Wind farm with a difference in Audlem

Last year, Audlem dairy farmer O. MacDonald read the United Nations report, 'Livestock's Long Shadow', an authoritative study that claimed that the wind passed by cattle and other farm animals was a bigger environmental problem than emissions from motor vehicles and aviation. Shocked by the findings, he was determined that Audlem, with its huge herds of dairy cows, was not going to be an epi-centre of global warming.

Ollie has since designed a special cattle shed, which he has now patented. With his cattle indoors for many months of the year, the wind emitted by his animals rises, as hot air does naturally, to a special filtration system in the roof. There it is separated from the atmospheric gasses. The methane captured is then piped under pressure to a bottling plant. Ollie says: "My wife April first put me on to the idea. Now it looks as if I could be on to a winner. I've already been short-listed for the Friends of the Earth Hot Air award for 2007." He adds that as well as selling the bottled gas, he now powers his barbecue and outdoor patio heater with his own gas.

He's now trying to sort out a system for capturing the methane in summer when his cows return to the fields. "I've built a series of trail pipes which are attached to each cow's rear," he says. "The pipes are coloured green so they blend in with the grass and I've even painted the last three feet black and white to match my Friesian herd's rear ends once the pipes leave the ground. Separating the gas from the manure is the technical difficulty I'm struggling with, but I'm getting there."

For those looking for further information on this world-first from Audlem, please contact the Webteam and we will pass the query to O. MacDonald on his farm.

This article is from our news archive. As a result pictures or videos originally associated with it may have been removed and some of the content may no longer be accurate or relevant.