While the science to convert manure into compost is
well-established, intensive hog and poultry businesses now have a
new means of converting dead animals into valuable compost.
Hog production company Puratone Corporation has developed a
composting device called a Biovator that can convert about 2 lbs.
of mortality mixed with wood shavings to about 1.6 lbs. of
pathogen-free and nutrient rich compost. Each pound of carcass requires about .07 cubic feet of wood
shavings. Other input combinations involving various amounts of
wood shavings, liquid hog manure and recycled compost work
equally well.
Paustian Enterprises gathers and spreads the compost generated
by the Biovator on its farmland, although the amount is not
sufficient to have reduced their need for commercial fertilizer.