Animal Waste Disposal Laws in Texas: What Every Livestock Owner Must Know

Leave a dead animal on your property too long or stockpile manure in the wrong spot, and you can trigger penalties from three different Texas agencies at once. Animal waste disposal laws in Texas span carcass burial deadlines, manure storage limits, and CAFO permitting rules enforced by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC), and the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA). Whether you run a backyard operation or a commercial feedlot, the rules dictate how fast you must act and how you must handle the waste once it’s on the ground.

This guide breaks down what Texas requires for livestock waste and dead-animal disposal, who enforces those rules, and what happens if you miss a deadline or dump waste illegally.

Important Note: This article summarizes Texas environmental and agricultural regulations for general informational purposes. It is not legal advice. Confirm current requirements with TCEQ, TAHC, or a licensed attorney before making disposal decisions.

What Texas Requires for Livestock Waste and Dead-Animal Disposal

Texas law treats livestock waste and dead-animal disposal as two related but separately regulated problems. For carcasses, the timeline is strict. Non-diseased carcasses must be collected within 24 hours of death and properly disposed of within three days of death, per Texas Water Code, Section 26.303; Texas Agriculture Code, Section 161.004, along with related Health and Safety Code and TCEQ solid waste provisions.

If the animal died from a disease the veterinary profession recognizes as communicable, the clock moves faster. Section 59.12 requires that animals that die from a disease recognized as communicable by the veterinary profession must be disposed of within 24 hours by burial or burning. For the most dangerous pathogens, the rule tightens further: animals dying from anthrax or ornithosis must be killed, then burned on-site within 24 hours.

Responsibility for meeting these deadlines falls on whoever controls the land or the animals. The owner or operator of the property, farm, or facility is responsible for disposal in a timely and sanitary manner. That obligation applies whether you keep a handful of goats behind the house or manage a commercial herd, and it ties directly into related livestock containment requirements that determine who is liable when an animal dies on shared or leased land.

Poultry and fowl fall under a similar framework, though commercial operations answer to additional TCEQ rules. If you keep backyard birds, it helps to understand how these carcass and waste rules intersect with local backyard chicken ordinances before an unexpected die-off catches you unprepared.

Manure Storage, Stockpiling, and Land-Application Rules in Texas

Manure management in Texas is regulated less like household trash and more like industrial waste once volume increases. Any facility that stores, handles, or land-applies manure has to avoid the same three outcomes the state polices for all solid waste. 30 TAC Section 335.4 prohibits the collection, handling, storage, processing, or disposal of solid waste so as to cause discharges into or adjacent to water in the state, the creation or maintenance of nuisance conditions, or the endangerment of public health and welfare.

For permitted feeding operations, manure isn’t simply waste to get rid of — it’s a regulated resource. Manure, sludge, and wastewater generated by a CAFO shall be retained and used in an appropriate and beneficial manner under the terms of the general permit, meaning stockpiling without a plan for eventual land application or removal can violate permit conditions.

Before manure or wastewater goes onto fields, TCEQ expects operators to understand what the soil can actually absorb. Guidance for soil sampling plans helps meet regulatory objectives, reduce sample variability, and increase project quality for concentrated animal-feeding operations that apply manure or wastewater to land. Skipping this step is one of the fastest ways to trigger a nutrient over-application violation.

Smaller operations aren’t automatically exempt from scrutiny, either. Anyone raising livestock under Texas’s agricultural protections should understand how manure rules interact with broader right-to-farm protections, since those laws shield established agricultural practices from nuisance lawsuits but don’t override environmental permitting requirements. The same logic applies to hobby-scale operations covered under backyard pig ownership rules, where manure buildup in a small pen can still draw a nuisance complaint from neighbors.

Pro Tip: Even if you’re too small to need a CAFO permit, keeping manure away from drainage paths and property lines reduces your exposure to nuisance complaints and TCEQ inquiries triggered by neighbor reports.

How You Must Dispose of Dead Livestock Carcasses in Texas

Texas gives livestock owners several approved paths for a dead animal, but not all of them are available in every situation. Options include on-site burial, composting, or sending the carcass to a municipal solid waste landfill, renderer, or commercial waste incinerator. What you cannot do is dump a carcass into a waste lagoon. Federal rule 40 CFR Subsection 122.42(e)(1)(ii) prohibits disposal in a liquid manure, storm water, or process wastewater storage or treatment system that is not specifically designed to treat animal mortalities.

