By Maynard van der Galien

Farmers say changes to Ontario’s deadstock disposal are going to make liars out of them. "There’s more paper work involved with a dead calf than a live one," quipped one farmer at an information meeting this past winter on the new disposal regulations.

The record keeping of deadstock has some farmers shaking their heads. When a farm animal dies, a record of disposal must be made. Under the new NMA regulation the record needs to include: The species and age of the animal. The animal’s weight. Time and date of death if known. Cause of death. Time and date of disposal. Method of disposal. Place of disposal. Date of disposal. For incineration a record of temperatures…For composting a record of all regulated compost applied to the land in the year.

It’s overkill! Too extreme! Can you see some of the causes of death that are going to be written down? Natural causes, heart failure, died of old age, hardware, bloated on alfalfa, was in heat on hot summer day and was ridden by other cows and collapsed, veterinarian not sure but was treated for milk fever…and so on.

Most farmers don’t know the exact age of their cattle, especially the cows. If a farmer has 40, 60 or 100 cows he’s not expected to know the age of them all. He’ll have an idea. How will he know how much the animal weighs? Buy a set of farm scales? Truck the dead animal to a place where it can be weighed? Sure, but a permit under the federal Health of Animals Act is needed. Guessing the weight of an animal would make it easier for farmers.

The changes came into effect on March 27, 2009. The former Dead Animal Disposal Act was repealed and replaced with two regulations.

The first regulates on-farm dead animal disposal under the Nutrient Management Act (NMA). The second regulates the management of deadstock on properties other than the farm under the Food Safety and Quality Act (FSQA).

The new on-farm regulations under NMA expands the list of disposal options, includes farmed animals not previously covered, and establishes enhanced environmental standards for protection of water sources, with additional requirements that safeguard animal health and public health protection.

This regulation applies to all livestock operations, regardless of whether or not they are required to have a nutrient management plan or strategy.

The new regulations now include the following farm animals: alpacas, bison, cattle, deer, elk, goats, llamas, sheep, yaks, pigs and other porcine animals, chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks, guinea fowl, quails, pigeon, pheasants, partridges, ratites, horses, ponies, donkeys, rabbits, other than rabbits kept for pets, and other fur-bearing animals.

Formerly there were three basic options for deadstock disposal collection, composting or burial. The new list includes: collector service, composting, incineration, disposal vessel burial, delivery to an approved anaerobic digester, delivery to an approved waste disposal site, delivery to a licensed disposal facility under Food Safety and Quality Act and delivery to a veterinarian for post mortem and disposal by the veterinarian.

Incineration might sound like a great way to get rid of the little calf that died suddenly. Forget it! The outdoor wood furnace doesn’t qualify.

The regulations state that the incinerator must have been issued a Verification Certificate by ETV Canada certifying and that it has a secondary chamber that can maintain the temperatures of the gases entering it for at least one second at 1000 degree C or two seconds at 850 degree C. A record of temperatures in the combustion chambers throughout the incineration process must be kept for a period of two years.

What really irks farmers is that it’s okay for wildlife and roadkill to decompose in the bush or by the roadside, but farmers have to know the weight, age and cause of death of the animal they are disposing.

And record it!