[Market-farming] Wood chips for bedding?
Alliums
garlicgrower at earthlink.net
Mon Jan 19 09:23:03 EST 2004
Chris wrote:
>I've been thinking about buying a wood chipper to make my own bedding for
>my cattle next winter.
I don't know what the recycling laws are in MN, but here in PA, some dairy
people buy a shredder and then get the newspaper and cardboard that the
local municipality has to gather for recycling, shreds the stuff up and
uses that as bedding for their cows. Penn State has done a bunch of
studies that show that shredded newspaper absorbs more animal urine than
almost anything and the mix gives you the perfect C:N ratio for
composting. Most farmers just spread the result on their fields and it's
composted, so there isn't the N runoff that drives the Chesapeake Bay folks
nuts.
I'd do a search on Penn State's site if you want more info -- they are
usually pretty good about keeping research up on their site and the
professors are usually very happy to answer questions through e-mail.
Dorene
Dorene Pasekoff, Coordinator
St. John's United Church of Christ Organic Community Garden
A mission of
St. John's United Church of Christ, 315 Gay Street, Phoenixville, PA 19460
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