What to do with dead cow?
 

We lost a good cow with calf today due to some calving problems. Apparently calf was breech...couldn't get the vet to come quick enough to save either one. :Bawling: She was a 7yr old that had never had any problems calving and always had awesome calves! I'm making it a point to find a back up vet..surely there are vets that come when a cow is down.

Anyway....never had anything this big die...don't know how to dispose of the carcass. I've left messages with a renduring company used by the local livestock auction...but have waited all day for a call back. What are my other choices for disposing of a full grown Angus cow? Temps in MO are on the rise and will be in the high 90's all weekend...I know I've got to do something quick!

Could you get a backhoe to bury her? Sorry to hear of your bad luck.

:( oh how horrible... so sorry. No clue but my heart goes out to you!

You can bury it, pour diesel on it and burn it or drag it to the back forty and let the buzzards and yotes have it. I wouldn't pay a fee for rendering.

I drag mine to the edge of the woods and throw a little dirt on them. Not enough dirt to actually bury them, just enough to cover them up a little. This time of year the carrion flies will take care of most of them pretty fast, and in the winter the coyotes do a lot. The thing I try and guard against is too much smell going towards the neighbors--where I put them the prevailing wind goes up the center of the farm and away from people. If you are very close to people and don't have a good spot to dispose of them, then the rendering companies might be an option, but they charge here and I don't like to lose cows and then pay THEM to get rid of them for me.

Sorry you lost the cow. It's quite a financial loss these days.

Jennifer

I'm so sorry to hear about your girl going down
We lost one of our girls this year. We had a backhoe come out and put her in the middle of her trun out.
But there are a few things that can be done ( at least there offered in our area)
Backhoe- call around to everyone you can think of that would have a backhoe in your area, pluming companys, ditch diggers, anyone someone is able to offer help or can tall you who to call. We paid 150 for the guy to come out and we gave him a 25 tip cause it was sunday.
Or down here we have a tow company that will come and load them up and take them to the dump, cost 30 pick up fee and 45 dump fee. Sounds mean but it's not as big of a pay out.
Or you can have some people over and dig by hand. It's a big hole but with help it goes faster.
Once again sorry about your girl. Good luck

If you (or a neighbor) have a tractor with a front loader, you can dig a hole that way. I had a bull die and used my front loader to dig the hole. It is a little harder than a backhoe but sooo much cheaper, maybe even free. You have to dig the hole with a ramp to get your tractor out.

cover with large ammount of brush and then light, its been wet enough that spread should not be a problem

All of the above ideas are ok, but keep in mind that above-ground disposal will need a good distance from any neighbors. Decomposition will take a while (several weeks) and the odor will be terrific. Also be aware of runoff into any streams. Another possibility is that your dog(s) may bring home some smelly tidbits. Personally , since I don't have a back-hoe to dig with, I prefer calling the rendering truck to haul it off. Burning may be an option, but it takes a lot of diesel fuel or oil, and is not a quick job. I don't know about your area, but there is no way my tractor loader can dig a hole that size in the rocks and hardpan soil we have. Hopefully you have heard back from the rendering company, its going to be a long hot weekend.
Good Luck

Composting cows:

http://www.ansci.umn.edu/dairy/dinews/composting.htm

call the dead truck some come on the weekends.

Another link on composting cows: http://www.mortcompost.info/

Eat her?

A bit late for that I think Susie and with the stress of calving, nor would it have made good meat. However I have known shepherds to hang up a beast in this situation when there have been no drugs given and they're certain it was a straight out calving problem, and break it down for the dogs. Some shepherds can own up to a dozen dogs so it's silly to waste good meat. Hunt clubs will sometimes take beasts too for the hounds if it hasn't died of disease or been given drugs.

I just bite the bullet, add another $150.00 on to the loss of the cow and get the digger in (which I think is what you call a backhoe?) to dig a big hole. As has been pointed out, burning takes a power of diesel and old tyres and creates a huge stink. I have left a dead beast on our run-off because of the difficulty of getting machinery into it but it is miles away from anybody and isn't going to be offensive - the wild pigs usually clean it up in less than a week. If you have close neighbours and your farm is easily seen, it's not really a good option.

