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Saw Dust Uses

Started by SLawyer Dave, March 26, 2016, 12:34:21 AM

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SLawyer Dave

Just wondering what all of you people are using your saw dust for.

I have found it to be a great bedding material for the chicken coop and nesting boxes.  The saw dust mixed with the chicken waste then makes a nice compost for the garden.  I gather and keep the saw dust in a dry 55 gallon barrel.

MikeON

I use it for fuel for boiling maple sap. 
Woodmizer LT40HD Super.  WM Single Blade Edger,  John Deere 4310 tractor, M35A2C Deuce and a Half truck

WDH

I use mine to make piles  :D.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Magicman

I leave mine for the customer to make piles.   :D
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

WV Sawmiller

Dave,

   Most of my customers reserve a bag or barrel full for shop sweeping. Use it to soak up oil spill sand such. I'm thinking of taking a few feed sacks full to flea markets this summer and see if I can get rid of there. Mostly I just use as fill in low spots or burn it along with my slab piles.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

pabst79

 Dave, I was just talking to my wife yesterday about whether sawdust would make good bedding in the nesting boxes, so it works well eh? I usually use it for floor sweeping compound, except for the cherry sawdust that my neighbor brings me, that's strictly for the smoker  digin_2.
Not sure which came first, but I have chickens and eggs.

OneWithWood

If the sawdust is not well rotted it will strip nitrogen from the soil as it decomposes.  I would not recommend new sawdust for bedding.
One With Wood
LT40HDG25, Woodmizer DH4000 Kiln

gww

Sawdust is good to have around if you have an out house :).
gww

Gary_C

Sawdust from green wood has too much moisture to be used for bedding. It harbors too much bacteria. Depending on the source, it also can have too many fines that can cause respiratory problems in some animals.

Typically the shavings and chips that are used for animal bedding are kiln dried, screened to eliminate fines, compressed and bagged.

It can be composted but you have to turn/aerate it frequently to get it to decompose. The EPA says if you spill less than 5 gallons of oil, you can mix some organic material (sawdust) in with the soil and it will decompose the oil.
Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

WH_Conley

I save some Cedar sawdust to put in a tub for the Chickens to dust in. The Cedar will run the Chicken Lice off. When I clean out the Chicken house the manure goes to the sawdust pile where it gets stirred occasionally. That all goes in a long pile on the lower end of the farm. When good rich dirt is needed just go to the oldest end of the pile.
Bill

Ron Wenrich

I guess we better tell the farmers in our area not to use it for bedding.  They've been using it for years.  We deliver by the trailerload.  It gets used for dairy and for chickens.  They spread it on the fields, and turn it under after its used.  It can strip nitrogen from the soil, but that is primarily if there is no manure or other organic material with it.  That should help to offset the effect. 

I use sawdust as a bedding material in my hydroponics.  Seems to work okay.
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

Roxie

No one would want to use sawdust after Cowboy Bob is done with it.   ::)

He does have farmers fighting over his particular used sawdust. 
Say when

SLawyer Dave

I never thought about it being too fine.  Given I like to keep a sharp chain on my saw, generally the "dust" is pretty good size, so I don't think I will have much of a problem, but I could see the issue with real fine stuff. 

One of the problems with chicken manure is that it tends to be too high in nitrogen unless you compost it.  It will burn the roots of seedlings.  So I generally dump the nesting material into the manure and then spread it together in the garden as a top dressing.  While it may strip some nitrogen, the manure seems to more than make up for it, at least in my experience.


Sixacresand

People come by and see my trailer loaded with fresh sawdust and say "wow".  I ask them if they want some and they say "no".  I plan to mix some with chicken manure to experiment if I can compost it.  I have found that if you put a thick layer under the fence, it will keep the weeds down.  Other than that, dump it in the woods.
"Sometimes you can make more hay with less equipment if you just use your head."  Tom, Forestry Forum.  Tenth year with a LT40 Woodmizer,

69bronco

Been using in the garden for years. I lay it down 4-5" thick between the rows to hold down weeds and hold in moisture. In the fall I till it in, soil tests fine.

