Disposal of a former sheep

[Blue Sky]

Until recently I had access to a landfill to dispose of carcasses. Now I don't and I'm wondering what you guys do. I've read about composting but I'm not convinced it's any better than allowing nature to take its course in an out of the way spot on my property. A pick up service quoted me $200 for a single animal. Thoughts?

 

[mysunwolf]

How big is your property? Our neighbors will often dump on the edges of their woods or such and let the coyotes have it. Other people say that's a recipe for trouble. We only have 3 acres and not a lot of "out of the way," so we dig a hole and bury them, with pallets and rocks on top so our dogs can't dig them up. Compost in the winter when the ground is frozen.

 

[Baymule]

We bury them. I pour a coffee can of lime over the carcass, it keeps it from smelling, so the dogs don't dig them up.

But we have a 30 and a 28 year old horses.....we'll probably do the drag to the back corner and let the buzzards have them.

 

[Blue Sky]

About 27. Much of the fence line is treed and no houses or high activity areas are adjacent thankfully. My husband doesn't like the Serengeti approach but the ground is like iron and buzzards need to eat too. Maybe we need a buzzard emoji?

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I can not tell you how many holes I have dug on this place to bury animals in. Several times I have tried to bury animals in very wet ground and had them float up. Yuck. We've tried burning them - worst idea ever!

Now I let nature have them back.

My neighbor lets my animals run on his property because I built him a fence. We kept the fence between our two places intact so we can close them on either side if need be. Recently when I needed a 'resting' place we placed the carcass in the front end loader and went half way back along the fence line between my neighbor's property and mine. I tied the goat by the leg to the fence so nothing would drag her back up. Basically, the place is right in the middle of the two properties. I didn't use a perimeter fence line for fear of attracting 4-legged predators. Where I placed the carcass is still guarded by the LGD's and the only thing I've seen attracted were buzzards...and the dogs scare them off too.

I'm not crazy about the idea, but will probably do it again if needed.

 

[mysunwolf]

... We've tried burning them - worst idea ever! ...

YES I heartily agree! Learned that one the hard way...

 

[Blue Sky]

My neighbor burns a lot of brush and I've thought about some arrangement w him but we never seem to get in sync. Also have concerns about dogs eating charred bones. Especially that one dog.

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

G'day, are we talking about an animal which has died from an unknown cause ,or did you put it to sleep?

It seems a "waste" to bury it or let the predators eat it ,so why not "dress " the carcass and turn it into dog meat?It seems like a fitting end to me.T.O.R.

 

[Blue Sky]

In this case salvaging the meat wasn't possible. There is a big cat sanctuary near me and I donate there.

 

[Mini Horses]

My tractor was purchased with a backhoe. Need I say more?

6' down, nothing can get there. In about 2 yrs, slight indention at top, which I fill & grade. Have several indentions along a fence line I retired here with a small herd of old minis, as they get into late 20's & mid 30's you have to plan ahead. Life ends.