The stomach contents from recently processed cattle is providing liquid gold for a worm farmer on the New South Wales mid north coast.
There would not be many who would like a truck turning up with what had recently been inside a cow's stomach, then dumping it on the driveway just outside what look like a number of large greenhouses.
But for Lee Fieldhouse, that dumping plays a major part in helping his prized Indian blues, night crawlers, tigers and red wriggler worms create a rich compost.
"These are high quality composting worms," Mr Fieldhouse said.
"They are ready for action at any time."
These are, in effect, Mr Fieldhouse's studs, bred from worms he bought several years ago to form the basis of his operation.
Curating compost
Inside his greenhouse, beside a series of wooden boxes approximately a metre and half square and about one metre deep, Mr Fieldhouse's worms feed on the processed stomach contents.
The worm food is treated in large wooden bays outside the greenhouses, and mixed with a carbon source.
"That could be either cardboard or sawdust," Mr Fieldhouse said.
"That allows more air into the compost system."
Temperature gauges measure the compost at 60 degrees Celsius for three days, before Mr Fieldhouse 'turns it' and waits for another three days for the temperature to hit 60 degrees again.
"I have to repeat that process three times minimum, to kill weed seeds and pathogens.
"The turning also adds oxygen into it."
Only then is the 'food' ready for his stable of worms.
"In the boxes there are three to four kilos of worms; these get fed probably twice a week with the material," Mr Fieldhouse said.
Once the worms go about their life cycle and eat the food provided, their castings end up at the bottom of what Mr Fieldhouse calls "a continuous cast harvest bed".
"The theory here being I don't upset any worms," he said.
"At the top is the pre-composted worm food that has come from outside. If we go down around 250mm and take a handful, that is worm cast."
How it's done
Mr Fieldhouse uses a front-end loader with a drive shaft that powers a number of steel cables stretched along the bottom edge of the bins.
Once the engine is cranked up, a pulley starts to wind the cables which drag a metal blade underneath the bins toward the power source.
The base of the bins has a mesh floor, which enables the castings to be exposed.
The castings drop onto a tarpaulin, where they are collected and converted into a liquid extract.
This is different to many other worm farms which run water through to provide the liquid.
While the process is not deemed organic, Mr Fieldhouse said it had been approved for use by farmers who have been certified organic.
Farmer's Markets have been Mr Fieldhouse's main outlets so far. But increasingly primary producers are dealing with him directly, and he then spends time with them developing a program.
