How to compost 107 dead hogs

[MossRoad]

Pretty interesting video...

 

[MoKelly]

Pretty interesting video...

That was interesting. Makes you think about compost in a whole new light. I assume those were wild pigs.

Probably not what Disney was thinking when they referred to the Circle of Life in the Lion King movie.

MoKelly

 

[STx]

That was interesting. Makes you think about compost in a whole new light. I assume those were wild pigs.

Probably not what Disney was thinking when they referred to the Circle of Life in the Lion King movie.

MoKelly

Those definitely aren't wild pigs, wild pigs are very hairy and I've never seen one that was pink/white. Black and white spots is the closest I've seen in a feral pig. I would bet they were some of the CAFO pigs that were "euthanized" during Covid because the processors shut down. Note that they're all roughly the same size. Wild herds that size would have everything from babies to 300 pound sows.

 

[MoKelly]

Those definitely aren't wild pigs, wild pigs are very hairy and I've never seen one that was pink/white. Black and white spots is the closest I've seen in a feral pig. I would bet they were some of the CAFO pigs that were "euthanized" during Covid because the processors shut down. Note that they're all roughly the same size. Wild herds that size would have everything from babies to 300 pound sows.

Thanks. Makes sense - I bet you are correct.

MoKelly

 

[ruffdog]

Just a big pork salad getting tossed. They never talked about any odors from the pile. They just said it was a nice breezy day. HA!

 

[ruffdog]

Here is a bunch of info on the whole concept:

Composting Dead Pigs.

 

[fried1765]

That was interesting. Makes you think about compost in a whole new light. I assume those were wild pigs.

Probably not what Disney was thinking when they referred to the Circle of Life in the Lion King movie.

MoKelly

Very obviously NOT wild pigs!

 

[Jstpssng]

At the beginning of the video it states they composted 107 pigs due to Covid. It was really a waste, they could have kept them alive a while longer and just had bigger animals to process.

 

[MossRoad]

... I would bet they were some of the CAFO pigs that were "euthanized" during Covid because the processors shut down. ...

Yep. They said they are experimenting with ways to deal with them. Also, this method could be used if there's an outbreak of disease on a farm.

Some of our state highway department garages have compost bins to deal with roadkill. They cover them in sawdust.

 

[MossRoad]

At the beginning of the video it states they composted 107 pigs due to Covid. It was really a waste, they could have kept them alive a while longer and just had bigger animals to process.

No place to keep them I guess. They clog up the processing chain.

 

[MossRoad]

Go to Youtube and read some of the comments. One in particular was priceless...

Now that's some pulled pork!

 

[ponytug]

Yes, for hogs especially, the growth/feeding curves don't leave producers much room time wise or space wise. It was a very sad waste.

The death rate amongst slaughterhouse workers last spring / summer was atrocious, and a couple of the plants denied there was even an issue. One plant had managers betting on the death total amongst workers at the plant.

I think that composting beats sending a carcass out for burial in a landfill, but I understand concerns about disease and water table contamination. We no longer have a rendering plant in the area, so the choice is compost or landfill. We prefer to compost when we have the chance, but size of the animal and the time of year make a difference. We lost a horse last spring and couldn't get out (hillsides too slippery for the tractor) to bury or compost the remains so it was landfill time. Mercifully, this is not a common occurrence for us.

All the best,

Peter

 

[STx]

At the beginning of the video it states they composted 107 pigs due to Covid. It was really a waste, they could have kept them alive a while longer and just had bigger animals to process.

Unfortunately, because of how fast the grow it's not possible. Pigs are processed at 6 months so there were more right behind them that needed that space. This is one of the reasons I really dislike commercial farming.

 

[Flad]

Pricy Compost, Just goes to show you Corporations attitudes towards protecting their monopolies in any industry at any cost, I have seen crops grown under contract ploughed back in to the ground hundreds of acres but this is just Insanity.
Today an experiment with Covid I'm assuming healthy Hogs, Tomorrow, Covid Humans when they runout of bone yards or overloaded crematoriums or the homeless the sick the hungry the unemployed the uninsured.
The way to go RENEWABLE RESOURCES, Carbon Neutral will depend on who dose the figures.

 

[Jstpssng]

Unfortunately, because of how fast the grow it's not possible. Pigs are processed at 6 months so there were more right behind them that needed that space. This is one of the reasons I really dislike commercial farming.

I know, but that doesn't make it right. That's also one reason I have week old chicks in the incubator, turkeys coming next week and am picking up piglets again next month. It costs more yet I rarely by commercially grown meat.

 

[Frankenkubota]

My landscape guy hunts wild hogs at nite in Florida. I asked...what do you do with them?

They shoot many, 15-20-25?

