Has anybody composted a horse?

[Mali]

I've seen a few articles recently about the method of livestock composting, and am trying to weigh my options with the upcoming euthanasia of the old pony. I need to call the township tomorrow to find out if we can bury her, but I'm sort of leaning towards the whole composting idea. We have a decent size farm, and I would be able to place her body pretty far from any neighboring properties. I just don't know anybody that has personally composted a large animal, and figured that one of you may have done so already. What is the best material to use for base layer? Would mushroom soil, or triple shredded mulch work? What about the top layer? Do you keep adding to the top layer (since it's the time of year for grass clippings), or is it a "once and done" sort of deal? We do have lots of racoons, foxes, oppossums and such in our area, but I've read that if you place the composting material deep enough, that the wild critters leave the carcass alone. I would love to hear from anybody that has successfully done a composting!

[JSwan]

I have composted goats - Yoda last year, and Emma passed away a couple of days ago. Some of my neighbors compost cow carcasses - others use a burn pile.

Composting is a science. If you do an internet search you'll see some publications and how to pamphlets you can download.

Verify that it is legal where you live before the animal is put down.

An alternative would be a renderer - which may be preferable if the animal is euthanized via injection versus gunshot/natural causes. It is possible for an animal to dig up a carcass - even one being properly composted. So euthanasia solution might be an issue.

[Jaegermonster]

This would be a great thread for County to pop up on, wouldn't it?

[JSwan]

This would be a great thread for County to pop up on, wouldn't it?


Yes. :sadsmile:

[Dad Said Not To]

This would be a great thread for County to pop up on, wouldn't it?

I don't think he ever composted one. He did, however, leave his pony's carcass in the brush where he put her down so I could have the skeleton once the critters cleaned it off. The skull and pelvis are about 3' to my right; the rest of the bones are sitting in a box until I get a dremel so I can wire them together.

[Ghazzu]

I don't think he ever composted one. He did, however, leave his pony's carcass in the brush where he put her down so I could have the skeleton once the critters cleaned it off. The skull and pelvis are about 3' to my right; the rest of the bones are sitting in a box until I get a dremel so I can wire them together.

How did you degrease them?

[Dad Said Not To]

I soaked them in a dish soap solution for a few hours, let them dry for a few days, then used a commercial bone-whitening solution.

[Ghazzu]

I soaked them in a dish soap solution for a few hours, let them dry for a few days, then used a commercial bone-whitening solution.

Did that really get the marrow out of say, the femurs?

(I'm asking because I might want to prepare a bovine skeleton for the anatomy lab, but all the references I've found include using major solvents for the degreasing part.)

I do have a pony skeleton to articulate this summer, but it was purchased, so no problem there.

[Dad Said Not To]

I had small holes drilled into the larger bones before soaking them, and the enzymes in the whitening solution seem to have done the trick. I've had the bones for almost 5 years now and have yet to have any staining or smell. I'll try to find the solution that I used-- it did a good job without making the bones brittle.

ETA: It probably helped that I didn't collect the bones until a year and a half after the pony had been euthanized. She was put down in the spring, there was still a bit of flesh left the following May, and the bones had been picked clean by that October.

[aspenlucas]

I have composted two foals last year. One stillborn and one the mare was chased and the foal was born early. This year we lost a foal at 5 hours and composted her also. The one in June was mid June by mid August we spread the manure and not a bone left. It's a hard way to do it, but in reality they are going back to the land a lot faster. I don't know that I could do that to my 40 year old pony, but I would do it before sending her away on the "truck". In PA you can bury, compost, burn or use the truck.

[SmokenMirrors]

This would be a great thread for County to pop up on, wouldn't it?

:rolleyes: not everyone thought he was all that....

Never heard of a horse being composted, haven't really thought of it. While the thought makes me feel a bit sick, I can and do see the roll it would play environmental wise..and how it is done has been an interesting read.

[Mr.GMan]

Is burying the horse in the field the same as composting? If so, I have buried 2 on our property. The goat and dog have been cremated, that reminds me, I need to spread their ashes.

[Tiki]

From what I understand, if you bury them the bones can be there forever. Look at old Indian burials that come up every once in a while, or an old murder victim's bones that someone digs up years and years and years later. Someone posted a year or so ago a reference to composting a horse. It might still be in the archives if you do a search. If done properly, they said that there is absolutely no trace of any part after 6 months time. I don't understand why someone would object to composting rather than burying or cremating. The end result of cremation and composting is essentially the same. To me it's a lot better than moving into a new property and digging the ground for a garden and discovering old Pegasus's bones in your yard.

