Composting answer to butcher's waste woes

4

www.WesternFarmerStockman.com June 2009

NewsWatch

Composting answer to butcher’s waste woes By T.J. BURNHAM UTCHERS in remote areas no longer served by commercial rendering services find themselves on the brink of closing shop. But Ross McGarva of Lakeview, Ore., didn’t give up when rendering companies decided he was too far away for their trucks to travel. Instead, he developed a butcher-waste composting concept that provides a viable way to get rid of the leftovers after slaughter. Working with the Oregon departments of Environmental Quality and Agriculture, McGarva closely monitors his compost mounds to ensure an environmentally safe and thorough decomposition of offal, hides and bones, and subsequently uses the compost to fertilize his pastures. McGarva’s mobile business, which slaughters, custom-cuts and wraps, along with the meat shop Lakeview Lockers run by wife Kelly, became a threatened species when renderers raised their rates in 2006 to more than $200 a ton. “That’s well beyond what we could afford and remain profitable,” he says. His next step was to call DEQ for its recommendations. The suggestion: composting. “I wasn’t really excited about the idea,” says McGarva. After studying a video put out by Cornell University on the

B

Key Points ■ An Oregon butcher is composting slaughter waste. ■ He has received help from state agencies. ■ Rising costs of rendering may drive others to consider idea. process, he decided to give it a try. “We’re not talking about new technology, but most of the studies have been done in the eastern U.S.,” he says. A composting design offered by Cornell was followed. First, a layer of wood chips about 12 inches thick is spread across the ground, covered with a 6- to 8-inch layer of sawdust. (Wood chips provide air flow, and sawdust catches moisture.) The butcher waste is then put down and covered with about a 2-foot layer of sawdust. “Essentially, we’re talking about aboveground ‘burial,’ ” he explains.

Aeration tubes McGarva also adds old 3-inch irrigation pipe he has perforated with small holes to provide airflow through the bottom of the pile. Since McGarva doesn’t turn the piles, which would result in quicker decomposition, it takes about two years before he can spread one of the piles on his pastures. “You can tell the decomposition is taking place by the temperatures we get,” he says.

SCREEN PLAY: Ross McGarva designed an A-frame screen over his spreader unit to separate larger particles from the compost before application to fields.

KELLY McGARVA A 3-foot-long thermometer is inserted into the piles at regular intervals to test decomposition activity in the compost. Levels of about 130 to 160 degrees F indicate the bacteria are doing their work breaking down the waste material. If decomposition activity slows and a pile begins to go stagnant, he irrigates over the top of the pile with drip lines to restart the bacterial activity. Once a compost pile is ready to spread, he uses a fertilizer spreader to do the job on adjacent pastures. McGarva built an A-frame screen over the top of the unit to filter out larger particles from those that will be spread. However, the spreading process hasn’t been even, and he plans to modify a manure spreader to do the job. While McGarva operated under a Solid Waste Letter of Authorization through DEQ, it was ODA that helped him compose his compost permit and kicked in half of the $500 initial SLAUGHTER COMPOST: Butcher Ross McGarva of Lakeview, Ore., says the compost pile behind him gets rid of slaughtered-animal waste.

TEMP CHECK: A thermometer is inserted into the compost piles to ensure heat levels are high enough to trigger bacterial breakdown, but not so high that decomposition is slowed. fee to file the documentation. Discussions have been under way between DEQ and ODA over who should handle composting oversight, but no decisions have been reached at this time. A best guess is that new Oregon composting rules will become effective this August through one of the agencies. Other slaughtering operations have contacted McGarva for information. “There’s a lot of interest,” he says. A recent

Associated Press story on his technique got the word out. “I think more people are interested because of the high cost of rendering, as well as difficulty in getting anyone to haul off the waste at all,” he says. “Cost could make this process more popular.” ■ For more information, see Cornell University’s Web site at cwmi.css.cornell.edu/natural rendering.htm.

Calendar June 28-July 1: National Lamb Feeders Association’s Howard Wyman Sheep Industry Leadership School, Greeley, Colo. (Applications due May 1.) Phone: 503-364-5462. E-mail: [email protected]. Web site: www.nlfa-sheep.org. 28-July 2: International Ascochyta Workshop, Washington State University, Pullman, Wash. Web site: capps.wsu.edu/ascochyta.

Sept. 20-22: Professional

Improvement Conference of National Association of County Agents, Oregon Convention Center, Portland, Ore. Contact: Dan McGrath. Phone: 541-967-3871, ext. 2397. E-mail: Daniel. [email protected]. 30-Oct. 2: U.S. Pea & Lentil Trade Association annual meeting, Embassy Suites & Stonecreek Golf Club, Phoenix. Contact: Kim Monk. Phone: 208-882-3023. E-mail: kmonk@pea-lentil. com.