More than 7,000 dead cattle taken to a slaughter plant in the county each year will soon be buried on farms instead, or composted.

It's the result of a rule change by the FDA that will also lead to more dead horses being disposed of on farms.

A local farm issues expert and some rendering industry professionals warn that some dead animals may not be buried or composted properly, and so could pose serious health risks.

"My fear is that you'll have guys who will just throw dead animals out on the ground without covering them up, in the woods somewhere," said Shelly Dehoff, of the Lancaster County Conservation District and the Pennsylvania Agricultural Ombudsman Program.

Then, the neighbor's dog or a bird could pick up a disease like E. coli or salmonella from the carcasses and spread it, she said.

"It's not a toxic issue," Dehoff added. "It is a pathogen, or bacterial, issue."

The FDA ordered that by April 27, 2009, feed made for any animals cannot contain material from the brain or spinal cord of cattle.

Some say the new rule will economically hurt dairy farmers, horse owners and renderers here and across the country.

Renderers turn animal carcasses into livestock feed and other products.

The FDA asserts the rule change is an added safeguard against the possible spread of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease.

Scientific studies have linked BSE to an invariably fatal disease in humans that most likely results from human consumption of infectious material from older cattle with BSE.

There have been no such cases linked to consumption of U.S. beef and the risk of BSE among U.S. cattle is low, the FDA said.

"I think farmers are going to be blind-sided" by the rule change, said Gerald F. Smith Jr., the president of Winchester, Va.-based Valley Proteins.

Valley Proteins, which is the main renderer of dead cattle in Lancaster County, will stop collecting most dead cows from farms by the end of February.

Valley Proteins won't even accept bovine delivered to its 11 slaughter plants, including one in East Earl, Smith said. There's not enough value in the byproducts collected to pay for taking out the brain and spinal cord.

"Costs for trucks and labor have gone up and the value of hides, fat and proteins haven't," he said.

Valley Proteins will still receive horses, calves, chickens and hogs. The only cows it will accept at its slaughter plants are ones which the farmer can verify are under 30 months of age.

Valley Proteins collects just over 7,000 cattle, 1,800 calves and 1,600 horses on its trucks from farms in or near Lancaster County. It processes them into a protein meal added to feed for chickens, turkeys, hogs — even cats.

Since older dairy cows make up 70 percent of the dead animals on Valley Proteins' trucks, losing them will mean the cost to pick up the other dead animals will rise, Smith said.

Currently, the renderer charges $125 to $200 to pick up and dispose of a dead horse.

"It will go up to $300," Smith said. So more dead horses will likely be buried or composted instead.

Some landfills take dead animals, but may charge more than many farmers want to pay, he said.

He expects some farmers to dispose of their dead animals illegally by dumping them in the woods without properly burying them. Others will be trying composting for the first time.

Both measures can risk public health if not done properly, Smith and Dehoff said.

Dehoff said open-air burning of dead animals is not allowed, and the cost of propane to properly burn them in an enclosed structure is probably too costly for farmers.

Proper burial of such animals requires considerations like how much cover material is above the carcass and the depth of the underground water table below it.

"Burial sites must be located outside the 100-year-floodplain, a minimum of 100 feet from streams and ponds, wells, sinkholes and property lines and should be away from public view," she said. All dead animals must be buried within 48 hours of death.

Dehoff hopes more farmers will compost their dead animals and county extension has been educating them how to do it properly for the last year or so.

She is currently preparing a brochure with details of proper burial and composting of large livestock.

Smith said beef cows are generally butchered before the age of 24 months, so beef farmers should not be hurt by the FDA decision.

"The ones feeling the brunt of this is the dairy folks," he said, because they have older cows that occasionally die.

Companies such as Cargill Taylor Beef in Wyalusing already remove the brain and spinal cord from live cows intended for human consumption.

Valley Proteins has collected dead cattle for 24 years. A company it acquired offered the service here for 50 years prior to then, Smith said. Dead livestock makes up about 10 percent of Valley Proteins' business.

Tom Cook, president of the National Renderers Association, said some of the 250 or more U.S. and Canadian rendering plants will change their plants to comply with the new rules. Others will quit rendering cows above 30 months old.

He did not know how many companies might go out of business as a result of the FDA ruling.


Staff writer Ryan Robinson can be reached at rrobinson@LNPnews.com or 481-6032.