[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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