Peter Drouin

I trade it for cow pooo, Load for load with my 1 ton.
A&P saw Mill LLC.
45' of Wood Mizer, cutting since 1987.
License NH softwood grader.

r.man

Very few processes have true waste byproducts. I hear of producers that consider something a waste product in one area when it is being sold by others in the same area. I tend to think that the person involved either can't be bothered with marketing or doesn't want to put the product into the format that it can be sold in. I realize that this is a generalization but I have seen it happen at least three times locally where a byproduct was being given away until the person producing it noticed its popularity and started charging a fee that added up to a sizable amount over the course of a year.
Life is too short or my list is too long, not sure which. Dec 2014

Magicman

 

 
Here sawdust is being bagged for composting.  There are about 6 more bags beside the building in the background.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

NWP

I sell the sawdust from my processor by the dump trailer load to a woman that uses it for compost and some bedding. She takes all that I produce and she is only about 5 minutes from my wood yard. Not a big moneymaker but it gets rid of it, puts a few bucks in my pocket, and she's happy to get it
1999 Blockbuster 2222, 1997 Duratech HD10, 2021 Kubota SVL97-2, 2011 Case SV250, 2000 Case 1845C, 2004 Case 621D, John Deere 540A, 2011 Freightliner with Prentice 120C, 2012 Chevrolet, 1997 GMC bucket truck, several trailers, and Stihl saws.

Gary_C

When Using Green Sawdust, Take These Precautions to Minimize Risk

It's particularly troublesome with dairy cows but high bacteria counts can be trouble for any animal.
Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

Ron Wenrich

I read that before.  The farmers we sent to didn't have any problems.  I remember Penn State having a large dairy herd for the campus. I went to a mill and asked what they did with their sawdust.  They sent it to Penn State for their dairy bedding.   Penn State is a leading ag research college, and what they found was bark was more of a problem for mastitis.  We debarked our logs.  One thing about green dust, when its spread out, it dries quickly.  If you have a sanitary dairy barn, you shouldn't have problems.
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

Gary_C

Ron, Penn State's Dairy Operation has done and continues to do research on types of bedding including sawdust of all moisture contents to be used in dairy facilities. Here is their latest plan for BEDDING. And here is a Penn State Extension newsletter that discusses the question of bedding use. The New-Old Bedding Dilemma Incidentially one thing they do with green sawdust is to compost it first and the heat generated in the composting will actually sterilize and dry it for safer use.

While I have not been in the Penn State Dairy Facility, I used to know two of the dairy extension agents, now both retired at PSU. I have also been to the Cornell University Dairy Facility outside of Ithaca, NY and of course the University of Minnesota Dairy Facility in St. Paul. As far as I know, none of these universities recommends using green sawdust unless the farmer is prepared to intensively manage the bedding. In the one PSU tie stall barn where they do use sawdust as bedding but the back third of the stall is limed daily to keep down the bacteria.

The type of bedding used mostly in the new large free stall barns is sand but the issue with sand is it does not stay in place very well and can get into the manure holding facilities where it creates another problem.
Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

sandhills

I've never worked at a dairy that used saw dust but we used sand and yes Gary it does move, the farmer I worked for only milked 100-120 head and he could cover a quarter of ground with a years worth of manure (and then some).  I also helped another guy a few times and he used small square bales of straw blown out through a little push behind processer, it's all labor intensive and requires lime no matter what you use, you still get mastitis  :-\.

mesquite buckeye

The nitrogen that gets tied up as sawdust decomposes is rereleased as the decomposition proceeds. There is only a temporary loss of nitrogen. It is a net zero deal, but you end up with an improved soil from the enhancement of the organic matter component. ;D

We use our sawdust to grow saguaros as part of our potting mix. Our mix is well drained and we fertilize heavily both in the irrigation water and with time release fertilizer. The fertilizer more than compensates for the decomp losses. ;D 8) 8) 8) :snowball:
Manage 80 acre tree farm in central Missouri and Mesquite timber and about a gozillion saguaros in Arizona.

WV Sawmiller

   May be a little off track (Hey, what's unusual about that and at least it isn't sawdust burgers or other food yet) but it always amazed me how you could lift so much sawdust with a seed fork. I never understood the physics about why those tiny grains of sawdust didn't just slide out between the tines.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

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