Woodchip bedding

badtoro

It's said that high prices cure high prices, usually I would agree, except in the case of the upward trend in straw prices. I am not convinced these prices will decline any time soon due to straw being chopped and ploughed back into the ground, burnt, and our increasingly unpredictable weather.

In Wales there is something called the Pontbren project. An incomplete description is where upland farmers have planted a significant number of trees and hedging for varied reasons - flood mitigation, shelter, biodiversity, and what I am interested in, woodchip bedding.

As a farmer myself I am also interested in many of the positive aspects of the Pontbren project. I intend to plant trees mainly, in clusters. What I would lime to know is woodchip just woodchip, should I go ahead and plant what I think is the most suitable tree species for my location, or are there better suited species for this job?

I'm leaning towards woodchip being woodchip.

Following on from that, what is the process, I presume cut the Tree in Winter or Spring before the nesting season, does it then need seasoning, or is it chipped then dried, and how is this done?

Knowledge base is quite low on this as is obvious from my post. I understand that woodchip can take a significant time to compost, but that that compost can be used again for bedding before being composted again and sold on to gardeners possibly?

blue5000

I think the logs are cut and stacked for two years before chipping to try get the MC down to around 20%.

Blackcurrants

Good morning all,
We buy in timber, dry it and sell it as dried chip. Timber prices are as high as I have known them at the moment including the lower grade pulp wood which is whats used to make woodchip. We've been approached by many local farmers and animal owners about supplying them with chip for bedding.

The problem is that the cost for bedding is too high. We sell chip per tonne or going forward per Kwh. So the drier the chip is, the more expensive it is as it contains less water and therefore more energy. Chipping dry timber is quite a bit slower than fresh timber and you have to dry it for anywhere between 6 months and 2 years to get the desired Moisture content (MC%). We aim for below 20% mc for our chip and this makes it very stable for storage and will no spoil. Fresh sitka is one of the wetter species coming in at between 55 and 65%mc. The more green material and moisture you have in your chip the more likely it is to heat and decompose.

I can't imagine that bedding chip needs to be anywhere near as high quality as woodfuel does so perhaps the answer is to look to chip fresh timber bi-products like tops and branches. Perhaps a large scale landscape gardener might have the right product as i think they have to pay to dispose of this.

handlemaster

What about planting Bamboo , this grass grow very quickly . Might be an option. Cut and chip once a year