How do you manage deadstock?

There is a common saying that goes "If you have livestock, you will have deadstock."

Where I live, there is a local business who's whole operation is importing deadstock from surrounding farmland and putting it through a composting process. This helps local agriculture be more hygienic by providing a convenient affordable service. The end product compost is a high quality product and is sold allowing the business to make money coming in and going out.



I do not have large livestock, nor do I have a lot of livestock, so I have been fortunate to be able to handle any deadstock on property.  It got my thinking about others who may not have such options and how do they tackle this inevitable part of the life cycle?



How do you manage deadstock? Is it a struggle? How could it be easier?

I don’t have a great deal of livestock.  I am on 11 acres. On those rare occasions when an animal dies , I choose one of two alternatives.  If I am comfortable as to the cause of death, it gets turned into dog food.  If I am questioning the cause, I haul it out to the far corner of my property into the woods and nature takes care of it.   Most times, it vanishes in a week or two….yes, even the bones.

We have a designated area we call the dump.  It is out of sight so I don't have any idea what goes on there.

I assume the wild life takes advantage of it by getting what they want.

the few times that I have been there the area is rather clean for the amount of carcasses/guts that are placed there.

My in-laws were just telling me yesterday about some of their experiences with this. They were told it’s illegal here to bury large livestock; the instruction is to drag the carcass out to the woods, which we have plenty of, and let nature take its course.

(I’ve since looked up the laws; while there are specific guidelines about locations for burials, they are not illegal. Whew.)  At any rate, when their horses died, they had an excavator dig very, very, very large holes and buried the horses there.

Shawn Foster wrote:My in-laws were just telling me yesterday about some of their experiences with this. They were told it’s illegal here to bury large livestock; the instruction is to drag the carcass out to the woods, which we have plenty of, and let nature take its course.

(I’ve since looked up the laws; while there are specific guidelines about locations for burials, they are not illegal. Whew.)

This is pretty typical around here, too. Most seems to be consumed by carrion eaters, the rest - fur, horns, & bones, mainly - ends up joining the rockiness of the ravines.

I compost deadstock in my humanure pile. Works well on animals that will fit. I have to cut up larger animals to fit them in. Makes the pile nice and hot for a while. I guess all of the recommendations against meat in the pile must be an issue if you turn your pile. I dig a hole in it big enough to fit the animal pieces or whole animal and then I cover it up like usual with straw or grass clippings and there are no issues.  

I do not have cattle but one of my friends works for the county. Part of his job is to take one of the county backhoes to private property to bury cows that die. So here, you would just call the county and pick a spot to bury it if it is too large to compost or you did not want to compost.

For something the size of a chicken, an active black soldier fly bin is the handiest, quickest, and most productive solution.  Even the feathers and many of the bones are eventually largely digested.