He says they can't give them away so they leave them for the coyotes.....which he also hunts.

 

[STx]

My landscape guy hunts wild hogs at nite in Florida. I asked...what do you do with them?

They shoot many, 15-20-25?

He says they can't give them away so they leave them for the coyotes.....which he also hunts.

Coyotes gotta eat, too.

I try to give them away when I shoot them, can't always find takers though and I could never eat them all myself. The boars are nasty once they get over 80-90 pounds, too.

 

[STx]

I know, but that doesn't make it right. That's also one reason I have week old chicks in the incubator, turkeys coming next week and am picking up piglets again next month. It costs more yet I rarely by commercially grown meat.

I wasn't defending the process, at all. Like I said, I really don't like commercial farming, on most any respect. We won't buy pork at the store after raising our own and get most of our chicken from a friend that raises birds on pasture. Beef is about all we buy with any regularity, cows get a better life than pigs or chickens.

 

[MoKelly]

Coyotes gotta eat, too.

I try to give them away when I shoot them, can't always find takers though and I could never eat them all myself. The board are nasty once they get over 80-90 pounds, too.

Wild hogs may one day rule the world!

You shoot 10 on the golf course and 20 more appear the next day.

MoKelly

 

[FTG-05]

Thanks. Makes sense - I bet you are correct.

MoKelly

First sentence in the Description:

"Due to COVID-19 closing some processing plants in the Midwest and backing up the hog processing capabilities..."

 

[MossRoad]

Wild hogs may one day rule the world!

You shoot 10 on the golf course and 20 more appear the next day.

MoKelly

That's a pretty low score!

 

[Flad]

Whilst composting might seem to resolve the problem of over supply or diseased stock I am wondering where this compost will end up, in bags sold to home gardeners, spread in bulk over pastures or market gardens?

This leaves some serious questions that need to be addressed, given these animals are fed growth hormones along with antibiotics and heaps of other drugs, some of which will not be effected or broken down in the composting process, then there is the extreme danger of humans contracting Brucilosis ("I think that's the right spelling"), from coming in contact with this compost , Blood and bone has clear warnings on the bags in Australia at least, any one that has worked in slaughter yards or rendering plants can tell you just how debilitating it can be, there are other infections equally as bad that can slowly and painfully kill you from coming in contact with decomposed animal parts.

Yes they can be disinfected or masked with more chemicals that will all doubtlessly end up in the food chain.
This Corona Virus certainly has changed or effected us all in unimaginable ways, who would have predicted otherwise healthy hogs would become Corona victims.
My Honest opinion to the composting of live stock on mass is that it's a huge Biological time bomb.

 

[JethroB]

No hormones have been allowed in US poultry production for more than 50 years. They were banned in the United States in the 1950s.

 

[Liquidsilver]

Interesting. But I could almost smell the video. Woohee.

 

[Richard]

Not really related to this thread other than, I used to live in "North West Iowa" (Sioux City). Down where I worked, was on one corner, a stockyard which for a city-boy like me, smelled to high hog..... however, not to be out done, across the street from the stockyard was (if I recall correctly) a slaughterhouse and it ALSO smelled to high hog..... both were bad for a city-boy like me....and it all boiled down to the wind.

Wind blows "this" way.... we smelled the stockyard. Wind blows "that" way, we smelled the slaughter house. You finally got a bit accustomed to it (but not fully for me) and it was always lingering and annoying.

 

[5030]

I have a state certified compost operation for my cattle feedlot. I regularly compost culled steers. It's a concrete lined area with retaining walls and it's completely insulated from any runoff. Takes about 30 days to completely compost an average steer including the skull and all the bones and I spread the compost on my fields with a manure spreader after it's cooked. Lots of very stringent rules you have to follow and no, there is no smell. Just a bit of steam from the decomposition process. Even composted a few horses in the past. I monitor the temperature daily. Thought about running pipes in the bottom of the pit to heat the barns and shop but never did. Average temperature is about 130-145 degrees, Kills everything. No weeds, just black loam comes out. Good crop growing medium.

 

[5030]

Ever see a pig die from old age? I bet not. I won't eat pork because it's loaded with cancer producing organisms. Pretty obvious to me that Jewish people know what is good and what isn't.

 

[MoKelly]

That's a pretty low score!

Ha. It took me a few minutes to get the joke!

For me, a 10 is two holes - if they are par 3s with no sand or water.

MoKelly

 

[MoKelly]

Ever see a pig die from old age? I bet not. I won't eat pork because it's loaded with cancer producing organisms. Pretty obvious to me that Jewish people know what is good and what isn't.

Bacon is from God.

MoKelly

 

[5030]

Bacon is from God.

MoKelly

No, it's not, it's from pork bellies.