Livestock farmers and custom butchers are finding it increasingly difficult to locate off-farm disposal for mortality and meat residuals. Prices for disposal of meat by-products are $20/barrel or $50/ animal. Bovine mortality is up to $125/animal in some locations, horses $200, swine $60. More than 20,000 livestock farms and 1000 custom butchers in the Northeast have been left with increased expenses and/or no rendering service available.
Passively aerated static pile composting is proving to be a good method for managing these wastes. It is simple, efficient, uses basic equipment, and is cost effective. This method helps protect ground and surface water by reducing pathogens in properly managed piles and is in Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) plans. Current research of pathogen assessment and leachate generation allows for sound policy to be developed based on science. National efforts are in progress to address mass casualty disposal in man-induced and natural disasters.
Cornell Waste Management Institute (CWMI)has developed educational materials, including video/DVD, factsheets and posters for the “Natural Rendering” programs. Education in New York has reached many farmers and butchers but there is still work to do with new applications, trouble shooting problems and increasing communication among those who implement and regulate animal disposal. A composting plan to address possible Avian Influenza outbreaks is being developed for industrial and backyard flocks. There is great demand for policy development and education.

Butchers, dairy/livestock farmers and public works departments are finding it increasingly difficult to find disposal for mortality, butcher waste and roadkill. More than 20,000 livestock farms and 1000 custom butcher businesses in the Northeast alone have been left with increased expenses and/or no rendering service available More than 25,000 dead deer are managed annually by the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT). With the decline of the rendering industry, increase in prion concerns, Chronic Wasting Disease(CWD) and a ban on downer cows, there is a continuing surge of interest in composting as a management option. Composting serves to reduce volume by 50 percent, reduces pathogens, is relatively easy, and cost effective. For years the method has been working for farmers and butchers. DOT has become interested in this application in the past two years to better manage road kill.
Improper disposal poses risks to surface and ground water, health of livestock, wildlife and pets. Due to high prices, poor access to rendering services and lack of options, many animals are being disposed of improperly, animals end up in shallow pits, dragged “out back” or in road ditches. All farms and butchers, who are an integral part of animal agriculture, have to deal with this issue. DOT, though not yet under pressure, knows that with encroaching deer populations, they need to protect public health and the environment with better disposal options.

The “Natural Rendering” programs address management of livestock, butcher waste, roadkill, and mass casualty due to disease outbreak or natural disaster. Educational materials have been developed, including video/DVD, factsheets and posters. Demand from farmers, butchers and road managers combined with CWMI expertise in the compost field made this program a natural fit. More than 10,000 people have attended workshops and demos. Workshops consist of two-hour presentations with compost pile openings. Workshop participants included regulators, New York State Department of Enviornmental Conversvation, National Rescource Conservation Service (NRCS), local vets, Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE), ag advisors/educators & DOT, so they could meet and come to a better understanding of the process.
Through workshops, tours and events, CCE agents and other ag educators have been trained to carry out local programs with technical support from CWMI. Although workshops have not begun for road managers, 17 sites are composting with up to 700 deer in a windrow. This education has occurred through early adopters attending mortality workshops, research ripple effect and working with invested collaborators.
Articles are published in trade journals and newsletters. CWMI`s web site gets over a million hits/year and has PDF factsheets and posters available. More than 100 workshops have been held in the Northeast, with intensive training in New York, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Maine, New Mexico, Maryland and BC, Canada. Collaborations with the EPA, the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, state regulators and six universities have facilitated increased communication and shared plans for mortality disposal in disasters.

The practice is simple, inexpensive, and uses materials and equipment available on farms and DOT yards. People are eager to try it and often don`t have other options. The method takes less time than dragging animals out to the hedge row and can be done at any time of the year. With adjustments learned in workshops, they have improved their process by getting heat in the piles to reduce pathogens. Butcher waste takes more assistance, butchers get info in workshops but then generally need more help. Many states are composting on farm but so far few are addressing butcher waste. New York, Vermont, Pennsylvani, Maine, New Mexcio, Maryland, Montana and British Columbia have started.
NYSDEC promotes composting of mortality and roadkill. They have released a report promoting roadkill composting. DEC contracted with CWMI to develop the Avian Influenza compost response plan for large and backyard flocks. NRCS revised the national mortality standard, which is in effect. CWMI worked with the New York State NRCS to provide more detail to the compost and mortality standards. NYSDOT has written a guidance document to help implement mortality composting. CWMI is producing a DVD, fact sheet and posters for DOT. CWMI is working nationally with APHIS, EPA, NRCS and Cooperative Extension to respond to animal mortality disposal in emergencies. NNY lost rendering services in 07, 90 people were trained to compost. NYS Dept of Ag and Markets has enlisted CWMI 3 times to deal with mass casualty response.