wood shavings ,

Inclusive, I think... I'm not that good on prices, you see, I order my stuff, it arrives couple of days later, then the bill turns up at the end of the month and then I pay it 30 days later... can't say I look at it particularly carefully :o I figure that they have to be fed and bedded, so there isn't much point in deliberating prices :D;)
 
Our hunter shavings have just gone upto £7.95. Which is cheap considering yo buys in bulk and even when she buys 90bales it works out £8.25
 
Mike007 said:
what do you pay for them ? Do you believe all the sales talk about how dry they are etc.?
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£7 for good quality they vary make to make, size of flakes and volume, sometimes the cheapest work out more expensive!!!
not had any wet but I'm not keen on the ones made from sawmill residue of tree processing, kiln dryed waste soft wood seems best...
 
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diet2ride said:
Our hunter shavings have just gone upto £7.95. Which is cheap considering yo buys in bulk and even when she buys 90bales it works out £8.25
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really? have you seen the YO's bills? I only ask as I get my hunter and snowflake for £6 delivered and that can even be for just one bale.
 
I have just paid £5.85 per bale from the local farmers supply. They are great quality and always have plenty in stock. Oh, and this included VAT
 
Apparantly its all a big con. Im told they are all the same shavings but just bagged for different companies. Our supplier brings the same shavings from the same supplier, some in Hunter bags, some plain bags, some Melorvale sp, both blue and red bags. All are the same price £5, YO buys in bulk though.
On a previous yard though we did get some cheaper ones which were ermmm... dust!!
 
Louby said:
Apparantly its all a big con. Im told they are all the same shavings but just bagged for different companies. Our supplier brings the same shavings from the same supplier, some in Hunter bags, some plain bags, some Melorvale sp, both blue and red bags. All are the same price £5, YO buys in bulk though.
On a previous yard though we did get some cheaper ones which were ermmm... dust!!
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Just like bread then.......

My brother worked at a local distribution depot about 8 yrs ago - bread came in from the 1 maker, but bagged according to the supermarket it was going to.
 
I pay £5 a bale including VAT and delivery, I get 60 delivered at a time, so get a bulk discount, not sure how much a bale would be if I didn't buy in bulk.
 
Hunters are £8.90 a bale here, VAT included.

Other brands are not as good: we had a brief shortage in this area and I had to use non-branded stuff-horrendous and not absorbent. I might investigate Auboise but would like recommendations first.

The sales talk persuaded me into Hunters and I am loyal to the brand now because I think they are better than other brands.
 
irish_only said:
So spill Mike007. Am curious.
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OK ,Time to explain. I have just bought a machine that produces two tonnes per hour of woodshavings . I shall now be converting all my sawmill waste into nice fluffy shavings. The thing is that with that kind of capacity I can buy in pulp logs and convert them too and sell them on. The thing is that the big companies all go on about how they dry the shavings,but I am not entirely convinced that it actually matters . Take my horse for example, His bed consists of about 5/6 bales.He has two fresh bales per week (say 50 kg). He drinks seven gallons per day (30 kg of water). There is no way that drying the shavings can blot up all that urine he will produce. I strongly suspect that the real reason they dry the shavings (which is a very expensive process)is that the bales would heat up and not store well. So this is why I was interested in costs and experience of the kiln dried shavings .
 
im not sure about the process of making them but i defo agree that they defo vary between brand... you cant beat hunters although they are now pushing £9 a bale here so when im skint i order in the bed down ones instead (they are £6.75 but smaller bales so prob not much cheaper in the long run!).... the other place i sometimes order from make their own (similar to you i guess) but they are definitely dustier and the absorbancy is poor and to add insult to injury he charges £7.50 a bale for them which in my opinion is far to expensive for what they are so unless im desperate i wont use them! nor will most of our yard!!!

but if they were cheaper then we probably would cos times are hard what with the price of hay and all that so if you price realistically then you'll probably be on to a winner!

p.s - the large flake ones like bedmax seem to offer good absorbancy and produce a lovely fluffy bed!
 
I used Bedmax, get them delivered (free delivery) for £7.25 inclusive of VAT....they were £7.00 incl until last delivery (VAT increase!)

I like the Bedmax because the smaller bits drop through and absorb, and the bigger flakes sit on top in a nice crispy layer.
 
Mike007 said:
OK ,Time to explain. I have just bought a machine that produces two tonnes per hour of woodshavings . I shall now be converting all my sawmill waste into nice fluffy shavings. The thing is that with that kind of capacity I can buy in pulp logs and convert them too and sell them on.
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That's how the shavings we use are made. Absorbency seems to relate more to the type of wood used, rather than to anything else. I have actually found our sawmill ones to be better than commercial shavings, as occasionally we run out (holidays etc) and have to buy a 'normal' bale - the difference is huge. The 'normal' shavings soak up the wee on point of entry, so the bed is wet at the top. The sawmill ones let the wee go through then soak it up from the bottom - hence a drier bed.

If you want to produce and sell shavings for horse use though, I believe there's some kind of control on that, as the wood pellets produced for fires are cheaper than those for horses, and specifically say not for animal use - think it's a VAT charge or something.

Also consider that other local places (if you have furniture making companies etc in your area) probably already do sell their bagged up shavings for very little, to those that know about them - I've known of some places to give them away for free, as it costs them a lot per year to have them collected and incinerated otherwise. We pay about £5 for 8-9 bags, and that'll last us two weeks.
 
Sorry just re read your post. Our batches do vary from week to week, despite being bagged in varying companies names. Some seem much fluffier, bigger flakes, more absorbant that others. We once got some from another supplier, were a bit cheaper, looked fantastic as in lovely big flakes that went really far but the absorbancy was awful. They were crispier, if that makes sense so I suppose from a hard wood???? We just ended up with soggy beds :(
 
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