Increasing numbers of farmers are cutting their costs of livestock disposal by grouping together to buy a single incinerator.

That’s the view of Addfield Environmental Systems from Hednesford, Staffordshire, which sells a range of units for different sizes of carcass including the £12,500 SBAB which will take sheep or calves and the £18,000 TBAB which can take a dairy cow.

“Livestock farmers are commonly paying £4000-£5000 a year in knackers-yard fees and big producers can be spending £10,000 a year on fallen stock costs,” says the firm’s managing director Steven Lloyd.

“We’re finding that typically three farmers will group together to buy one unit. In fact 25% of what we sell now goes to a group.” Often the incinerator will be mounted on a flatbed trailer so that it can easily be moved from farm to farm.

The incinerators are DEFRA-approved and an afterburner that re-burns the smoke minimises any smell. The heat isn’t wasted either, says Mr Lloyd – many farmers now fit a water jacket to provide hot water and there’s also a heat recovery system that supplies blown hot air for livestock sheds.

The firm says it also has two farmer customers who plan to use methane from their anaerobic digestion plants to provide an environmentally-friendly alternative to the diesel/lpg/kerosene that normally fuels the incinerator.