If you bury the animal, depth matters more than most owners expect. Dead animals shall be buried to such a depth that no part of the dead animal shall be nearer than three feet to the natural surface of the ground, a standard set under the Texas Animal Health Commission’s carcass disposal rule.

Burning is also permitted under specific conditions rather than as a default option. TCEQ rules allow animals to be burned when burning is the most effective means to control the spread of a communicable disease, and the animal must be burned until the carcass is thoroughly consumed. Partial burns that leave recognizable remains don’t satisfy the requirement.

If you use a renderer instead of burying or burning on-site, transportation itself is regulated. Texas Agriculture Code 144.041 mandates that anyone transporting remains to a rendering facility be licensed by the Texas Department of Agriculture, and transporters must maintain records on the number and type of animals, origin and destination, and method of transportation. Local governments layer their own procedures on top of the state framework. In Ector County, for example, approved methods include burning, commercial solid waste service, landfilling, and the county’s own disposal service, but if an animal is reported dead on private property, it is the responsibility of the owner to handle it and dispose of it appropriately — the county won’t remove it for you.

Here’s the general sequence most livestock owners follow when a non-diseased animal dies on their property:

1. Confirm the cause of death isn’t a reportable disease requiring TAHC notification.
2. Collect and secure the carcass within 24 hours to limit scavenger access and odor.
3. Select a disposal method — burial, composting, rendering, landfill, or incineration.
4. If burying, dig to a depth that keeps the carcass at least three feet below the surface.
5. Complete disposal within three days of death.
6. Keep any rendering transport records if a licensed hauler is involved.

These rules apply regardless of how the animal died, which is a distinction that also matters if you’re weighing your obligations under Texas roadkill laws — livestock struck on a roadway still falls under the owner’s disposal duty rather than the state’s.

Which Agency Regulates Manure and Carcass Disposal in Texas

No single agency owns animal waste regulation in Texas. Instead, three agencies split responsibility based on the type of risk involved. The Texas Animal Health Commission focuses on disease control: a person who owns or controls the land on which livestock, exotic livestock, domestic fowl, or exotic fowl die, or upon which a diseased carcass is exposed to other animals, must dispose of the carcass in the manner required by the commission.

TCEQ, by contrast, focuses on environmental impact — water quality, air quality, and solid waste handling. Animal feeding operations designated as a concentrated animal feeding operation based on head count and animal type must obtain an individual or general permit from TCEQ that authorizes manure and wastewater management activities, and the rules governing CAFO permitting are contained in 30 TAC Chapter 321 Subchapter B.

Agency	Primary Focus	Example Authority
Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC)	Disease control, carcass disposal method and timing	4 TAC Section 59.12
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ)	Water quality, solid waste, CAFO permitting	30 TAC Chapter 321, Chapter 335
Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA)	Licensing for rendering transport	Texas Agriculture Code 144.041

This division of authority matters practically. A carcass disposal question typically starts with TAHC, while a manure storage or discharge question goes to TCEQ. Overlap issues — like odor or pest complaints from a manure pile — sometimes route through local health departments as well, similar to how nuisance wildlife complaints can involve both state and county-level enforcement depending on the animal and the impact.

Water Setbacks, Groundwater Protections, and Health Standards in Texas

Where you bury or store waste matters as much as how you do it. Not every spot on a property offers adequate protection, and TCEQ guidance is direct about the risk. Certain locations do not provide sufficient protection to groundwater and streams, which is why burial site selection carries real legal weight, not just practical convenience.

For standard burial, the depth guidance goes beyond the three-foot carcass-cover minimum. Pits or trenches should be dug 3 to 5 feet deep — but not so deep as to risk the walls caving in, balancing groundwater protection against worker safety.

Larger operations face more formal groundwater safeguards. CAFO permit applications require documentation confirming nearby geologic conditions, including an updated recharge feature certification, including driller well logs if within 500 feet of the property — a concrete setback distance meant to keep manure storage and land application away from features that connect directly to groundwater.

Key water and health protections that apply across most livestock waste situations include:

• No disposal of carcasses or manure into liquid waste systems not designed for animal mortality.
• Minimum burial depths to prevent surface exposure and groundwater contact.
• Recharge feature certification within 500 feet for CAFO facilities.
• A blanket prohibition on nuisance conditions or discharges into state waters.

