Composting of animal carcasses. A safe and environmentally sound approach to take care of animal mortalities
Published:April 27, 2011
Summary
Animal carcass composting for both routine and emergency management of food animal mortalities is a safe method of carcass disposal.{Berge, 2009 126 /id} It has been used in varying extent, depending on region and regulations, from routine composting of poultry carcasses, composting or road kill, to emergency composting of large animals and animal carcass composting in epidemic disease outbreak s...
The methodology for the Composting of Animal Carcasses is a very good but can you please elaborate us the economics of the same.Viz. Cost required to compost the 1 MT's of Poultry Carcass.
Dr Jaydip, A very important question indeed. The cost of composting is highly dependent on the availability of co.compost material. The cost of labour varies depending on region. There are minimal facilities needed and no energy requirements for the comforting procedure. In large scale composting, tractors will be needed. The cost of alternative composting procedures will again vary depending on how far the carcasses need to be transported and the type of rendering that will be used. You could check out the review by A Kalbasi (http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/263634/carcass_composting_for_management_of_farm_mortalities_a_review/) in order to assess equipment and time needs for composting.
Kind regards, Anna Catharina
Is there any method in poultry about this composting of poultry carcasses? I am in Pakistan and there are no so many facilities for farmers to do it at high scale. Dr. Anjum
Most significant aspect of Carcass composting is that it recycles Phosphate Fertiliser. World experts are fearing the most glaring worldwide shotage of Phosphate Fertilisers. Rocky mountains are the only available source of natural Phosphate resource. And unless bones of dead animals are recycled world shortage of Phsphates can not be met.
But one question, how in colder climates the high composting temperatures required for carcass composting can be achieved?
I am Dr. Salah ElSafty, Poultry Production Dept. Ain Shams Univ., Egypt. Please I am asking about if I can attend a training course about How to mange and make the composting from animal carcasses, especially from poultry mortalities. I am waiting your reply as soon
Dear Engormix readers. As regards composting of poultry carcasses, this is something that can be performed very efficiently and quickly and it is used in industrial size facilities as well. The poultry carcass with the poultry litter forms an excellent composting situation. I will contact the experts in the field of poultry carcass composting to hear about potential training courses or material. Poultry carcasses may be completely composted in 60 days without having to turn the compost. Two references that could be of value Keener, H.M., Elwell, D.L., Monnin, M.J., 2000. Procedures and equations for sizing of structures and windrows for composting animal mortalities. Applied Engineering in Agriculture 16, 681-692. Lawson, M.J., Keeling, A.A., 1999. Production and physical characteristics of composted poultry carcases. Br. Poult Sci 40, 706-708. Purdue has published a good paper on how to do it http://www.ces.purdue.edu/extmedia/NCR/NCR-530.html You may also want to contact JP Blake, in Department of Poultry Science, Auburn University, AL 36849 USA, He has a lot of practical experience on poultry carcass composting and has published a review in World Poultry Science Journal (2004), 60: 489-499 Methods and technologies for handling mortality losses. I believe JP Blake may have some educational material.
Dear group,
I have also contacted my co-author for the climate specific factors, just how much cold weather delays composting procedure etc.
Kind regards,
Cat.
Dear Collegues, Tom Glanville, a composting expert in Iowa, and co-author of the paper above wrote:
During previous research at Iowa State University on emergency cattle mortality composting, we monitored internal temperatures and decomposition during trials conducted in summer (hot/dry), winter (cold), and spring (warm/wet) conditions. Our findings, both Executive Summary, and Full Report are available on the Emergency Composting website … http://www.abe.iastate.edu/cattlecomposting/
Pile size and the type of envelope material used to surround the carcasses have a significant effect on internal pile temperatures during cold weather. Corn silage, for example, is moist and produces large amounts of heat very quickly and retains it well. At the other end of the performance scale, internal temperatures in piles constructed with ground cornstalks were relatively low because cornstalks—which are initially quite dry—take a long time to generate heat. Cornstalks also have high porosity and gas permeability which allows internal heat to be lost very quickly.
In trials initiated during warm summer weather, all soft tissues (not bone) on 450 kg cattle carcasses were degraded within 4-5 months. During trials initiated in early winter, however, soft tissue degradation sometimes took 10-12 months because winters here are 4-5 months long and bacterial activity slows down when temperatures are low.
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