Every stage feeds the next. Nothing leaves as waste. This is the design discipline to bring to every animal and every crop decision: map all outputs before acquiring anything. Any output without a destination is a future waste problem. Any output with a destination is a future resource.
Hemp seed cake (the residue after oil pressing) is an approved livestock feed in NZ. At 30–35% protein with an excellent amino acid profile, it is nutritionally superior to most commercial feed supplements. Fed alongside pasture, it increases milk production and quality. More relevant to the closed loop: hemp stalks and leaves contain significantly more structural cellulose than grass. Cows fed a hemp-supplemented diet pass more undigested cellulose fibre in their dung — producing dung that is richer in the paper-making fibre described in the next section. The same feed decision that improves milk quality also improves paper quality. This is integrated systems thinking expressed as a single practical choice.
Rennet contains enzymes (primarily chymosin) that cause milk proteins to coagulate into curds. Three sources are available to a community, in increasing complexity:
Cultured dairy is simultaneously preserved food, probiotic medicine, and a means of converting fresh milk into something shelf-stable without refrigeration. These are among the simplest and most valuable fermented products available.
The number and size of paddocks needed depends on stocking rate, pasture growth rate, and the desired rotation length. A basic planning framework for NZ conditions:
Electric fencing changed livestock management. A single polywire strand energised at 5,000+ volts provides a psychological barrier that most animals respect after one contact. The capital cost is a fraction of permanent fencing; the flexibility is total. A community with a reliable energiser (solar-powered energiser — runs indefinitely from its own solar panel, no mains connection required) and a reel of polywire can subdivide any paddock in minutes, strip-graze a crop precisely, exclude animals from a specific area overnight, and reconfigure the entire system seasonally.
A gate placed in the wrong position is as damaging as no gate at all. Gates should be at the highest point of a paddock corner (reduces mud and wear), accessible from a race or laneway rather than opening directly into a paddock where possible, and sized for the largest equipment that will need to pass through. Farm standard: 3.6m gates for cattle and tractor access, 2.4m for sheep and foot traffic. A continuous gateway race connecting all paddocks to the yards and house eliminates the need to move animals through multiple gates — animals flow easily through a race; they resist when forced through unfamiliar space without clear direction.
Managing pasture by eye — assessing the density, height, and species composition of standing feed — is the skill that separates effective farmers from those who are constantly firefighting. Pasture cover is measured in kilograms of dry matter per hectare (kg DM/ha). A sward at 1,500 kg DM/ha is the minimum entry point for grazing; optimal entry is 2,500–3,000 kg DM/ha for cattle, 1,800–2,200 kg/ha for sheep. Exit cover (the amount left after grazing) should be no lower than 1,200–1,500 kg DM/ha — grazing below this point removes the leaf area the plant needs to regrow, significantly extending the recovery period. A pasture plate meter (a simple device that compresses pasture and reads cover from the compressed height) allows objective measurement. Without a meter, use the palm of the hand pressed onto the pasture surface — if the pasture is level with the back of the hand on a flat surface, it is approximately 1,500 kg DM/ha.
A huntaway works by bark, drive, and confidence — its training emphasises forward movement and vocalisation rather than the quiet, controlled orbiting of a heading dog. Key: the dog must bark on command, move forward into pressure (toward a mob moving away), and be biddable enough to stop when the handler needs it. Huntaways are generally easier to start than heading dogs — their instinct is simpler and less likely to produce the overexcitement that plagues early heading dog training. The basic commands: speak (bark and drive), get back (move toward mob), and that'll do (cease and return). Most huntaways find their voice naturally when they see mob movement — the trainer's job is to channel and control rather than create.
American Foulbrood (AFB) is a serious bacterial disease of bee larvae that is endemic in NZ. All beekeepers in NZ must be registered with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and are required by law to inspect hives regularly, report AFB, and destroy infected hives by burning. This sounds more burdensome than it is in practice — registration is free and straightforward. Know the signs of AFB (sunken, discoloured cappings; ropy, foul-smelling larvae) and inspect hives every 6–8 weeks. NZ beekeeping is otherwise relatively straightforward compared to many countries.
A hunter who takes an animal has accepted a responsibility: to use it fully, to kill it as quickly and cleanly as possible, and to leave the land no worse than they found it. These are not regulations — they are the ethic that makes hunting sustainable and honourable. Wasting meat, leaving gut piles where they cause problems, taking more than can be used — these are failures of the hunter, not the hunt. Every animal taken should be fully utilised: meat, fat, hide, organs, bone. The whole-animal approach described in the cow system earlier in this document applies equally to wild game.
Trapping allows a community to harvest wild protein continuously without requiring the hunter to be present at the moment of harvest. A trap line checked daily or every two days provides consistent small game without significant time investment once established. All kill traps used in NZ must comply with the Animal Welfare (Traps) Regulations — this means approved trap types, correct sizing for target species, and maximum check intervals. The relevant regulations are on the MPI website and should be in the offline library.
Trout (brown and rainbow) require a freshwater fishing license from Fish and Game NZ — available annually or by the week, inexpensive, purchased online. This is non-negotiable and enforced. Eels (tuna) are a different matter: taking eels for personal consumption from private land is generally permitted without a license — check regional rules. Koi carp and other pest fish can be taken without restriction and are in fact encouraged to be removed. The Waikato River system and its tributaries hold significant populations of brown trout, rainbow trout, and eels — all excellent eating.
