24 Jan 2005
What happens when Bossy dies?

If I had a front loader and a really big compost pile, this would be a capital idea. Mostly because there's only one renderer left in the state of Indiana, and it can take up to a week for them to get here and pick up a carcass.

That could get a bit stinky in the summer. But what's even worse is that Boone County seems to be their last stop of the week: when Wulfie died and the dead wagon came to get her, he already had a full load on board. It was like something from Monty Python - you know - "Bring out yer dead!"

You have no idea what a half a ton of dead cow hoisted with a power winch and dropped onto 10 tons of rotting swine and sheep smells like. Especially when some of the latter burst under the newly added weight. The dogs refused to come out of the house when he was here ... and I vowed never to complain that my job on the farm was gross and disgusting, no matter how covered in chicken shit I get, or how many sheep afterbirths I have to manually pull out of the ewe. I could have a worse job. I could drive the dead wagon.

It may sound morbid, but with rendering plants disappearing, more farmers are looking to composting

(link) [The Montpelier Times-Argus]

00:00 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link