Options to dispose of dead cow

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mwj

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I had to shoot a big heifer Wed. and the only option I have is hire a backhoe. The dead truck runs on a weekly route and there is no way I would let one suffer that long. What options do you have. I live in a grain poducing area in Ill. with very little livestock! There is only one rendering co. that runs in the area and there primary work is lockers and slaughter plants. I will have to ask my locker guy what he does if the vet tanks one.
Mike
 
Around here it is part of the township trustees "job description" to bury dead stock at no cost to to the owner of the animal. The will bury it on your farm where you want.
 
Around here we can call the dead wagon and they will pick it up in 1 to 2 days.
 
Coyotes, bears and wolves do a dandy job cleaning up a carcass (unfortuanetly the wolves have accounted for 4 of my calves that were alive and kicking earlier this summer, and 4 calves of Honey's and one of his cows as well). The magpies and ravens do a fair bit of the clean-up too. We just drag them off to the next quarter and leave the body by a muskeg and let death's handmaiden's do their work. Not much left of a cow or bull after a week even if it's only the coyotes chowing down.

Take care.
 
We are on a weekly or bi weekly pick. I have had friends that had to wait almost 2 weeks to get their animals picked up. Our area is populated enoght that we can not drag them out to the back woods.

This summer I had one die and I hauled it to the rendering plant. I was not about to have this dead cow hanging out for a week in the summer heat. I used my tractor to drag it close to my trailer then I wenched her in. Once at the render they winched her out and the fee was cheep compared to if I had to wait for the truck.

Good luck.
 
CattleAnnie":2fmzamdh said:
Coyotes, bears and wolves do a dandy job cleaning up a carcass (unfortuanetly the wolves have accounted for 4 of my calves that were alive and kicking earlier this summer, and 4 calves of Honey's and one of his cows as well). The magpies and ravens do a fair bit of the clean-up too. We just drag them off to the next quarter and leave the body by a muskeg and let death's handmaiden's do their work. Not much left of a cow or bull after a week even if it's only the coyotes chowing down.

Take care.

Annie, what is a muskeg?
 
I'm pretty much in the situation like Cattle Annie. Things get eaten really quick, even some of those that aren't supose to be eaten.

But I bet in your area a dead pile is a no no. Maybe even burying them is also. Check in to it. How about the dump. Do they have a place for them?
 
Caustic Burno":1sj5umzk said:
We use buzzards
That's pretty much what we depend on, Caustic. Its no wonder that we've got so many buzzards that the Black ones prey on live calves and cows trying to calve. Looks like the guys up in the Midwest and Northwest are starving 'em out. They must all be moving South. Guess we can't hardly blame 'em for that, though. ;-)
 
We call the funeral truck, and for a $20 in a jar they pick up in a couple days. I would watch who you tell that you are planting cows. Some places that is a no-no, and in some you have to get a vet to look at to make sure it doesn't have any disease that will live in the dirt and harm other animals. We have to burn and then bury here. Or call the funeral truck driver.
 
Dee":28iabtae said:
We call the funeral truck, and for a $20 in a jar they pick up in a couple days. I would watch who you tell that you are planting cows. Some places that is a no-no, and in some you have to get a vet to look at to make sure it doesn't have any disease that will live in the dirt and harm other animals. We have to burn and then bury here. Or call the funeral truck driver.

We use buzzards also
 
If she was alive and had to be shot for injury.... why not put her in the freezer? I'm not being sarcastic, I'm just thinking it's a waste not to have something from her.
 
In our area we are NOT able to let an animal go naturally. It is illegal to "use nature" to dispose of animals as well as burning them. We are required to pay $150.00 to have a tallow truck come get them. Doesn't seem right to me.
If it is injured we put it in the freezer.
 
I was loading to go to the locker when she broke the second :shock: leg!! I had to sweet talk to get her in at the locker after she broke a hind leg in a shoving match with a big steer. When I went to load her she slipped a little on wet ground and snapped the front leg on the same side. We would have taken a half day to get ready to skin her and it was late in the day. When I called for a hoe he only had time that evening. I was not going to let her suffer more than she had. I shot her and paid the neighbor to bury her and she and I were both better off. Sometimes with livestock things just do not go as planned. It just made me curious as what others did. In this area the dead truck is a thing of the past and I wondered about other areas. It is legal to bury them here but you can't burn them or leave them lay for the varmits. She was up in the lots so I couldn't very well leave her lay for a week.
Mike
 
mwj":3ppjvpba said:
I was loading to go to the locker when she broke the second :shock: leg!! I had to sweet talk to get her in at the locker after she broke a hind leg in a shoving match with a big steer. When I went to load her she slipped a little on wet ground and snapped the front leg on the same side.
Mike

OK Mike, please forgive my ignorance but, was there something wrong w/ her other than the broken leg? Sounds like she was breaking bones pretty easy. I understand that stuff happens. But it sounds like there were bigger problems there.
 
Nothing wrong with the bone! When she went to move she had all weight on the front leg and it slipped sideways and snapped clean. Sounded like a 2x4 broke. When we put her in the hole I split the hide and checked and the bone was dense and the break was clean! Bones are like anything else if the load is applied at an odd angle it will not bear the weight!
 
I haul my dead stock on the homeplace to the local sawmill .They let us put them in the burner there.No charge

On the farther pastures I have a dead animal trench, I skid them in and cover them over same day.
 

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