Sea fishing from the NZ coastline requires no license for recreational harvest. Bag limits and size limits apply for most species under the Fisheries Regulations. The west Waikato coastline (Raglan, Whaingaroa, and the surrounding area) offers excellent surfcasting, rock fishing, and estuary fishing for snapper, kahawai, trevally, flounder, and shellfish. The Waikato region's position means the Firth of Thames is within reach — a productive estuary system for flounder, mullet, and shellfish.
Bows and crossbows are entirely legal to own and use in New Zealand. No licence, registration, or permit is required. A bow is not a firearm under the Arms Act 1983 and is not subject to any of the licensing requirements that apply to firearms. Archery for hunting on private land requires only landowner permission — the same requirement as any other hunting method. On DOC land, the standard free hunting permit applies regardless of method. Bowhunting is a legitimate, legal, and increasingly practised hunting method in NZ — it requires closer range and greater field craft than rifle hunting and is in many ways a more demanding and rewarding skill.
The bow has been a primary hunting and food procurement tool for at least 70,000 years across every human culture. Its value for a community is not primarily as a hunting tool — though it is effective for that — but as a skill that connects the community to a deep lineage of human technology, that requires and develops patience, focus, and body awareness, and that can be produced entirely from community materials using the bowery skills described below. A community that can make its own bows and arrows from its own timber, sinew, and fletching is genuinely self-sufficient in this tool in a way that is impossible with firearms.
Effective bowhunting range for deer and pigs is typically 20–40 metres — significantly closer than rifle hunting. This requires much more thorough field craft: better scent control, more patience, and the ability to wait for an animal to present a clean shot angle (quartering away or broadside — never head-on). The reward is a more demanding and more intimate form of hunting. Arrow placement for a clean kill: aim for the heart-lung area behind the front shoulder — a well-placed broadhead arrow kills quickly and humanely. Always follow up a shot animal carefully — a hit deer may run 50–100 metres before going down.
A good arrow shaft must be straight, stiff enough to handle the bow's power without collapsing, and consistent in diameter and weight. Traditionally: straight-grained timber dowels (pine, cedar) riven and straightened, or natural shoots from species that produce naturally straight growth (hazel, dogwood, river reed, toetoe). In NZ, toetoe (Austroderia species — the native pampas) produces excellent natural arrow shafts — the flowering stems are straight, lightweight, and of suitable diameter. Harvest in late summer before the seed head fully opens. Dry completely before fletching.
A crossbow is mechanically a bow mounted horizontally on a stock, with a trigger mechanism that holds the drawn string until released. It requires less upper body strength than a traditional bow, holds the draw indefinitely without muscle fatigue, and can be aimed in the manner of a rifle — making it more accessible for more community members, including those with physical limitations that make a traditional bow difficult. Modern crossbows from sporting goods stores are effective hunting tools and require no licensing in NZ. Traditional crossbow construction follows the same principles as the self-bow for the prod (the horizontal bow element) — the stock and trigger mechanism are woodworking projects within the capability of the community workshop.
Natto requires only Bacillus subtilis — a common soil bacterium — and cooked soybeans. The resulting sticky, pungent, strongly flavoured fermented bean is one of the most nutritionally dense foods available to a community. It is the richest known dietary source of vitamin K2 (critical for calcium metabolism, bone density, and cardiovascular health), contains nattokinase (an enzyme with documented blood-clot-dissolving properties), and is an extremely rich source of protein and probiotics.
One of the most ancient and most dismissed fermentation traditions. Salt-fermented fish produces a liquid sauce of extraordinary flavour depth (the basis of Roman garum, Thai nam pla, and dozens of other traditions) and a highly shelf-stable protein concentrate. In a coastal or river-access community in Aotearoa, this converts a seasonal surplus of fish — which would otherwise require refrigeration — into a long-lasting, nutrient-dense condiment.
The Waikato is approximately 50km from the Raglan coast and 80km from the Coromandel. A community collection run to either coastline produces seawater and coastal salt material. The Firth of Thames (Hauraki Gulf coast) is more accessible from the Hauraki Plains and has shallow intertidal areas suited to salt collection. This is not a daily operation — salt produced in bulk during summer visits stores indefinitely and supplies the community for months to years per collection.
Several coastal NZ plants accumulate salt in their tissues and can be harvested and burned to produce salt ash. Sea blight (Suaeda), glasswort (Salicornia), and saltmarsh plants along the Hauraki coast all concentrate sodium chloride. Burning the dried plants and dissolving the ash in water, then filtering and evaporating, produces a salt solution. Less efficient than direct seawater evaporation but useful when seawater access is difficult.
All documents in this series are free. Share them, build upon them, correct them. No permission required. No attribution required. Take what is useful and pass it forward.
I — Foundations · The declaration · Start here
II — The Practical Guide · Food, water, energy, medicine, knowledge
III — Layer Zero · Prerequisites · Hemp, glass, lye, methanol, smithing, building
IV — Living Systems · This document · Animals, fermentation, dairy, bees, salt, preservation
V — The Machine Commons · Electricity, electronics, machining, welding, code, steam, computing
VI — Community Life · Emergency medicine, governance, education, textiles, weather, security
Written in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2026. The microcosm mapping onto the macrocosm.