Swine Composting Training for USDA Veterinary Services Employees

Veterinary Services hopes to partner with an academic institution or state government to provide Swine Composting Training for select VS personnel. The personnel who would be trained are predominately veterinarians and animal health technicians who serve as Composting Subject Matter Experts during incidents requiring depopulation and disposal. It is the role of the Composting SME to offer on-site technical expertise throughout the composting process during animal health events requiring composting as a disposal option. The training would include two four-day training sessions with up to 20 participants per session and would include a mixture of seminars, discussions, and hands-on demonstrations. The successful candidate for this opportunity would furnish animals that could be demonstrated in various stages of composting. Both trainings should be delivered no earlier than June 1, 2017 and no later than September 15, 2017. Priorities for this program include: 1) Understanding the process of composting as a carcass management tool. 2) Understanding how to determine locations of compost windrows, while considering space, environmental, and biosecurity considerations 3) Understanding how to access compost piles and troubleshoot those that are not performing to SOP specifications 4) Understanding the equipment needed to construct and turn compost piles. 5) Creating scenarios that challenge trainees to build functional compost piles for swine carcasses which meet USDA time and temperature SOPs for pathogen elimination. Funding will be provided to a Land-Grant University, Non Land-Grant College of Agriculture, College of Veterinary Medicine, or state entity that can fulfill the work. An appendix at the end of this document provides a partial outline of topics to be covered. Applicants are encouraged to suggest additional topics Note: a separate funding opportunity has been posted for a Swine Depopulation Training. Although each funding opportunity needs to be applied for separately, additional consideration will be given to any candidate that can fulfill both trainings and utilize the same animals for both trainings.