by Robin Stanback

Mother Nature and the economy combined to deal horse owners a number of blows in the past year. A record-breaking drought in much of the Southeast and Midwest in 2007 resulted in a dramatic drop in hay production.

Combined with increasing fuel costs, the price of that essential forage has doubled and even tripled in many areas of the country with large horse populations. Now, horse owners are experiencing yet another economy-induced increase: The cost of wood shavings, a byproduct of the slumping homebuilding business, has increased as availability has dwindled. Straw is at an all-time high, as well, and one industry expert believes those prices are likely to rise even more.

"There is no question that the cost of bedding for horses has increased," said David Brumfield, president of Brumfield Hay and Grain in Lexington. "Straw has gone up 24% in the last year, and shavings, when you can get them, are up almost 10% to 15%. I dread calling my customers because it seems that every time I talk to them, it is to tell them costs have risen again."

Brumfield's company supplies feed and bedding material to many Central Kentucky farms and to racetracks in Kentucky and Louisiana. He pointed to fuel as one of the main causes for the increase. Not only does the cost of fuel for transporting the feed and bedding affect the overall price of the items, but the increasing demand for biofuels also has created a shortage of certain crops that affects their prices as well.

"Corn has become a very important cash crop for farmers. Not corn for feeds, but corn for fuels. This has resulted in record-high prices for many agricultural commodities—corn obviously—but also wheat and soybeans," Brumfield said. "Fewer people are growing wheat; that also provides us with straw. Soybeans that are usually planted after the wheat and straw have been harvested are now being planted through the straw.

"In the past, farmers would harvest their wheat and then bale the straw. Today, fertilizer prices have gone up dramatically, so many farmers are leaving the straw on their fields instead of bailing it. The straw does have some nutrient value for the soil, and the farmers are using that to cut the costs of fertilization. Straw prices are not going to go down any time soon."

Robbie Gardner of Woodford Feed, a Versailles, Kentucky, farm-supply company, explained that many wheat and straw producers in Central Kentucky were hurt by weather last year as well. "The late frost we had last spring affected the wheat crop," Gardner said. "In some cases, the wheat did not grow as tall, and in others the wheat didn't grow at all.

"This has had an effect on the cost as well as the quality of straw we had from last year's crop. The straw that was harvested was also affected by the drought and was dustier than what many people would prefer."

Sawdust or shavings

Some people use wood sawdust and wood shavings as an alternative to straw as bedding for their horses. Because of their absorbency and odor-eliminating properties, wood shavings are the bedding most recommended for racehorses on furosemide.

In the past, horse owners were able to obtain wood shavings in bulk directly from lumber mills. "We used to take pickup trucks and load them up with shavings for our barns," said Frank Gassmann of Full Circle Farm in Pendleton, Kentucky.

"As it became more popular for use as a bedding, companies began bagging it and selling it. Shavings always were an economical alternative to straw as bedding. Now that is changing."

Woodford Feed customers have seen the prices rise as much as 30 cents a bag in the past three months. Gardner said, "We have a couple of different manufacturers that we rely upon to provide us with wood shavings for our customers, and they have both increased their prices."

Sawmill production across the country has diminished along with the demand for new houses. Lumber prices have fallen to such an extent in Oregon that 18 sawmills in the Pacific Northwest shut down temporarily last month, according to a recent Wall Street Journal story.

While production is down, the demand for sawdust and shavings has risen. Horses are not the only animals to benefit from these products. Perdue Farms, one of the nation's largest poultry producers, uses 7-million cubic feet of wood shavings a year as bedding for its animals.

With prices going up and availability going down, people wanting wood byproducts have become more resourceful. Wood is being salvaged from homes that are being demolished and from trees downed by the many storms that have plagued the nation this spring.   Not all the same

The problem for horses is that not all wood products are the same. Horse owners need to be very careful to use only those wood products that are safe for horses. Generally speaking, safe woods are soft woods like pine. Hardwoods can be a different story.

Walnut trees produce a toxic substance called juglone, which may be linked to laminitis in horses bedded on walnut shavings. In December, horses at an Illinois stable were afflicted with laminitis when shavings, some from walnut lumber, from a local furniture manufacturer were used as bedding in their stalls.

