04/12/07 Mortality compost

Mortality Compost Death losses in a livestock operation are as certain as taxes in April. I'm Jeff Keane; I'll be right back with a suggestion about disposal of those losses. These days death loss disposal can be a problem for certain operations. Commercial disposal can be costly, especially after you have just lost the value of your animal. On-farm sites can cause bio-security concerns and attract pests. Caitlin Price thinks The On-Farm Mortality Composting Research and education Project is a better answer. Price is the project coordinator. Composting livestock mortalities makes a lot of sense for dairies, feedlots or any operation close to urban areas. This is not your average run of the mill yard and garden composting so Caitlin created a website with some very good information on the process. The web address is www.mortcompost.info. On the website, I found a basic introduction sheet on getting started with on-farm mortality composting. Information included regulations that might apply, equipment and tools needed, location, compost materials list, monitoring the pile and actually how to build the compost pile. The process is not finished overnight, the composting can take from four months to a year depending on variables explained by the website information. I was amazed at the near complete decomposition of the carcasses even down to the bones. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust  livestock composting could be a big plus. I'm Jeff Keane. Ketch Pen  April 2007