Mortality Composting

On-farm composting can provide farmers with the capacity to transform dead stock and other organic ‘waste’ materials (e.g. spoilt hay or manure) into a valuable product that can be used beneficially around the farm.

The disposal of animal mortalities is one of the major environmental problems faced by most intensive animal industries in Australia. Traditional forms of mortality disposal (e.g. knackeries, rendering and on-farm burial) are becoming more expensive and are often no longer available to farmers. On-farm composting of dead stock can provide a viable alternative for dairy farms and other intensive livestock industries to safely and responsibly manage animal mortalities on-site rather than having to rely on distant processing facilities for disposal of wastes.

Consequently, the project ‘Mortality Composting in the Australian Dairy Industry’ was initiated in order to-

• establish mortality composting sites at working dairy farms to monitor the composting process and demonstrate the practicalities of mortality composting, and
• to develop educational material and training tools that, in the end, will provide farmers with the capacity to compost dead stock on their farms in an environmentally sound manner and without biosecurity risks.

Mortality Composting-Training Manual 2008.pdf

Mortality Composting- FACT SHEET.pdf