I shred a lot of copy paper, and have a horse near who is a bit windy. I thought it would be a good idea to use my shredded paper as bedding, and have been doing this for about a month and then wondered if black walnut is used to make copy paper. Yes I remove staples. I did some googling and feel ok about it, but maybe someone has better information.
I don’t think slow growing hardwoods are used to make paper. Walnut is a high value wood for furniture production.
The internet says this:
Trees from which paper is made are either softwood or hardwood, with softwood coniferous trees forming about 85% of the trees whose wood pulp is vital for paper. Softwood tree types possess longer cellulose fibers which are known to confer adequate strength to paper. This is in comparison with the hardwood shorter cellulose fibers. Major tree types in the softwoods category are spruce, pine, fir, larch, and hemlock. Eucalyptus is a hardwood that has largely been used for paper production. Other hardwoods applied in this industry are oaks, aspen, birch, and maples.
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-kind-of-tree-does-paper-come-from.html
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If horse has breathing issues, I had the best luck with dampened pellets. I don’t think paper would absorb well enough, but I’ve never used it for bedding.
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I have a scoop of pellets where he pees, then SaniCare over top. The SaniCare is the lowest dust stuff I’ve tried. I haven’t had much luck with damp pellets in the summer - they get moldy fast where I am. The horses are only in stalls about 6 hours a day, and usually don’t urinate unless I’m late turning out.
I’ve used paper in the past and found it more work than some other bedding. It gets heavy when wat and tends to fall apart. It also doesn’t bank well.
http://www.equisorb.co.uk/ is what I use and I really like it. Its a hemp product and makes a very good bed. It’s also very low dust.
Not sure if it’s available in the states but a hemp based bedding might be worth looking into.
I can’t speak to shredded copy paper, but a farm near me beds in shredded newspaper. I haven’t actually seen it in person, but they’ve been doing it for years. I knew another farm that did this, too. Like mentioned, I wouldn’t think hardwoods would be used for paper. One thing about shredded newspaper is that newspaper is coated in lime during processing so it helps with field pH if you spread it. Not sure about copy paper.
We kept horses on shredded news paper for years. As said above, it was heavy when wet and didn’t bank well but had less dust than straw. There are more modern options available now, and I second hemp-based ones.
How do you dispose of it? I know it will rot away, but is it a good thing to spread on fields?
I spread directly on my fields. I add lime and 1/3 cup 21-0-0 fertilizer after each stall. The paper shreds blend right in with the bumper crop of clover I have this year.
I have personally tried shredded paper for bedding. Here’s why I refuse to use it:
- It’s humid in the Spring and Summer where I live so it doesn’t absorb very well.
- It gets stuck in hooves of horses who are barefoot. <— BIG NO NO FOR ME.
- It couldn’t be spread on fields because there is ink and other chemicals in the paper that I don’t want in my fields. It also doesn’t break down quickly enough so it builds up in the fields.
- I found that some horses wanted to eat it more than a wood or straw product.
- It stained many of the lighter colored horses in the barn.
- It collapses as it ages, and falls apart/gets heavy when wet.
- It is lightweight when it’s dry so it tends to blow around and make my barn look untidy and unkempt.
We use hard wood bedding pellets and soak them in water so they puff up, per the directions. It cuts cleaning time in half, it lasts a lot longer than shavings, paper, straw etc, it’s not dusty if you handle it properly, and the pellets actually help with the smell. I find myself using less lime and wanting to clean more often.
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Mine are on shredded cardboard rather than paper but i really like it.
caveat thar mine are very tidy and pretty dry and are only inside from 5pm-7am atm.
i use 1/2 bale per pony every 4 or 5 days and my muck heap is tiny as it rots away as fast as i add to it.
My biggest complaint was the way it stuck to your feet when damp or wet.
Who needs to trailing shredded newspaper around,
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I cannot imagine that shredded paper would work very well, but I remember reading about shredded news paper for bedding stalls a long time ago. We use flax straw (small chopped pieces) and I quite like it. It costs less than wood shavings, and I think it is better at absorbing. Seems to last longer (don’t have to add as much), and works well for horses with allergies.
I used it for a couple years because I had an awesome free source. I had no issues with it other than it took more than you would think to bed properly with it. We did spread it on the fields and it decomposed very quickly- faster than straw or shavings really. I quit using it when my source was no longer producing
No dust, decomposes quickly, poor cushioning, a PITA to pick!
