[Bank of Dad]

$350 from Valley Proteins to remove the late horse. I liked to fell thru the floor. I was away when it happened, so just made arrangements over the phone.

What othere choice is there, cost to rent and bury is just as much. No wonder there's so many give away older horses.

I haven't even received the colic/euth bill yet.

[Daydream Believer]

It cost me $100 to have a neighbor with a backhoe bury my yearling filly this summer that I lost. I've paid as much as $150 to bury a horse. I've never used the renderers though.

[equinelaundry]

Part of responsible horse ownership. Is there anything cheap about them?

[mustangtrailrider]

Talk about cost prohibitive.....

It would seem that it would be more affordable!



OUCH!!!!

[trafalgar]

Doesn't Valley Rendering use or sell parts of the deceased animal? Ithought it was an economic advantage to them to take the poor things!?!?

[PNWjumper]

We were quoted $700 to remove my mare's body 3 years ago. We ended up renting a backhoe and burying her ourselves. Still ran a couple hundred bucks (and that's not counting the euthanasia itself).

I've never found the end of any animal's life to be particularly cost effective, though.

[AKB]

The horse "undertaker" in our area charges $600. Valley Protein is cheaper, but only comes on certain days. You might check and see if the vet hospital can give you a better deal. The only problem is that you then need to trailer the horse there for the euthanasia. Disposing of dead animals has become pricey and difficult. There are a lot of regulations about composting and different methods of disposal.

Let us know what you find. Unfortunately, all of us need to deal with it sooner or later.

[Bluey]

Here, renderers don't take horses any more, too many regulations make taking horses too costly to process and no one was paying that much, so they quit taking them.

Burying is not acceptable, because we start having some water tables at 7', too close for a grave.

Bone piles are out of the question for chemically euthanized horses.
They would poison the animals scavenging on them.
I guess that to euthanize, they will have to start shooting them again.

The landfill is still taking them, but if many more are coming, they too are not happy.
A few horses is ok, but they also don't feel equiped to handle more than a few.

Maybe some enterprising person will find a better way to dispose of #1000 lbs of dead horse in some better way.

[SLW]

Out here the cost for Darling International to pick up a horse was $130 last I heard. Prior to last years new govt regulations regarding disposal of cows over 2 years of age the cost for a cow was $35. The difference in the price was that the horse was viewed as a pet, a luxury, so they could charge more. The driver said be happy DI still picked up horses because there is nothing they do with the remains that is significant.

Now it cost $130 for a cow over 2 years old to be picked up because of the requirement to test tissue samples for Mad Cow Disease. The result is we see a lot of vultures circling over pastures letting Mother Nature do the rendering naturally.

[MistyBlue]

Composting is a viable option for large carcass removal *if* you have an active healthy compost/manure pile. And a large one.
In some climates the remains will be gone in less than a year underneath the pile.
For some owners, this may be a tad too creepy for them to consider. However it does work.
For composting though, safest if the manure pile is in a solid walled bunker and/or in a location/topography that anything leaking underneath the pile will not affect ground water or come in contact with wildlife.

Cremation is another option, however that's extremely expensive. I think the average cost for a whole horse cremation is around $900-$1500 depending on proximity to facility. It also results in a whole lotta ashes.

[Trakehner Breeder]

I just spent $790 to have my 200 pound Mastiff euthanized and then taken by the vet for group cremation.

I could have paid $350 more for individual cremation and received ashes back.

Not a whole lot you can do when your dog/horse is dying in your arms and they hand you a bill to take them away when it's illegal to bury on the property where I am.

[Hilary]

I just paid a total of about $700 to bury my big guy in the back field - hole digging, then we had to redo the burial because the coyotes were trying to dig him up so more time with the loader piling dirt and I had to buy riprap to put on top of the grave. And lime, and bleach. But they have not dug again.
I think I could have paid $350 to have a farm with graves take him away, but at the time I thought it would be better to just bury him here. Damn bedrock didn't allow a deep enough hole.

[FlashGordon]

The costs to deal with the horse post death are shocking and I was not prepared for them at all. With the vet bill and the removal of the body, plus cremation, (we couldn't bury on property and thus ended up cremating) I was at the costs.

Would encourage every horse owner, boarders in particular who may not be able to bury, to find out what options are available in their area and what they cost. Keep the info and numbers handy, and sock away a little extra $ to cover those costs in event of emergency.

[KSAQHA]

I paid $125.00 for Darling Int'l to pick up a mare in April. I think their fee is variable by distance. Thought it was pretty reasonable.

[wildlifer]

Ummm, that is part of responsible horse ownership. No, it's not cheap. It's a big body. I really don't have any sympathy for complaints about this one -- it's your horse's final vet bill. None of the other vet bills are cheap, I don't know why people expect that somehow the last one should be. One should always be prepared for these costs, it's irresponsible not to have $300-400 available in some form even for an injury or illness.

[Zu Zu]

Alarming "read" this thread ~ we bury our own using our own equipment ~ Jingles for all who have had to deal with this extremely emotional issue and the cost ~

[FlashGordon]

Ummm, that is part of responsible horse ownership. No, it's not cheap. It's a big body. I really don't have any sympathy for complaints about this one -- it's your horse's final vet bill. None of the other vet bills are cheap, I don't know why people expect that somehow the last one should be. One should always be prepared for these costs, it's irresponsible not to have $300-400 available in some form even for an injury or illness.

It isn't the vet bill, it is the cost remove and/or bury the body. In my case the costs totaled $1500+.

[saddleup]

I lost two horses this summer. The vet clinic charged $250 each time for the euthanization and removal, which they arranged. Burying them at home wasn't an option due to the high water table.

[LauraKY]

Wow, in Kentucky (at least the counties contiguous to me), the county picks up for free. Same day service as long as you call before 9:00 am. The body does have to be on a hard surface accessible to the truck.

[My Two Cents]

Last week we had to put my husbands 37 year old gelding down. He owned him since the day the old guy was born. We had him buried on our farm. The backhoe owner said that he wouldn't charge us. He had to bury his 30 something gelding a few months ago and understood how tough it was. It is nice to know that there are still some compassionate people out there. Bank of Dad ... so sorry for your loss. It's too bad that the "business" part of death is so expensive.