When you own a horse, you assume responsibility for their health and welfare.  In some cases you could be faced with making a life-or-death decision about your horse.  When the horse dies you need a plan.   And your plan may include composting, a natural rendering process.

Static Pile Composting is pretty magical. The animal is enveloped in carbon-based material and left for months or years with no turning or work required.  It’s a safe and environmentally sound solution, and can be done at any time of year, using the kind of equipment found on most farms.  Here’s how.

– It’s a good idea to plan ahead.

Have some coarse woodchips, shavings, or other coarse carbon materials on hand, and choose the composting site.

♦ Select a site that is well drained, at least 200 feet from any water, including streams, creeks, sinkholes, seasonal seeps or other landscape features which indicate that the area is hydrologically sensitive.

♦ Create a 2’ bed of bulky, absorbent carbonaceous material, like wood chips that have big pieces: 4-6 inches long.

Utility and municipal wood chips work well.

Make sure that the base is  2 FEET HIGH AND big enough to allow for a 2-foot clearance around the entire carcass.

When the time comes….

♦ place the horse in the center of the bed.

When the horse is down, and before covering, lance the stomach to avoid bloating.

♦ Cover the carcass with 2-3 feet of carbon material.

Make sure that the whole animal is completely covered.

On this farm we used composted bedding, and covered it all with more wood chips.

This will keep odors under control, insulate the pile, and, keep vermin or unwanted animals out.

The pile will heat up and then gradually settle

as the micro-organisms managing this natural rendering process go to work.

The heat generated in the pile will deter scavengers and kill pathogens.

♦  Don’t move the pile for 6 months to a year.

After a full year, the composting process will be finished.

You can re-use the composted material for another pile.   The remaining bones will add bulk to the base of a new pile.

Years later, we used the finished compost to plant a tree!