Livestock disposal rules and providers where you farm
Texas alone lost cattle and calves at a rate of about 1,452 per day[1] in 2015, while other states have no renderer at all. What's legal, cheap and available depends on your county.
- State rules on burial, composting and deadlines
- Where renderers still run and where they don't
- Local pages for pickup and cremation options
Start here
Why your county decides more than your species does
Two ranchers with identical cows can face completely different choices. One has a renderer twenty minutes away that runs twice a week. The other is three hundred miles from the nearest plant, on shallow soil over bedrock, in a state that bans composting cattle. The animal is the same; the options aren't.
Use the directory below to find your state and nearby cities. Each local page lists the rules we've researched for that area and the kinds of providers that serve it. If your town isn't listed, the state page still applies, and you can ask us directly.
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Rules differ
How burial and composting rules change from state to state
Most states regulate on-farm burial through depth, soil cover and distance from water, but the numbers vary. Here's how three states with large livestock sectors compare, taken from their agriculture agencies and extension services, including Penn State Extension's mortality disposal summary and University of California guidance on livestock mortality.
| State | Time limit | Burial rules | Composting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pennsylvania | 48 hours | 2 ft of cover; 2 ft above bedrock and water table; 100 ft from wells, waters and property lines | Allowed; one of four legal methods |
| Michigan | 24 hours | At least 2 ft deep; 200 ft from wells; max 10,000 lb of animals per acre | Allowed with management standards |
| California | 24 to 48 hours in several counties | Allowed within 3 miles of where the animal died, subject to water board rules | Unprocessed cattle, sheep and goats may not be composted |
Pennsylvania's extension service also points out that there are just 4 legal methods[2] there: composting, rendering, incineration and burial. Open burning isn't one of them, and that's true in most states. Our services page explains each method in more detail.
Pickup
Where renderers still pick up, and where they've gone
Only about 50%[3] of US states have a rendering plant, and most are in the Midwest. Farms in the Plains and Corn Belt often still have regular routes. In much of the West, the Southeast and New England, producers may have no renderer at all, or one that only serves contract customers.
Even where a plant exists, it may not take every animal. Some refuse whole cattle over 30 months, drug-euthanized animals or small species that aren't worth the trip. Ask before you need them, and ask again every year, because routes change. Our biosecurity and capacity questions help with that call.
Can you still get a renderer to pick up at your farm?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
Where no truck comes, many producers join with neighbors to share a compost site, split the cost of an excavator after a storm or run a shared dead-stock bin to a single pickup point. It's worth asking your county extension office whether anything like that already exists near you. Renderer access is one of our reader poll questions, and the live poll results show how patchy it is. If your truck has stopped coming, how to dispose of a dead cow walks through the legal alternatives.
Scale
What death-loss numbers look like in the big livestock states
Texas lost roughly 530,000 head[4] of cattle and calves in 2015, the most of any state, from a herd of about 9.8 million adult cattle. It also accounted for 36.3%[5] of adult goat deaths that year. By our estimate, based on USDA's 2015 cattle and calf death-loss report, Texas was losing cattle and calves at about 1,452 per day[1] that year. At that scale, disposal infrastructure is a public concern, not just a farm chore.
530,000 head[4]
Texas lost about 310,000 adult cattle and 220,000 calves in 2015, the most of any state; Texas had 9.8 million adult cattle.
1,452 per day[1]
Texas lost about 1,452 cattle and calves per day in 2015.
36.3%[5]
Texas held about 30.5% of U.S. adult goats and accounted for 36.3% of adult goat deaths in 2015.
Poultry states face a different pressure. Bird flu has reached every state since 2022, and the premises hit ranged from big turkey and egg operations to backyard flocks. When an outbreak lands in a dense poultry county, compost space, landfill capacity and incinerator time can all run short at once. Our planning hub has checklists for that situation.
Beyond the US
How the UK and other countries handle fallen stock
England takes the opposite approach to most US states. It has a ban on livestock burial[6]: fallen farm stock can't be buried or burned on the farm, so dead cattle, sheep and pigs go through approved routes: knackers, hunt kennels, maggot farms, incinerators or renderers. A not-for-profit scheme organizes collections for farmers, and GOV.UK's fallen stock guidance lists every approved route.
