compost piles. We built six piles in 2.5 m x 1.5 m concrete block pens of an idle hog growing barn. We built another pile, the fourth, in an isolation room because we included pseudo- rabies virus (PRV).The ratio, on a weight basis, of ingredients added was I part pig carcass, 0.1 part wheat straw (or 0.2 part peanut hulls), 1.5 part turkey cake, and 33 L of water per 100 kg of carcass. In two of those piles we included ei- ther Salmonella spp or Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae in culture tubes. In the fourth pile we included sterile widemouth glass bottles containing scintillation vials with the tonsils of four pigs experimentally infected with pseudorabies virus (PRV). Four pigs similarly infected with PRV were se- curely wrapped in two plastic biohazard bags each and added to the pile. We monitored the temperatures of the piles and each for the presence of odor and flies. The composting process disintegrated most of the carcasses, in- cluding most of the bones, and reached temperatures suffi- cient to kill all of the Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae and PRV and most of the Salmonella. There was little odor associated with the pile and few flies. Consequently, we consider composting to be a safe, efficient, and sustainable method for the disposal of swine carcasses.