Matey Feathers
Member
Hi is anyone on here having problems with lumps of wood and spickey pieces of wood in the bags they open. This has been every bag I open been for a few months now .This bedding ain’t cheap. Thanks.
Natural flake shavings
- Thread starter Matey Feathers
- Start date
poiuytrewq
Well-Known Member
I hate the stuff. I once asked them why it was so dusty for dust extracted bedding and they blamed the way it was transported and stored!
Matey Feathers
Member
They seemed to have gone downhill, I’ve used them for years and never had any problems they used to smell nice but even the fresh smell has gone.
Love
Well-Known Member
Yes!! I thought it was just me being cynical but I have found exactly this. (Haven’t found it dusty though). wondering if they throw off cuts in to “make up” the weight?
And it is increasingly getting like gold dust to source - the theory at our local supplier is more is being sent for biomass as they get more money for that?
And it is increasingly getting like gold dust to source - the theory at our local supplier is more is being sent for biomass as they get more money for that?
outdoor girl
Well-Known Member
I've noticed pieces of wood in the shavings as well. Has anybody else thought that the bags are lighter in weight too?
poiuytrewq
Well-Known Member
To be fair I used it a while ago on horses. More recently I bought a bale for my rabbits and it wasnt dusty.
Shockingly expensive! I couldn’t afford to bed a horse on shavings anymore.
Shockingly expensive! I couldn’t afford to bed a horse on shavings anymore.
PurBee
Well-Known Member
Yes the shavings i get can have large splints of wood in the bags. Not always, but more often than not. I would mind if they were small blocks of wood, but they are large splints like daggers, so i fork through the bale as i spread it to check and remove the potentially dangerous large spikes!
Weight of bags is a sore spot. Make an extra 10k in profits by reducing weight by 2 kilo’s….so they do. One supplier of miscanthus started off with 18kg bags, and by the time i boycotted his company the bags were literally 10kg (i weighed them) - same SIZE bag, just loose packed….same price tho’!
Weight of bags is a sore spot. Make an extra 10k in profits by reducing weight by 2 kilo’s….so they do. One supplier of miscanthus started off with 18kg bags, and by the time i boycotted his company the bags were literally 10kg (i weighed them) - same SIZE bag, just loose packed….same price tho’!
Matey Feathers
Member
I worry about the sharp pieces and try my best to remove them but I always find more the next day. Have tried other bedding but go back to these as my horse has cpl and can’t have straw. I would buy other shavings but as I’m on a livery yard have to use what they supply. It’s such a nice yard and don’t want to move.
Matey Feathers
Member
Definitely not the same weight anymore.
Matey Feathers
Member
Definitely not the same weight anymore as I can lift them easily now.
PurBee
Well-Known Member
Sounds like yours are littered with pieces of wood. Mine, despite being huge 6 inch daggers of wood, are easy to spot when i spread out the bale, and so i remove just 1 mostly per bag. The rest is shavings.
If i found a handful in every bag i’d be in contact with the company to let them know of the issue.
With mine i have reasoned it must be the end of the tree branch that gets flicked by the blades into the shaving bag - a bit like woodchippers chip small pieces, but the end of the stick it’ll grab and throw that in the bag.
If i found many sharp pieces as you describe i’d be onto the manufacturers to let them know there’s an issue. They usually are easy to email. Sometimes they have no awareness there’s an issue as quality control can lax after set-up of equipment.
Take clear pics of a bale spread out with spikes in and collect the amount of sharp pieces you find, photographing them clearly so they can see their size. Usually pics help them chase-up issues.
In your case, you’d need YO to help to tell you who they get your shavings from, so you can alert the company to the issue, if YO doesnt have time to do it themselves.
Matey Feathers
Member
They already know yard owner got in touch and sent a photo of the wood pieces, The shavings have been replaced. I have used a few bags but still finding shards of wood and larger pieces of wood.
TPO
Well-Known Member
I've got a horse with asthma so I'm always on the look out for better dust free bedding.
I'm currently using Little Max. It's cheaper than natural flake [from my supplier] and it is the lowest dust Shavings I've tried.
Doesn't help if ghe yard won't change but if they are looking for options Little Max has been good for me.
PurBee
Well-Known Member
In that case, i personally would switch suppliers.
As you’re on a yard and YO controls bedding supplied, its their responsibility to provide safe bedding for a horse to lay on. God forbid anything should occur, but IF it did, they’d be liable as they a) knew about the issue, B) unsuccessfully alerted the supplier who hasn’t altered their methods to produce safe bedding, so C) means they, in full knowledge, continued to provide bedding that was *potentially* unsafe. Their liability insurance can be claimed against if any injuries/vet fees occurred due to bedding injury.
All the above is the legal side of things if it ever were to come to that, so i’d continue to alert YO that there are still sharp splints of wood in the bedding, and ask if they can change suppliers. I probably would hunt out some local other suppliers and give them a print-out of prices/delivery price etc to make their job easier to switch.
I can imagine some yards stick to less-than-ideal suppliers as they hate change and dont have time to be searching for better supplies, so helping them with the shopping around for good prices could be a big help, and be the push they need to try somewhere else.