary attributes of a good terminal sire suited to producing an excellent type of lamb with a long carcass and ideal muscling, particularly over the loins. Ryelands also have the ability to withstand severe grazing conditions, surviving droughts in good condition and able to tolerate higher stocking rates. These attributes mean they are very suitable for lifestyle blocks.

Ryeland ewes are good breeders and have great maternal instinct. If you enjoy having sheep that come when you call, you should treat your Ryeland sheep to a handful of sheep nuts every now and again.