On-farm readiness & response
Specialist advice for poultry farms, industry and government preparing to manage birds, litter, eggs and feed through controlled on-farm composting.
Based in Canterbury · Available throughout Aotearoa New Zealand
Readiness starts with the site
Know the materials. Know the method. Know the pathway.
Farm-scale poultry mortality composting, Canterbury
Why compost?
A well-planned composting system can keep mortalities and manure on farm, reduce transport and handling, and support controlled biological treatment within an authorised response. It is living infrastructure: materials, site, people and biological processes working together.
Planning the site, materials, equipment, roles, approvals and decision points in advance builds practical capacity - helping farms and agencies move more confidently through readiness, response and transition to recovery.
Managed biological treatment can transform a disposal liability into a stabilised organic material, reducing landfill dependence and retaining nutrients for an approved end use.
What I offer
I help turn national guidance into a workable, site-specific system - before it is needed.
Work out what your farm already has, what it will need, and where a composting operation could safely work.
Build and manage the pile so the biology can do its work—generating heat while controlling moisture, odour and leachate.
Find out early what regional rules apply and prepare the information needed for a viable regulatory pathway.
Technical guidance
Made Ground provides specialist planning, construction, monitoring and reporting for carcass and manure disposal management.
I translate national and industry guidance into site-specific quantities, operating plans and field decisions: material preparation, pile construction, moisture management, machinery movements, environmental controls, monitoring and the pathway through recovery.
The diagram is indicative only. Every composting plan must respond to the materials, site, disease context and directions applying at the time.
Current work · Lamond Farm, Canterbury
Made Ground is supporting a controlled, non-infected poultry mortality composting demonstration with Lamond Farm and Environment Canterbury.
Observations remain preliminary. The demonstration is testing the practical application of existing industry guidance and generating operational evidence. Full results and the Environment Canterbury report are expected in late September 2026.
Site suitability, material and land-area calculations, carbon and water inventories, access, equipment, roles and the consenting pathway.
The base, structured carbon and cap help manage air, moisture, heat, odour, vectors, leachate and runoff. Geometry must also fit the machinery, materials and receiving environment.
Temperature matters, alongside moisture, odour, structural integrity, surface condition, visible material, discharge observations, records and the material’s response to intervention.
A planning question
Small-to-medium composting systems can develop quickly across farms and local communities, yet planning rules often anticipate large commercial facilities. There is an opportunity to develop a shared set of performance expectations and model conditions that consent planners, waste managers and industry can adapt from site to site and event to event.
That pathway needs to address siting and discharges to air, land and water; operating scale and duration; monitoring and records; completion and release criteria; on-site and off-site land application; transport, storage and receiving-land responsibilities; and any local overlays.
Made Ground supports site assessment, operational planning, environmental controls, monitoring, corrective action, consent engagement and reporting. Formal approvals, biosecurity directions, laboratory determinations and decisions about material release remain with the responsible authorities and parties.
About Made Ground
I’m Dr Bailey Peryman, a composting practitioner, trained resource-management planner and design researcher.
My work sits between farm operations, environmental regulation and living systems. I bring hands-on composting experience together with the ability to work across specific sites, consents, agencies and multidisciplinary teams.
Made Ground exists to help develop practical, resilient infrastructure for managing organic materials. This field evidence is also informing an emerging Living Infrastructure Institute and Design Practice: a platform for applied research, shared standards, training and practical delivery.
“Repairing the flows that sustain life.”
Working with
Find the right support
A short conversation can identify the key information, likely constraints and sensible next step.
Build shared capability
Made Ground offers technical and practical support to your sector to strengthen readiness, develop and deliver practitioner training, quality assurance, and practical pathways from preparedness through response and recovery.
Enable the pathway early
We can support Council planning teams and consenting officers to interpret composting proposals, assess whether proposed composting plans are feasible, identify proportionate siting and management controls, and establish clear pathways before emergency conditions compress the timetable.
Connect policy with operations
Made Ground can help connect policy, biosecurity direction and resource-management settings with the materials, equipment, people and decisions required on the ground.
Extend regional capacity
We can work with compost producers and operators to assess the material supply, equipment, people, training and quality assurance needed to support farm readiness, response and recovery.
Suspect bird flu? Do not move birds or materials. Follow current MPI instructions and call the exotic pest and disease hotline on 0800 80 99 66. Made Ground’s services support preparedness and authorised response activity; they do not replace MPI direction or statutory approvals.