Does anyone shred their own paper for bedding?

[stilltrying]

Random thought of the day....does anyone shred their own paper for bedding, or use shredded paper from an office (i.e. copy paper not newspaper)? Where I work loads of waste paper is generated and at the moment none of it is recycled. Does anyone use this sort of stuff for bedding rather than newspaper?
Thanks

 

[Aoibhin]

i have most of the family/neighbours delivering me there old paper to shred & i havent run out all winter despite them being in due to the foul weather.

we have a large commercal/office shredder that my old employers were getting rid of due to a bare wire (so easily replaced though)

 

[natalia]

Yes, my mares are both on rubber matting with shredded paper. Cheap as chips!

 

[Ali2]

I found that shredded office paper was rubbish - not very absorbent. Newspaper or cardboard is good.

I have a local small business owner who saves me all his cardboard (does him a favour as he doesn't have to pay to get rid of it or drive it to the recycle and does me a favour as I get free bedding) I shred it myself and use it as an 'underlay' under my shavings bed. Its much more absorbent than shavings and knits together really well holding the wet in one place. It is heavy when its wet though.

 

[Aoibhin]

i personally found paper very absorbant & really quick & easy to muck out but it is personal preferance, SWA hates cardboard in his bed, wont lay down & gets a right cob on but a just paper bed he rolls for a good 10 mins whilst squealing like a stuck pig.

 

[stilltrying]

Thanks...guess its just trial and error. I have vowed this will be my last winter on straw!

 

[daizylindsay]

I don't shred my own but I do use paper bedding from HossBed which comes out at £4.25 a bale with free delivery, also they use a small van and pack 70 bales inwhich is great for me as access is a no go for anything over 7.5tonne where we are.

 

[1987]

How much paper is needed for a stable? I am thinking about looking into it for next winter but haven't a clue how much paper I will have to collect and then shred.

 

[Clannad48]

We use paper bedding in the summer and shavings in the winter - the only thing I would say is to use cross-cut shredded paper if you are going to use paper from work - also make sure that there are no staples in it - we found that if you used the single shredded (long strands) it tended to cause problems with the horse dragging it round the stable - ours didn't mind it but our friends pony was really irritated by it following him around the stable - he didn't seem to realise he had it wrapped around his hooves!

 

[Spit That Out]

Hi, My friend uses paper and everyone at the yard collects paper from all sources for her i.e Paper from the office, newspapers, bills - i love shredding them especially!!!! . She has put a black bin in our brew room so people can deposit papers for her.
I work in a large Head Office and we send off approx 15 - 20 bags a week of paper for recycling so might be worth going around a few business's and seeing if they will give you any paper?
Get yourself a really good shredder...mine can only do 2 sheets of A4 at a time and needs a rest after 10 mins to cool down so invest in one that can cope with the amount of paper you are going to shred!!!
Allot of people turn their noses up at shredding your own bedding but it's cheap, soft, absorbent, rots down and your doing your bit for the environment