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CONTACT Epoch Farm 13701 Hanover Pike Reisterstown, MD 21136 USA 410-429-0993 E mail: info at epochfarm.com Please use the @ symbol for email. Trying to cut down on spam. © Copyright 2005 EpochFarm.com All Rights Reserved |
| Why Shredded Paper? |
Epoch Farm Switches to Shredded Newsprint Stall Bedding
Epoch Farm has changed stall bedding material from kiln dried pine shavings to shredded newspaper. The change over was made because finding high quality, consistently dust free, wood shavings became next to impossible to do. Part of the availability problem stems from the competing uses for wood shavings, including, pellets for pellet stoves and the manufacturing of particle board by the lumber industry.
( 1) Some scary research about cedar and pine!!!.
(2) As long as you don't breathe, then pine is fine!!
We found our concerns about toxicity from horses eating the paper or breathing the dust (next to no dust, by the way), were addressed by consulting with our veterinarians and the following University studies:
Ohio State Fact sheet
Penn State FactSheet
Rutgers University Study
We compost, then stockpile our manure for a minimum of one year then spread it on our fields in early spring.
One of our biggest concerns was how quickly the newsprint would break down. Our composting methods differ somewhat from those in this,Ohio State Fact Sheet because the composting method we use retains more moisture. We are finding the manure in our compost pile turns into a black humus like product in as little as 4 months!!
The use of the paper does have a learning curve, it handles like straw and takes a little longer to spread out then shavings. However it keeps the horses much cleaner, ask anyone who has had to get wood shavings out of a horse's tail, they would love this stuff!!!
The shredded newsprint is supplied to us by VANGEL Paper. They collect the paper from local office buildings, then before being shredded and baled, they carefully hand sort to insure anything that is not newsprint is removed.
The dust levels in our training barn have dropped significantly and the clients and staff couldn't be happier. But most of all, we now have a much healthier environment for the horses!!