composting dead cows

[elwapo]

Just wondering what to do with the old cows that I have had killed and bse tested. I have heard that they can be composted by burying them in a manure pile. Has anyone had experience with this method?

 

[Les]

elwapo...I have done this before and it works great.

 

[elwapo]

do you just put them in the middle of the manure pile and how much cover do you put over them? Do all the bones digest? How long does it take?

Thanks

 

[Turkey Track Bar]

El Wapo:

There has been a lot of success in both the dairy and hog industries in composting--I am trying to find a website that intails how to best do it and when I find it I'll post---

TTB

 

[Turkey Track Bar]

El Wapo:

Check out this website from the Iowa Beef Center at Iowa State University...
the link to the composting of deceased cattle is near the bottom....

http://www.iowabeefcenter.org/content/environment.htm

I hope this helps---

Have a great day and cheers

TTB

 

[elwapo]

Thanks for the link. That site answers many of the questions that I had. The only concern I have now is cleaning up the bones after I spread the compost in a year or two.

Elwapo

 

[Turkey Track Bar]

Thanks for the link. That site answers many of the questions that I had. The only concern I have now is cleaning up the bones after I spread the compost in a year or two.

Elwapo

Elwapo:

First, sorry I've been misspelling your alias---I grew up in a very hispanic area and if I see "el" I assume that there is a space and another word after it!

Second, my recollection of some work done at New Mexico State is that there were very few bones left after composting dead dairy cows, and those that were left were very small chips, not large bones.

Maybe someone else has some experience to answer one way or the other.

Glad this helped--

TTB

 

[Chuckie]

what a great idea. and an environmentally friendly solution, return to the earth...

 

[Les]

elwapo i just put them on an old bedding area and covered them up with more of the bedding.Hardly any bones to speak of.

 

[John in Ontario]

Composting In a manure pile is not really the best method. Something about the carbon/nitrogen ratio. Sawdust or Cornsilage work much better. The Ontario Minstry Of Agricuture has done some work on this. Try this link
http://www.gov.on.ca/OMAFRA/english/livestock/deadstock/facts/03-083.htm [/http://www.gov.on.ca/OMAFRA/eng...d linking the url but don't know if it worked

 

[Les]

yes we need to do government studies first i forgot. for get the studies just bury em it works great.

 

[Silver]

Around these parts in less than 48 hrs you'd be hard pressed to find more than just the skull. I actually never would have thought of composting, but it sounds like a good idea.