# Wood chips for bedding



## mystang89 (May 22, 2019)

Hey everyone, been a while and yes, I know I need to update my journal, it's just such a pain typing everything on this stupid phone.

I did have a question though. Has anyone ever use wood chips for bedding for sheep. By wood chips I mean a tree company dropped some wood chips they had chipped up for me to use as mulch so I got to thinking about what else I could use this for since I can have as much as I want. If so, what are the pros and cons you've noticed. If it's a terrible idea, great! Why? If it's a great idea, great! Why?
Thanks!

Edit: this is why I don't update much with this phone, I've already had to edit twice because of auto correct.


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## Baymule (May 23, 2019)

We had a LOT of loads of wood chips given to us by a power line cleaning crew. There was a lot of green in it. AFTER it has gone through a heat and composted, then spread it in the Sheep lot. That’s so they don’t try to pick through the bits of green, eating who knows what. 

The wood chips combined with sheep poop is great stuff for the garden. If you can get a lot of wood chips, get all you can. After they heat up and compost you can spread them on pasture, flower beds, yard or wherever.


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## mystang89 (May 23, 2019)

Baymule said:


> We had a LOT of loads of wood chips given to us by a power line cleaning crew. There was a lot of green in it. AFTER it has gone through a heat and composted, then spread it in the Sheep lot. That’s so they don’t try to pick through the bits of green, eating who knows what.
> 
> The wood chips combined with sheep poop is great stuff for the garden. If you can get a lot of wood chips, get all you can. After they heat up and compost you can  spread them on pasture, flower beds, yard or wherever.



I'm finding this stuff is great for many things! I think it's amazing all the things just a chipped up old tree can be used for. I've put it in compost, made trails out of it, leveled areas which would have needed much dirt, repaired holes in the pasture and now they can be used for bedding.


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## Baymule (May 23, 2019)

In a couple years time, they break down into a black crumble. Great stuff for the garden. Used for animal bedding, you get both the compost and manure compost.


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## mystang89 (May 24, 2019)

How absorbent are they? I started putting lime in the stalls to help with the moisture since I had run out of hay and it was fairly nasty in there so I don't want to go backwards in cleanliness. Also, how often does it need to be cleaned out and what do you use to clean it?


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## Baymule (May 24, 2019)

I have sand, pure white sugar sand, so it drains well. The wood chips are more to hold down dust than to absorb wet.  We have a 32 year old mare with bad heaves. Sometimes we think she is going to cough herself to death. So we covered the whole barnyard area a couple years ago, with wood chips to hold down the dust. Last year we dug it up and spread it in the garden. The horses had pooped all over, dead hay mixed in, it made good compost. 

If your area is holding water, maybe build it up with some dirt to raise it, then cover with the chips.


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