The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, making its way from the U.S. House to the Senate, could leave thousands of horses with no final resting ground.
Composting may be an environmentally friendly option that fits in the "circle of life" frame of mind and may be less emotional, two area researchers said.
On Sept. 7 the House approved the Act, which bans the slaughter of horses for human consumption by a vote of 263-146. The Senate has yet to schedule the issue for consideration.
Approximately 90,000 horses, or 1 percent of the U.S. horse population, is slaughtered annually, said Dr. Lance Baker, West Texas A&M University associate professor of animal science.
"If they don't go to slaughter, they will have to go somewhere else," Baker said.
The options for dealing with a carcass are burial, rendering, landfill disposal, incineration, composting or bio-digesting, he said. Many of these are costly, and a horse owner often has to pay to put the horse down and for its disposal, instead of getting money for the animal.
Large-carcass composting is a growing and accepted practice among feedyards and dairies, said Dr. Brent Auvermann, a Texas Agricultural Experiment Station agricultural engineer who has researched the process for about five years.
"Since we had already done some work with dairy cattle, which weigh about 1,400 pounds, a quarter horse at 1,000 pounds wasn't much different," Auvermann said. "The main thing is: the larger the carcass, the higher the stakes. It is critical that whoever does it, does it right."
Auvermann, Baker and West Texas A&M graduate student Laurie Brown began conducting a composting trial on horses last winter, using dead horses that would otherwise have gone to the landfill. The horses were provided by area veterinarians .
The trial tested three different "recipes" of composting material
designed by Auverm
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Contact: Dr. Brent Auvermann
bauverma@ag.tamu.edu
806-677-5600
Texas A&M University - Agricultural Communications
11-Oct-2006