Owners of smaller herds, including those raising animals under Texas goat ownership rules, often assume these protections only apply to large commercial operations. In practice, the discharge and nuisance prohibitions apply regardless of herd size.

CAFO and Nutrient Management Plan Requirements in Texas

Concentrated animal feeding operations face the most detailed waste rules in the state, built around a general permit that TCEQ periodically updates. This general permit meets Clean Water Act and Texas Water Code requirements for the protection of water quality and applies both to Texas Pollutant Discharge Elimination System and state-only CAFOs. TCEQ reissued the CAFO General Permit with an effective date of July 20, 2024, and operators expanding an existing facility need to watch the growth threshold closely: a significant expansion is any change to the CAFO that increases manure production by more than 50% above the maximum operating capacity stated in the initial authorization.

Not every CAFO qualifies for the general permit. Some operations must obtain an individual permit instead, based on location risk rather than size alone. A facility within one mile of coastal natural resource areas, or a dairy CAFO in Segment 1226 or 1255 of the Bosque River watershed — a major sole-source impairment zone — must obtain an individual permit.

Nutrient planning is where day-to-day compliance actually happens. State-only CAFOs work under a documented Nutrient Utilization Plan, while dairy operations face additional scrutiny when they land-apply waste. New CAFO rules mandate dairy operators update the site-specific nutrient management plan if they commence land application of dairy waste, using calculated application rates rather than rough estimates. That plan has to reflect actual soil and manure test results, not a generic template. Ranch operations that qualify for exemptions from certain zoning or nuisance actions under agricultural protection statutes still have to satisfy TCEQ’s separate environmental permitting track — one doesn’t substitute for the other.

Penalties for Illegal Dumping, Missed Carcass Deadlines, and Water Violations in Texas

Texas doesn’t treat improperly discarded animal waste as a minor infraction. Texas Health and Safety Code 365.011 classifies carcasses as solid waste, meaning improper disposal falls under the state’s illegal dumping laws. That classification alone opens the door to fines separate from any TAHC or TCEQ-specific violation.

Burial mistakes carry their own consequences. Improper burial, such as failing to cover the carcass adequately or placing it too close to water sources, can result in fines from TCEQ, even when the owner had no intention of causing harm.

Enforcement records show what this looks like in practice at the CAFO level. In one case, TCEQ cited an operator after a mechanical failure of irrigation risers and over-application of wastewater resulted in a discharge of approximately 20,500 gallons of wastewater into a freshwater pond and an unnamed tributary. The same case included a separate citation because the operator failed to properly notify TCEQ of a discharge to water in the state — a reminder that self-reporting obligations carry weight independent of the discharge itself.

Penalties in these cases generally fall into a few categories:

• Administrative monetary penalties assessed by TCEQ for permit violations.
• Corrective action orders requiring repair of failed containment or storage structures.
• Additional citations for failure to notify the agency of a discharge event.
• Potential permit suspension or revocation for repeated or severe violations.

These enforcement patterns overlap with broader Texas animal cruelty statutes when neglect contributes to an animal’s death and its subsequent improper disposal, since both violations can be charged from the same incident.

How to Confirm Current Texas Animal-Waste Rules With the Agencies

Because carcass and manure rules sit across three agencies, verifying current requirements means knowing who to call for which question. For a diseased or suspicious death, TAHC is the first stop. Call the TAHC’s disease reporting line before disposing of diseased animals, and the commission can also provide a list of reportable animal diseases.

For on-site burial or burning notifications, TCEQ’s paperwork goes to a specific office. Notification letters go to the Hazardous Waste Permits Section, MC-130, TCEQ, P.O. Box 13087, Austin, Texas 78711-3087, phone 512/239-6595.

If you’re evaluating whether your operation needs a CAFO permit at all, TCEQ maintains a dedicated screening resource. The agency’s individual permit page helps operators find out if they are required to obtain an individual permit to operate a concentrated animal feeding operation in Texas, with links to application forms and instructions. Beyond that, TCEQ regional offices are listed in the agency’s region directory for questions specific to your county.

Rules around manure, carcasses, and CAFO permitting change periodically as TCEQ reissues general permits or updates nutrient management requirements, so treat any written summary — including this one — as a starting point rather than a final answer. If your situation touches other animal-related compliance questions, it’s worth reviewing how these waste rules intersect with broader Texas animal ownership laws before assuming a single agency covers everything on your property.