By TIM THORNBERRY
Kentucky Correspondent

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) passed a regulation to strengthen the 1997 Ruminant to Ruminant Feed Ban by requiring “Specific Risk Material” (primarily the brain and spinal cord) to be removed from cattle over 30 months of age before rendering.

The move was designed to reduce the risk of BSE or Mad Cow disease, at least according to the FDA.

The regulation created economic problems for rendering companies however, prompting some to discontinue their services causing many to fear the ramifications of disposing of fallen animals incorrectly.

With the help of University of Kentucky (UK) College of Agriculture research and a bit of old-fashioned science, the problem has a relatively simple solution.

The research involves a more natural way of disposing of the dead animals to control the spread of pathogens and disease outbreaks.
Steve Higgins, director of the Environmental Compliance for the Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station said burial is an option, but it’s very expensive.

“We had to find an alternative and now we are demonstrating composting as a viable alternative. It’s unbelievably cheap to do it,” he said. “Composting stock to me is the best kept secret in the state. If you do it right, there are no nuisances associated with this activity.”

Higgins added that the procedure is a managed system and through his research he has found that a 1,000 pound carcass can be taken care of in about six weeks.

“In the last six months I’ve gotten rid of about 40,000 animals in an area of about 3,500 square feet in size,” he said.

This method for composting dead farm animals safely breaks down the carcass while keeping pollutants out of the ground water. It is also an odorless process that doesn’t attract scavengers and provides an end product that farmers could use as a soil amendment.

Higgins has set up a site, with the approval of the Kentucky Office of the State Veterinarian, at the Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station in Woodford County. There, he has demonstrated two types composting systems, bin and windrow.

“We have a site used as a demonstration project to show how well it works. When I bring people to the farm they have this preconceived notion about what composting is,” he said. “We bring them out and show them and they leave a changed person with a shift in their thinking. Then they are ready to adopt it.”

Some of those people include farmers, county judge executives, landfill managers and even other ag educators. Higgins also said that once they see the process and how effective it can be and how simple it can be, those people are ready to go back to their respective counties thinking about implementing the process.
According to Higgins, when it comes to the two systems of composting, it’s hard to mess it up. The bin system is just that, a bin suitable for smaller animals such as hogs and chickens. The windrow system is better for animals over 1,000 lbs. because of its open area.

By law, the process has to be done on an impervious service such as concrete. But, Higgins said the UK demonstration site uses a water quality best management practice of soil cement (a mixture of compacted powdered concrete, soil and water) for its flooring. It’s less expensive than concrete and just as impermeable.

Once the floor is installed, Higgins said he lays two feet of wood mulch or some type of carbon source on the base of the bin or windrow. Wood chips are usually available from storm-damaged trees on the property or can be obtained inexpensively or even free from county mulch programs or tree services. The entire carcass is rested on top of that mulch bed and covered with more wood mulch – at least 3 or 4 feet for a very large animal.

“That angle of repose will give you about two feet minimum on the sides covering up the carcass. Nothing is to be exposed. Completely cover the animal,” Higgins said.

“This method prevents odors from escaping the pile, so scavengers aren’t attracted to the hidden remains.”

The pile will heat up to about 160 degrees Fahrenheit helping to break down the carcass. That rise in temperature is being created by ever-present beneficial bacteria. Higgins said there is a sudden surge in the population of these microbes, and they basically feed off that carcass, breaking it down into its bare essentials. Those microbes eliminate any harmful bacteria such as E. coli, as well.
The resulting compost can safety be put on fields or used to compost the next fallen animal, which Higgins prefers. Each succeeding use of the material results in faster composting because the base is already inoculated with a healthy population of beneficial microbes he noted.

Currently, Kentucky requires that an animal over 300 pounds must be quartered before being disposed of, something Higgins said could deter farmers from wanting to take on the task themselves.
“Hopefully there will be some changes in the Kentucky administrative regulations in this next general session to make it easier for farmers to do this on their own farms,” he said. “This is an approved best management practice by the state veterinarian’s office and the Kentucky Department of Agriculture.”

UK is currently working with the Kentucky Division of Conservation and the Kentucky State Veterinarian’s Office to develop standards for the composting method.

One concern many farmers have when it comes to fallen stock on their property is how it will affect their water quality.

“When farmers are developing their Ag. Water Quality Plans, one of the things that they have to deal with is dead animal disposal,” said Amanda Gumbert, water quality liaison with the UK Cooperative Extension Service. “In the (current) state statute, composting is an option for disposal, but there have been permitting issues before. The language is somewhat confusing as to what is legal and what is not. What we’re trying to do is get people away from throwing dead animals into sinkholes or dragging them out to the back forty and leaving them where they could create other problems.”

Gumbert is working with Higgins, Kentucky’s Agriculture Water Quality Authority, and the Division of Conservation to help develop the language for a new practice standard. That includes clear information about composting as an option for disposing of carcasses.

For those interested in composting on the farm, the state veterinarian’s office has to be notified in order to obtain a permit and check out the proposed site on the farm. Permits cost $25 and last five years, said Higgins.