Where an animal needs BSE testing, UK rules set tight timings: 24 h / 72 h[7], meaning the collector must be contacted within a day of death and the carcass delivered to a sampling site within three. Canada and Australia have their own provincial and state rules, and we're adding them to local pages as we research them.
If you farm near a border, you may have more choices than you think. A renderer or crematory in the next state can sometimes serve you more easily than one across your own state, as long as both states allow the carcass to move. Ask them what paperwork they need before loading anything.
How to use this
Getting the most from a local page
- Check the time limit first, so you know how long you have.
- Read the burial and composting rules against your own site: soil depth, water table, wells and neighbors.
- Look at the renderer and crematory notes, then call to confirm they still serve your road.
- Run the livestock mortality planner with your head count to size a pit or compost pile.
- If you want ashes back, compare cremation prices with the large-animal cost comparison.
Rules change, so treat every local page as a starting point and confirm with your state department of agriculture. If you spot something out of date, tell us through the contact page.
Reader polls
What would you choose?
Vote anonymously and see how other readers answered. The results are live counts from people who visit this site, so they show real opinions, not a scientific sample.
Can you still get a renderer to pick up at your farm?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
When an adult animal dies on your place, what usually happens to it?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
Did you (or would you) compare more than one provider?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
Questions people ask
Who decides the rules for burying livestock?
Usually a state agency: the department of agriculture, the board of animal health or the environmental agency, and sometimes all three. Counties may add their own deadlines. Regional water boards can also restrict burial near groundwater, as in California. Your county extension office is a good first call.
What if there's no renderer in my state?
Then you'll usually choose between composting, burial, a landfill that accepts carcasses, or incineration. Composting is often the cheapest where it's allowed. For a show or family animal, a private cremation may still be possible, though you might need to haul the animal some distance or pay for long-distance pickup.
Can I take a dead animal across state lines?
Sometimes, but check both states first. Some restrict moving carcasses to limit disease; many states, for instance, ban importing whole deer and elk carcasses from chronic wasting disease areas. For livestock, a crematory or renderer across the line will usually know what paperwork is needed.
Do burial rules apply to a single show steer the same as a whole herd?
Generally yes. Depth, cover and setback rules apply per burial site regardless of whether the animal was a pet. Density limits, like Michigan's cap per acre, matter more for larger losses. If you want something more personal than a burial pit, private cremation avoids site rules entirely.
Sources and our estimates
- [1] Texas lost about 1,452 cattle and calves per day in 2015. Our estimate: (310,000 + 220,000) / 365. How we calculate.
- [2] Pennsylvania Extension notes that open-air burning is not a legal way to dispose of dead stock; legal options are composting, rendering, incineration and burial. Penn State Extension - Livestock and Poultry Mortality Disposal in Pennsylvania (J. Craig Williams, updated Oct 2025), 2025.
- [3] Only about 50% of U.S. states have rendering plants, most of them concentrated in the Midwest. Extension Horses (eXtension national Cooperative Extension) - Horse Disposal Options, 2019, 2019.
- [4] Texas lost about 310,000 adult cattle and 220,000 calves in 2015, the most of any state; Texas had 9.8 million adult cattle. USDA APHIS NAHMS - Death Loss in U.S. Cattle and Calves Due to Predator and Nonpredator Causes, 2015 (published Dec 2017), 2015.
- [5] Texas held about 30.5% of U.S. adult goats and accounted for 36.3% of adult goat deaths in 2015. USDA APHIS NAHMS - Goat and Kid Predator and Nonpredator Death Loss in the United States, 2015, 2015.
- [6] England bans the burial or open burning of fallen farm stock, but pet animals may be buried, and England (unlike Scotland and Wales) allows burial of both pet and non-pet horses. GOV.UK (Defra/APHA) - Fallen stock guidance, 2024.
- [7] In the UK, when fallen stock needs BSE testing, the collector must be contacted within 24 hours of death and the animal delivered to an approved sampling site within 72 hours. GOV.UK (Defra/APHA) - Fallen stock guidance, 2024.
Find livestock disposal options in your county
Tell us what you need and where you are. We'll reply by email with clear options and prices so you can decide in your own time.