Question about dead animals

Tabitha · #1 02/02/15, 10:59 AM

What would you do if you had a couple of dead lambs.
get out the back hoe and dig a hole to bury them; dig a hole with pick and shovel; or just bury them in the compost pile? Thanks fortaking the trouble to consider it. DH and I are having a disagreement. I am for the compost pile. He is for the back hoe.

My2butterflies · #2 02/02/15, 11:08 AM

I'd burry them or burn them. Not sure why, but the idea of putting them in the compost pile puts me off. I'm sure either why is fine tho.

~MrsE~

wr · #3 02/02/15, 11:24 AM

Before you take advice, it might be a good idea to check your local bylaws.

If there are none in place and you don't want to attract predators to your flock, I would likely go with burning or burial but at this time of year, burial can be difficult in some areas.

farmerDale · #4 02/02/15, 11:33 AM

Around here, in the frozen world, we have no choice really, but to take them far away and dump them. Needs to be far enough that the coyotes which clean them up in one night, do not associate the sheep site as the source. We take our dead stock a couple miles from the sheep area, and dump them on our further land. Our cold weather is very limiting to digging and composting.

Kmac15 · #5 02/02/15, 11:34 AM

deep south here, we bury them

arabian knight · #6 02/02/15, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by My2butterflies

I'd burry them or burn them. Not sure why, but the idea of putting them in the compost pile puts me off. I'm sure either why is fine tho. ~MrsE~

All I did when a small steer died in the winter, Was I dragged him into the woods where I was putting my manure. Cleaned out his stall covered his dead body up with his own manure and bingo come spring could not smell a thing and nobody knew a thing about it either. And long gone by this time. LOL

TRellis · #7 02/02/15, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tabitha

What would you do if you had a couple of dead lambs.
get out the back hoe and dig a hole to bury them; dig a hole with pick and shovel; or just bury them in the compost pile? Thanks fortaking the trouble to consider it. DH and I are having a disagreement. I am for the compost pile. He is for the back hoe.

Just out of curiosity....

Do you have any idea as to why they died? If it was due to disease I might think twice about adding the corpses to the compost pile. Compost piles usually do not get much above 160F. I do not believe that would be enough heat to incinerate a disease.

TRellis

#8 02/02/15, 12:04 PM

Backhoe .

Harry Chickpea · #9 02/02/15, 12:36 PM

Check with county health. Around here they pick up dead animals for free. Otherwise, I'd tend to go with compost pile unless there is an area where you don't care if the land settles and there is a dip.

GeneMO · #10 02/02/15, 12:48 PM

Similar to the "Three S's" Shoot, shovel, and shut up. Coyotes and bobcats need to eat too.

Take em as far away from a stream as possible and leave em. They will be gone in a few days. That is the way of nature. No one burys dead deer or turkeys.

Gene

billinwv · #11 02/02/15, 01:01 PM

Here they can legally go to the landfill.

MDKatie · #12 02/02/15, 01:05 PM

If your compost pile is active, and they are larger lambs, it'd be fine to compost them as long as they're covered well. If they're very small, burying them in soil or their bedding (like was mentioned above) would work too. If they're larger and you don't have an active compost pile, then I'd bury them in soil.

Solar Geek · #13 02/02/15, 01:23 PM

Do not put them in your compost pile. Prions in the sheep's brain live in the environmenteven even if they've been in compost piles. If it's as another poster suggested, there was some kind of illness involved, and if heaven forbid, it were something to do with CWD or "mad cow disease" in sheep (Scrappie? I can't think of the name of it), you would be adding it to your soil where it would live on forever. It could be up taken
into plants.

Take them out in the forest and let the animals take care of them.

Wanda · #14 02/02/15, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solar Geek

Do not put them in your compost pile. Prions in the sheep's brain live in the environmenteven even if they've been in compost piles. If it's as another poster suggested, there was some kind of illness involved, and if heaven forbid, it were something to do with CWD or "mad cow disease" in sheep (Scrappie? I can't think of the name of it), you would be adding it to your soil where it would live on forever. It could be up taken
into plants.

Take them out in the forest and let the animals take care of them.

Those prion diseases you are worried about occur in deer and elk so the dumping could cause problems also!

Solar Geek · #15 02/02/15, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wanda

Those prion diseases you are worried about occur in deer and elk so the dumping could cause problems also!

Wanda you are correct - I should have been more specific about dumping and burying DEEP. Cover with stones.
They don't climb or move but do remain infectious for YEARS. Just reading up on this stuff is very scary as we live in WI where CWD is huge in the deer population.

According to the handling procedures for people with the "human" version, undertakers are advised to wash all surfaces touched by the body with STRAIGHT UNDILUTED BLEACH --"Work surfaces can be disinfected by flooding with undiluted bleach" which they say will not kill the prions but will inactivate them.
(http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/cjd/f..._directors.htm)

They suggest cremation for animals at the super high temps in crematoriums. Yikes.

Of course if they died from something less dangerous, all of this is not applicable - it is worst case planning.

In any situation, don't put into your own compost pile or a separate one that will be exposed to the environment, animals, flies or rodents.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/...7951#tabModule

Harry Chickpea · #16 02/02/15, 03:17 PM

The chance of sheep having prion disease in the U.S. is incredibly small. The Feds freak out at even the mention of possibility. I recall a brou-ha-ha in Vermont where an entire herd of sheep were destroyed simply upon that possibility.

Of course the real answer is viking funerals.

bja105 · #17 02/02/15, 04:03 PM

I compost whole road killed deer, ala Forerunner. My primary carbon is sawdust. Four feet of sawdust on top, no odor or scavangers. I understand that not everyone has so much carbon and a loader available.

**Shrek** · #18 02/02/15, 04:21 PM

We have a carcass and brush pile dump in a far corner of the family farm where we drop carcasses one at a time and let the protected species scavenger birds and maybe coyotes clean them up.

If a few hundred pounds or more of carcass need to be disposed of we generally cremate them in the same corner pasture by pushing the accumulated brush around the carcasses and use the front end loader tractor to bury and smooth off the burnt brush pile leftovers. We also bury whatever the scavengers leave behind which is usually very little during our next smooth out of the disposal site

**highlands** · #19 02/02/15, 05:45 PM

1) Feed to dogs
2) Feed to chickens
3) Feed to compost pile

-Walter

SmokeEater2 · #20 02/02/15, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bja105

I compost whole road killed deer, ala Forerunner. My primary carbon is sawdust. Four feet of sawdust on top, no odor or scavangers. I understand that not everyone has so much carbon and a loader available.

Same here except I don't have much sawdust. I use a couple feet of straw and oak leaves (got LOTS of those) and it works just fine. All thanks to Forerunner's Extreme Composting thread.