Cheers,
Ronnie

Compost pile
 

If you have a manure pile you can bury her in that. The body will decompose rapidly if the pile is big enough. It will also keep varmints from digging it up and eating it. A lot of larger farms are using this method for getting rid of dead animals. It's always a downer to lose an animal. I don't think we have a rendering service in Michigan anymore. The last time I had a heifer die, I had to call Indiana.

Dan

When we lose an animal to problems such as that, I cut the carcase up and fill a freezer with meat for the dogs. I leave the offal for them to eat in the field and freeze all the meat. It will lighten the monetary loss somewhat in what dogfood I don't have to buy for my dogs. Of course I have extra freezer space and I have 10 dogs. :shrug:

Remember someone once telling me they skinned and gutted such a cow in the field, then cut it up into manageable chunks with a chainsaw. I doubt all of it went to their dogs.

At one time the County Road Department would send out a backhoe to bury large animals for something like $30. A service which has since been discontinued.

I suspect mostly folks now drag them to a far corner of their property for the buzzards and coyotes.

A local renderer will pick up fresh dead animals here in NC for a very small fee. His fee is cheaper than I can bury one with my own equipment.

The county here pays for dead stock removal--- so we dont drop them in a sink hole!

It is unlawful in many areas leave dead livestock lay out. A bit unsightly, too, I might add. If someone can take it to be rendered for a small fee, I'd do it. Likely be cheaper than hiring a backhoe. Becides, I'm not interested in creating a cow graveyard in my pasture, nor risk any of it leaching into my creek or groundwater. How many maggots does it take to eat a whole cow?

Don't know about how many...but this time of year it only takes about a week for maggots to eat an entire cow carcase down to the hide and bones. Pretty gross, but they are just doing their job.

I will never eat any animal that I find dead, whether on the side of the highway or right out my front door in the pasture. Even if the animal just died, I can't bring myself to dine on its flesh. Others may feel differently.....

Not sure what (if any) the laws in your area are regarding disposal of livestock, but it is a good idea to find out prior to doing some of the things suggested here. In the county I live in here in Oregon you cannot bury stock near (not certain of the distance) a body of water or low lying area that gathers water. You cannot bury them within a certain distance of a public road or property line. If you do bury something that should not have been buried they can make you dig it back up and dispose of it in another manner.

We have buried horses and goats here in the past and have been lucky that some busy body neighbor did not report it to the authorities. We lost a cow about a month ago and called the render company to take her away. In the course of his time here we talked about people disposing of stock incorrectly and getting caught. He said he had been sent on more then one occasion to haul away a dug up critter, not nice and a spendy deal having to get rid of them twice. Also in theory there are potential fines/citations involved too.

add in our local paper says that the local "large cat" rescue is once again picking up dead livestock. (now thats an oxymoron).

I just know that when my precious jersey died a few years ago, my neighbor made a phone call and that cow was gone in 45 minutes. He didn't have the heart (guts?) to tell me just who he was calling. But really, what does it matter?

Called the Renderer
 

Thanks to everyone for the recommendations. We were able to track down a renderer who collects dead livestock in this area ....Darling Company. $37 to pick up....all we had to do was to have the cow out close to the road. We called at 7am and there were there by 11:00am. It was the best option for us and money well spent! Here is the number for the renderer we called: 1-800-332-0312

We will be looking for a new vet who will come more readily when we have an emergency. I pray we don't ever have another experience like this one! The animal suffered and we lost a good cow and calf. :Bawling:

I'm pleased it didn't have to get any messier for you or break the bank.

Yes, I think a new vet is necessary if you can find one. Every vet clinic I have ever dealt with treats a calving problem as an emergency and will have a vet here asap no matter what time of the day or night, and will even pull a vet off a non-urgent job and redirect him/her.

Cheers,
Ronnie

Lucky you...it took the (free) service over here ten days to pick up my daughter's dead pony...in the middle of a summer heatwave. It was difficult to sleep, with the smell wafting through.

susie

yuck! I think I might have given up on them by about the third day. This dead livestock is such nasty business. I hope I don't have to deal with it again either.

How long did you have to wait for a vet? Takes a lot of time for a cow to die in labor tho sometimes paralysis of rear quarters occures. The calf can be lost quickly. Could the cow have been having problems for some time before you noticed?

You didn't say how close you are to your nearest neighbour. Here in Northern Alberta we drag them off and let nature do the rest. You know, coyotes, bears, wolves raven's.