"No one is really certain what it is in black walnut shavings that causes the laminitis," said Dr. Elysia Schaefer, an equine surgery resident at the University of Illinois Veterinary Teaching Hospital, "but we do know that it takes a very small amount, as little as 5% of the shavings in a stall, for a horse to be seriously affected."

Bagged shavings sold as equine bedding should be free of toxic substances from hardwoods. Stephen Magee, sales and marketing manager for Koetter and Smith Inc., an Indiana hardwood recycling business, said, "The shavings we sell for equine bedding are primarily from pine and other woods used in housing construction. Walnut and cherry woods are more often used by furniture manufacturers."

Magee's business has been impacted by the sluggish economy. "The slowdown in the regional housing market has affected the availability of premium horse shavings drastically," he said. "The United States Department of Labor shows that manufacturing in Kentucky is down 3.5% from 2006.

"Not only has the supply dwindled, but pricing is at an all-time high in this market. For the customers that are comfortable with the product and have means to pass along a price increase to their end-users, the only issue has been waiting in line to get the product. We have seen a waiting list as long as eight weeks this year but have been able to keep our longtime customers supplied with shavings by turning away new shavings customers."

Magee said he hoped the housing market would pick up, as it usually does in the spring, which will mean wood shavings will be in ready supply again soon, and his company has explored alternatives to straw and wood shavings.

"The tight supply of horse shavings has afforded Koetter and Smith Inc. the opportunity to educate our customer base on a shavings alternative such as bedding pellets," he said. "Many customers have said they have never tried this product in the past, but found that bedding pellets are easier to pick, more absorbent, and quite affordable. The supply of bedding pellets in this region is good in comparison to shavings right now."

Bedding pellets also contain wood byproducts. Koetter and Smith's pellets are made of pine and poplar woods. Another choice, Box Stall Bedding, is manufactured by Full Circle Farm's Gassmann and his wife, Judy. Made of shredded, corrugated cardboard, it is absorbent and eco-friendly. "Box Stall Bedding will turn into beautiful mulch quicker than sawdust or shavings," Gassmann said. "It looks like potting soil when it has been mulched."

Scarcity of cardboard

The problem Gassmann faces is availability of cardboard. "Everyone is recycling now, and that is a good thing, but it does make it hard for us to get the quantity of cardboard that we need." So far, he has managed by working closely with his suppliers.

Randy Gullatt, manager of Twin Creeks Farm in Kentucky, has used Gassmann's alternative bedding and another similar product, Hunt Club Animal Bedding, for the horses in his care. "I think this type of bedding works very well," Gullatt said. "It is easier to clean out a stall, and the horses do well on it. I'd like to see a few other alternatives come out, though. I have heard good things about rice hulls, but I don't think you can get them very easily here."

Horse owners need to look carefully at substitutes for wood byproducts and straw as bedding. Absorbency is particularly important. It is hard to beat sawdust for absorbency, but sawdust can be very dusty as bedding. Peat moss can certainly match sawdust for soaking up urine, but mucking out wet peat moss can be a job for muscle builders.

Shredded paper can absorb moisture well, but it is possible that it might contain inks that are toxic to horses. Rice hulls may not provide the amount of cushion a horse owner wants for his animal. Peanut shells can harbor aflatoxins that can poison horses if ingested.

Finally, horse owners need to consider the disposal of the manure and bedding material. In today's ever more health-conscious society, people are taking a much closer look at what contaminants are going into groundwater supplies. A 1,000-pound horse is capable of producing nine tons of manure a year. Any manure-management plan should consider the impact the bedding material that comes along with that manure will have on the environment.

The challenge of obtaining clean, absorbent bedding material for horses will continue this year and probably into 2009 as the continuing slowdown in the building industry and higher fuel costs affect the availability of wood products and straw.

Transportation costs will only add to the price horsemen pay. With gasoline prices headed toward the $4-a-gallon mark in some areas this summer and diesel fuel almost there now, moving anything for any distance will be expensive. That includes bedding for horses.

Robin Stanback is a freelance writer based in Versailles, Kentucky