Sawdust to replace straw

[Kip]

We got a 20 ton load of sawdust in today, it cost £35 a ton and will keep 60 400 kg stores going from now till 1st May which works out at around £11.60 per to winter those cattle which I feel is not that bad? Anyone else trying this method instead of straw??

 

[GTB]

Sounds too good to be true?

 

[Kip]

Becoming very popular which is why we had to wait a month for the sawdust. Our next door neighbour runs 40 cows and calves in a 100ftx40 ft shed and uses 20 tons and it lasts them all winter and cows go to grass clean

 

[GTB]

How does it work? So much a day/week or chuck it all in the shed at the start and churn it up occasionally?

 

[Woolly]

I was at a Farming Connect meeting yesterday and this topic came up. There have been trials done on this - would be worth looking up.

One attendee said that stock didn't do as well on sawdust as on straw. The reason apparently is that stock eat some of the straw which is good for their gut - I have no idea if this is correct or not.

Perhaps a mixture might work best, sawdust below, straw on top. We do this with our sheep.

 

[GTB]

I was at a Farming Connect meeting yesterday and this topic came up. There have been trials done on this - would be worth looking up.

One attendee said that stock didn't do as well on sawdust as on straw. The reason apparently is that stock eat some of the straw which is good for their gut - I have no idea if this is correct or not.

Perhaps a mixture might work best, sawdust below, straw on top. We do this with our sheep.

I don't know about sawdust but with woodchip bedding the muck is very acidic and does more harm than good if spread on the land.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

We got a 20 ton load of sawdust in today, it cost £35 a ton and will keep 60 400 kg stores going from now till 1st May which works out at around £11.60 per to winter those cattle which I feel is not that bad? Anyone else trying this method instead of straw??

was that green sawdust or recycled . lot of dairy farmers moving from straw to sawdust for cubicles

 

[Woolly]

I don't know about sawdust but with woodchip bedding the muck is very acidic and does more harm than good if spread on the land.

Yes good point, I believe wood is bad for the land, takes nitrogen out of the soil.

 

[Kip]

Put it all in and build it up high against the side wall about 6 ft deep so all dung works its way down to a scraping passage at the front, then just give it a scrape out once or twice a week

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Yes good point, I believe wood is bad for the land, takes out nitrogen out of the soil.

a lot of this is Tommy Rot . it does lower the nitrogen a little but long term it's give far more benefit thsnnit takes out

 

[GTB]

a lot of this is Tommy Rot . it does lower the nitrogen a little but long term it's give far more benefit thsnnit takes out

I'm not sure, I know one farmer who did trials for farming connect with woodchip about ten years ago and he said he'd rather chuck the muck in a hole than spread it on the ground.

 

[Northeastfarmer]

Becoming very popular which is why we had to wait a month for the sawdust. Our next door neighbour runs 40 cows and calves in a 100ftx40 ft shed and uses 20 tons and it lasts them all winter and cows go to grass clean

How does he/you store it for the winter?

 

[Cowcalf]

what makes as big a difference as anything is what they are being fed, some straw in diet really makes a big difference, wet silage or powerful silage can really alter place demands on bedding

 

[Chasingmytail]

Yes good point, I believe wood is bad for the land, takes nitrogen out of the soil.

We dont spread ours we make compost so that issue is overcome. We have a lot of woodchip from jobs I like to use it I find it really absorbs a layer of muck in the shed.

 

[digger64]

Yes good point, I believe wood is bad for the land, takes nitrogen out of the soil.

This also applies to chopped straw - not good for seedlings especially rape

 

[digger64]

Becoming very popular which is why we had to wait a month for the sawdust. Our next door neighbour runs 40 cows and calves in a 100ftx40 ft shed and uses 20 tons and it lasts them all winter and cows go to grass clean

Is it dried ? Does it heat up ?

 

[sticky]

15 years ago I used to supply a guy with suckled bulls and he bedded them all down with sawdust from a mill, free as well, they had straw in a rack and barley. The cattle were clean and dry and he used to go in once a week with a bit of fresh on top, it was an excellent way of bedding them down.

 

[liammogs]

What about sand? Anyone tried it? Be any good in a deep litter system?

As for a few comments about stock not doing as well as on straw i also heard this as again, they trialed wood chip but we t back to straw (from a chap up mid wales way that would finish 1000s of lambs indoors) suprising how much stock will eat and pick at straw, but in supose if you can supply it in a rack it might save a few pennies!!

 

[Dodge777]

A friend of mine told me last week that over here (in n.ireland ) that to be quality assured you now can't bed with sawdust. It has to be straw but I'm not sure if it's true or not. Anyone else got any info on this?

 

[Northeastfarmer]

A friend of mine told me last week that over here (in n.ireland ) that to be quality assured you now can't bed with sawdust. It has to be straw but I'm not sure if it's true or not. Anyone else got any info on this?

Why would NI be any different to over here?