# Wood Chips in Sheep Pen?



## kuntrygirl (Feb 10, 2011)

The last few weeks have been terrible in terms of the weather.  Plenty of cold weather along with lots of rain.  My sheep pen *(pic below)* is a bloody mess.  It is so muddy and sloshy.  I was wondering if it would be ok to put wood chips in the pen to try to dry it up.   The city workers were on my street cutting down limbs and branches.  They put them in the shredder on the back of their work truck.  We asked if we could have the woods chips and they said yes, so we were thinking about spreading the wood chips in the pen area.  Would this be ok?  Would the wood chips harm the sheep in any way? 

Any input would be greatly appreciated.


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## aggieterpkatie (Feb 10, 2011)

The wood chips shouldn't hurt the sheep. You could always ask what species of tree they're from, but if they're big chips hopefully the sheep wouldn't eat them.


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## patandchickens (Feb 11, 2011)

I have no experience using tree chippings for sheep but have used them, and worked at barns using them, for *horses* a whole lot over the years. They are very good temporary mud remediation for an emergency, although on some soil types they can have a long-term effect of making things even muckier as they decompose and add organic matter to the soil. (On other soil types there is no long-term problem)

The two big things you want to watch out for when getting tree chippings for horse use are a) it needs to either be all long-dead material, or if any of it is green it needs to be used in only a THIN (like 3" or so) layer. Reason being, if there is green material in the chippings it will mold quite fiercely for the first few months if you put it in any significant depth, and that can be a real health problem. And b) for horses you need to watch that the chippings don't contain too much in the way of long sharp 'spikes' (depends on the tree species and chipper type) that can cause injuries. This is probably a lot less risk with sheep as they are lighter, much smaller feet and wearing a lot of padding.

Overall I would say do it, it really DOES help a lot vs mud, just be careful of the green chippings -> mold issue described above.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat


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## Bossroo (Feb 11, 2011)

Too,  make sure that those chips do NOT contain any poisonous plants. Just 3 oleander  leaves will kill a human child, 4-5 will kill a sheep or goat, and 7-10  will kill a horse.  Black walnut chips or shavings will cause laminitits lameness in horses.( could loose an entire hoof). While there are quite a few others that will cause abortions, and poisonings.  So google a list of poisonous plants and stay away from them.


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## The Old Ram-Australia (Feb 14, 2011)

G,day KG,All of the above is 'good advice' I would add that if your sheep are wool types,it will get caught up in the fleece and is a pain to shear...................Because your need is immediate,I would start it in your sheds and cover it with straw, assuming it does not contain any 'nasties'..........Put the rest in a heap for a while until it starts to break-down,and give it a turn in a couple of weeks,wood chips draws lot of N from the soil in the 'ageing process',but once breakdown has occurred its great to add to where you can get a good dump of 'urine and manure into it and then 'spread it' onto your paddocks

 Hope the above is of some value,hope it dries up a bit soon for you ,...T.O.R.


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