Abandoning animal carcasses and allowing scavengers to dispose of them is risky.
Though dragging off a carcass to the boneyard has been a historical practice, abandonment is NOT recommended and is likely ILLEGAL in most states. Examples include: carcasses abandoned on the surface, in open pits, ditches, water features and sinkholes or in wells. Abandonment promotes extreme biological and disease hazard, threats to water quality, odors, flies, scavengers, rodents and visual pollution.
The need to dispose of livestock or poultry carcasses is an inevitable part of farming and ranching. What is this process and is it environmentally sound?
Composting is a natural process in which microorganisms convert organic matter into a stabilized product termed compost, which can then be used as a beneficial soil amendment. In the case of livestock mortality composting, the carcass can be placed in a compost bin. At this location, we have used net wire supported by t-posts as our compost bin. The carcass is then covered with a supplemental carbon source. In this case, we have used wood shavings mixed with manure. The carcass is then allowed to decompose through natural microbial activity which breaks down both soft tissue and bones. This process usually takes several months to form a stabilized product.
Composting livestock and poultry carcasses is a cost effective way to manage mortalities on a farm or ranch.
The cost of composting livestock depends largely on the cost of your local carbon source. Sometimes wood chips or shavings can be obtained locally for free from tree removing companies or from local county fair barns and arenas. If building a compost bin, a producer can spend around $50 per bin constructing when using tee-posts and net wire construction. Keep in mind that the carbon source and the bin can be reused for future mortalities.
Composting livestock and poultry carcasses is becoming a more common way to manage mortalities. There are several reasons for this.
Composting is relatively inexpensive when low cost carbon materials are utilized. The high temperatures generated during composting create a very biosecure process which eliminates pathogens and reduces disease transmission when properly managed. Composting is also an environmentally sound method for carcass disposal as it reduces odors as well as carcass leachate by surrounding the carcass with a carbon filter. The composting process creates a beneficial by-product rich in nutrients which can be land-applied as a fertilizer. Composting promotes a positive public perception by adequately disposing of animal carcasses in a sustainable manner without negatively affecting the environment.
For active decomposition of animal carcasses, compost microorganisms require a source of nitrogen (N) (dead livestock or birds), carbon (C) (straw, corn stalks, shavings, litter, etc.), oxygen, water and elevated temperatures. An ideal C:N ratio should fall between 15:1 to 35:1. Oxygen (air) can be introduced when turning the compost. If proper moisture is not supplied, the organisms cannot survive. Ideally, moisture content should range from 45-55%, or wet enough when the compost is squeezed to leave your hand feeling moist, without actually forming drops of water. When all components are present in the correct ratio, the compost pile heats naturally, destroying most pathogens while microbial activity degrades the carcasses.
One of the easiest air emissions to recognize from livestock and poultry farms is odor. It is also the most complex to characterize and study. Odors are a combination of hundreds of different emissions. Each person who smells odor interprets it differently than another person as well. With all of these variables, how can we communicate the issue of odor to students and ag professionals? These materials were developed for instructors to use in classrooms or extension programs.
Laboratory Exercise on Odor and Smell
From Dr. Doug Hamilton, Oklahoma State University
Slides and recording of author presenting the workshop. A 2 hour laboratory/workshop exercise has been presented to over 250 college freshmen.
Odor Laboratory–step by step instructions on setting up a laboratory exercise on odor
What role does odor play today for livestock and poultry producers? Are there ways to effectively manage odors from livestock and poultry operations and still keep the industry viable? This video examines some of the odor issues that exist in rural communities and shows examples from Nebraska of how research information is being put to use on farms.
If you have any questions or comments about the lecture or laboratory exercises, contact Dr. Doug Hamilton, Oklahoma State University dhamilt@okstate.edu. For questions on this video, contact Dr. Rick Stowell, University of Nebraska, rstowell2@unl.edu.
These materials were developed by the Air Quality Education in Animal Agriculture (AQEAA) project with with financial support from the National Research Initiative Competitive Grant 2007-55112-17856 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Air quality concerns related to animal agriculture include ammonia. One area that this has become apparent is Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. The park appears majestic and pristine. But is everything really in harmony?
Ammonia Deposition Alpine Ecosystems
Ammonia, which is a basic atmospheric gas emitted from livestock and other farms, combines with nitrogen oxides from cars and other combustion sources to create nitrogen particles which deposit in the park. As a result, this fragile ecosystem is being changed. What part do livestock operations play and how can they help preserve this national treasure?
This video was authored by the late Dr. Ron Sheffield, Louisiana State University AgCenter. If you have questions or suggestions regarding this video, please contact Dr. Rick Stowell, rstowell2@unl.edu.
These materials were developed by the Air Quality Education in Animal Agriculture (AQEAA) project with with financial support from the National Research Initiative Competitive Grant 2007-55112-17856 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Design of manure storage and treatment facilities requires an understanding of the operations involved in food animal production and engineering design principles. It also requires access to manure production data, climate data, as well as reporting and presentation software to put it all together. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service created the Animal Waste Management computer program to bring all of these features together.
This software has been used by consultants and government technical service providers for a number of years in designing storage and treatment facilities for animal production operations all over the country. The 2008 EPA CAFO rules cite this tool as part of the procedure to determine if a facility will discharge animal waste.
Just as no engineering design software is simply plug and play, this software tool requires an understanding of the operations involved as well as experience with using the tool itself, its features and its limitations. This training video describes the basic features of how to use the software, from download to final design. Here you will learn about each screen of the tool and how each component contributes to the facility design. You’ll also learn about the data needs of the software and how to edit the native data set used by the NRCS developers of the tool.
Author
John Classen, North Carolina State University
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