hay versus sawdust for stalls

[RichZ]

I don't want to be a pain, but I'd be carefull about the sawdust, if it's sawdust from a cabinet shop that uses particleboard. The glue in that stuff can be toxic, and it would end up in the sawdust. I wouldn't want any animals to eat it.

[utahmule]

Thanks for the concern. We actually distribute animal bedding products. We just use the sawdust to spread in the outdoor paddocks to help out when the ground gets squishy.

We sell a fair amount to people specifically because this stuff has been processed to remove the resins, aromatics, etc from the wood. I guess this makes it unappealing to eat.

What products do you distribute utahmule? PM or email me if you would.

[wingnut]

Rich, the shops that I'm aware of here that sell (or give away, if any do that) their sawdust only sell the shavings and sawdust from initial production (at least the ones I've toured).
And none of the locals that sell use particleboard ... all solid wood.
But ... good point, it's something I'll file away in the back of my mind.

[utahmule]

I wasn't trying to plug anything, that's why I didn't mention anything by name. I hope no one was offended [img]/forums/images/icons/blush.gif[/img] , if so I apologize. I'm too far from most all of you to be able to providew any of this stuff without shipping killing it.

Thanks,

[RichZ]

Well, Pete you gotta be carefull. A friend of mine is a custom cabinet maker. I used to do his staining for hard wood cabinetry. All that was obviously hardwood. But when a shop makes kitchen cabinets, that are covered with formica or other artificial coverings, the wood underneath is usually particle board. I was surprised the first time I saw my friend making kitchen cabinets, that he was using particle board, under any artificial surfaces. Then I found out that whenever a cabinet made almost anywhere has an artificial surface, the wood underneath is particle board. So be careful about that sawdust!!

[s1120]

It's not just the glues Rich. A lot of the real nice hard woods have oils in them that can cause all kind of skin problems. Not at first, but you build up a algery to them. I don't know if anamels react the same as people, but it's something to think about.

[RichZ]

Good point, Paul! I know walnut wood is toxic, and I wonder about cherry wood. Cherry leaves are extremely toxic, because they have cyanide in them, I don't know about the wood. [img]/forums/images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

So...I guess you better also research the type of wood the saw dust comes from.

[weedsportpete]

Any comments on Woody Pet? We started with that, so I can't compare it to sawdust or shavings.

We have three horses here. The first is an easy keeper - he poops in one corner and never spreads it around the stall. With the Woody Pet I'm in and out of there in less than 10 minutes, closer to 5. A real joy. The bedding lasts about 2 1/2 weeks.

The second horse uses the whole back of the stall, and sometimes spreads it around a little. It takes a good 10, sometimes 15 minutes for her stall, and we have to replace the Woody Pet sooner, around 2 weeks.

The third horse is new here and sometimes still scatters poop around. He does that the most just when we strip out the stall and put in new pellets. After three or four days, it gets to more like sawdust and he is a lot less messy. Takes about 10 minutes.

As you can probably tell, we are interested in saving time and effort. I'm not sure we are saving money; if every horse was an easy keeper, and we could make the bedding last three weeks, then its a better deal. We don't push it and wait until its really bad before we change it. We usually wait until it is mostly damp or smells bad.

We don't have cheap labor either.. though we're hoping for someone to come along to work in place of paying board.. but now there is just the two of us and we want to avoid stripping out stalls every day, or working with a lot of sawdust. I think we are paying $3.90 a 30lb bag.

Has anyone used this and compared it to sawdust or shavings?

[wingnut]

I could easily be corrected, but based on my experience ... the 3 guys always go in one spot (and don't go stomping thru it) ... while the 3 "ladies" crap anywhere and everywhere and wander thru it.
It's easy to clean the stalls with the males in them and time consuming to do the gals.
No experience with anything but shavings and sawdust ... I did try straw but that was much worse. We clean the stalls every morning and replace the majority of the bedding weekly, unless it's extremely dirty.