Livestock Mortality Composting Manual

Mortality management threatens the sustainability of livestock production in many ways. In recent years, concerns about mad cow disease reduced the availability and increased the cost of rendering services. Alternatives are needed that protect the environment from contamination and prevent the spread of pathogens from mortalities to living, productive animals. These alternatives must be affordable and ideally would also create jobs in rural America. Composting mortalities is an alternative that holds promise for the achievement of environmental protection, economic sustainability and job creation.

This manual is designed to provide livestock producers in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and surrounding states with the knowledge, tools and resources to develop a mortality management plan, with specific focus on the composting option.

Visit Colorado State University's Institute for Livestock and the Environment for more information and tools related to this project, including a decision-making spreadsheet for comparing the cost of composting to other options, and a webinar and video (in English and Spanish) on animal composting.

Financial decision-making spreadsheets can also be downloaded here:

Want more information? See the related SARE grant(s) EW09-013, In-service Training and Decision-Making Tools for Optimizing Livestock Mortality Management.