[feather river]

From what I understand, if you bury them the bones can be there forever. Look at old Indian burials that come up every once in a while, or an old murder victim's bones that someone digs up years and years and years later. Someone posted a year or so ago a reference to composting a horse. It might still be in the archives if you do a search. If done properly, they said that there is absolutely no trace of any part after 6 months time. I don't understand why someone would object to composting rather than burying or cremating. The end result of cremation and composting is essentially the same. To me it's a lot better than moving into a new property and digging the ground for a garden and discovering old Pegasus's bones in your yard.

well to begin with you should be burying them a whole lot deeper than you are going to be turning up a garden. I bury mine at least 6 feet down. And not by the house where any garden or anything else would be. Way out in a field somewhere.

[Jaegermonster]

:rolleyes: not everyone thought he was all that....

Never heard of a horse being composted, haven't really thought of it. While the thought makes me feel a bit sick, I can and do see the roll it would play environmental wise..and how it is done has been an interesting read.

Please believe me when I tell you I was not a fan. Several vitriolic and hate filled pms did it for me.
Was he not only not "all that" I actually think him a troll.
Although he did occasionally have some useful information and was good for entertainment value, I won't miss him either.
I agree it is kind of gross to think about composting a horse, but I too can appreciate it's usefulness.

[Sing Mia Song]

Here's an excellent resource on alternative disposal methods: http://fss.k-state.edu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=37


The farmer that I buy lamb from composts his carcasses (sheep, goats). He just covers them in sawdust and them puts manure over them. He doesn't add any moisture to the pile at all, but he's dealing with smaller animals.

[Foxtrot's]

I have to say that, for once, this is a subject I have absolutely no knowledge about, and prefer it to remain that way, except curious minds do want to know! I'm a country soul at heart.

When we have found animal skeletons up country, they have always been picked clean by carrion, bacteria and insects and are white, white, white. Many a skull my poor horse has had to pack home tied onto the saddle.

[pintopiaffe]

I had to put a mare down in February, in Maine. No way to bury short of very large commercial equipment. I brought her to a cow farm who routinely composts carcasses in his manure pits. In fact, if any animal is put down by the State for fear of disease, they bring it to him for composting. I guess that is safer than any other method (cremation of large animals isn't possible around here unless you butcher them into 80lb pieces :dead: and it's super, super expensive.)

I had to compost my Special Dog as I could not bury him last fall. I used a layer of old hay first, then horse manure. I haven't touched it since, but it has decreased in size by now to at least 1/2 if not 1/3 of what it was.

I think the problem with horses is the space needed to do it and/or the amount of organic matter needed to BEGIN with is huge. If you have a large commercial barn with a big manure pile, that's one thing. Otherwise, you'd really need several dumptrucks full of material to START if you want to ensure no smell and quick, correct breakdown.

We too had a very remote part of the Ranch where we would leave carcasses for Nature to take her course. Smell wasn't an issue... you could go back and get older bones for education purposes in two or three years. We never reconstructed an entire skeleton as many pieces would be missing from the scavengers taking the bones too... but the process and the practice taught me a lot about life, death, and the circles they go in. :sadsmile:

[Mr.GMan]

well to begin with you should be burying them a whole lot deeper than you are going to be turning up a garden. I bury mine at least 6 feet down. And not by the house where any garden or anything else would be. Way out in a field somewhere.


Yep, my 2 are buried pretty deep. There is a great man that owns construction equipment and does this pretty regularly for us horse folks. However, the 2 that are buried were pretty special (not that the 2 I have now aren't). I think cremation will be the option next go round and I hope that isn't for quite a while.

[danceronice]

Also, whether or not a skeleton can turn up a la an archaeological dig depends on your soil. Sometimes it's acid enough nothing's left after a few decades. Sometimes it's wet enough you get Soap Man. Too dry/sandy and you get a mummy. It's really dependent on environment.

I admit that with our horse, faced with the option of dumping him in the neighbor's cow trench or having him hauled away, we picked option three and Dad and our neighbor got him into the bucket of the tractor and dumped him in the brush until the ground thawed and they could borrow aforementioned dairy farmer's backhoe to dig a grave (which given the decomposition/predation didn't have to be as big.) I was not at home for either part of the process, which is probably a good thing (I have no problems with dead animals in various states of decay, just not THAT animal.)