DE20018383U1 - Litter for animal husbandry - Google Patents

Description

26.10.2000 SC/sh 600353G

Marcel Raimund Engels
Junkerstrasse 53
D-53567 Buchholz

Bedding for livestock farming

The present invention relates to a bedding for animal husbandry, in particular for horse husbandry, which comprises proportions of wood shavings and proportions of straw.

Such bedding materials are generally known and are usually in the form of pellets. For example, the German patent application DE 198 24 132 shows such bedding in pellet form.

Due to the relatively complex manufacturing process and the additional components of the bedding that are required, pellets are relatively expensive. Another major disadvantage of pelleted bedding as a solid substance is that the pellets expand when in contact with liquid, which can be life-threatening for the animals. Although the pellets often contain bitter substances that are intended to prevent them from being ingested by the animals, this cannot always be prevented. When the animals ingest the pellets, they come into contact with body fluids, for example with

Saliva, stomach fluid and drinking water come into contact with the pellets, which has the same effect as on the stable floor. Numerous animals have already died painfully due to the expansion of the pellets in the stomach or digestive tract.

It is also known that both wood shavings and straw can be used as bedding for livestock. The main disadvantage of using wood shavings is that they are very expensive to dispose of, which makes wood shavings uneconomical as bedding material despite their long shelf life. Most farmers do not like to spread the resulting manure on their fields because the decomposition process takes longer than with other types of bedding. In addition, the purchase price is relatively high, especially when using wood shavings. Wood shavings are also unable to bind the ammonia contained in animal urine to a sufficient extent.

The disadvantage of using straw as bedding, in addition to the cost, is that the straw clumps together due to leftover roughage combined with its relatively high density, which means it loses its advantages of high absorbency. It is therefore necessary to keep the straw loose at all times, which involves a lot of work in order to provide the horses with healthy bedding. This is a significant cost factor, which leads many farms to cut back on staff and other costs at the expense of the animals' health. The actual reduction in manure volume, which is due to the fine nature of the straw, is also negated by poor care of the bedding.

The object of the invention is therefore to create a bedding of the type mentioned at the beginning that is easy and inexpensive to produce, which is characterized as a purely biological product and with long-term great looseness by a high absorbency and a very low risk of clumping with only a small amount of work. -

This object is achieved according to the invention by a bedding according to claim 1. It is essential that the straw portions consist of shredded and dried flax plants, wherein these straw portions are formed by flax shives from broken flax straw, which have a weight proportion of between 50% and 80% of the bedding and wherein the proportion of wood chips is between 20% and 50%.

By avoiding the disadvantages mentioned above, a particularly inexpensive bedding is obtained in this way. In order to obtain the fibers and/or oil from the flax plants, the flax straw must be broken, whereby the cockroaches are a waste product and are therefore particularly inexpensive to obtain.

By using broken flax straw in combination with wood shavings, the absorbency of the bedding can be increased to around 450%-500%. Due to this high absorbency, the animals are considerably drier than with the previously known types of grain bedding. The ammonia contained in the animals' urine can be bound for a period of up to 6 weeks. Flax straw can also be compressed to around half its actual volume, which means it can be packaged in a space-saving manner. It is particularly advantageous if only cleaned flax shives are processed, so that it is also very advantageous for allergy sufferers. In addition, its fine texture makes it very easy to spread on fields as manure. The disposal costs are therefore very low for a very good fertilizer material. Over-acidification of the soil is ruled out due to the relatively low wood content.

Another significant advantage is that the bedding according to the invention is generally not consumed by horses in particular. This has the advantage that feeding, for example

The additional feeding of roughage can be precisely controlled and thus colic in particular is a rarity.

By combining wood shavings with scrapings of dried flax straw in the ratio according to the invention, a particularly loose bedding is obtained that makes clumping impossible even with little effort. The volume of the bedding is increased by about half. This creates a moisture-permeable floor that is similar to forest floor, which is an ideal floor, especially for horses, and which could not actually be produced with any of the previously known types of bedding.

Because the bedding is constantly loose, the flax straw retains its high absorbency for a long time. The long-term binding of ammonia also means that odors are particularly low and respiratory problems are significantly reduced.

The loosening achieved in this way significantly reduces the weight of the bedding while increasing its volume, making it easier to handle and maintain. As the amount of time required is significantly reduced, further significant costs can be saved.

Another cost-saving factor in bedding is that the mixture according to the invention can be compressed considerably for storage, which significantly reduces the need for storage space.

Another significant advantage is that the bedding according to the invention creates ideal conditions for maintaining the health and well-being of horses in particular, but also for other animal species, such as small animals. The animals' bone and muscle structure is only stressed to a very small and natural extent due to the bedding's composition, which is similar to that of forest floor.

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The high looseness of the bedding according to the invention can be further increased in a particularly advantageous manner by using at least predominantly wood shavings as the wood shavings. Optimum results can be achieved by ensuring that the proportion of wood shavings is made up entirely of wood shavings.

To ensure that the bedding smells pleasant, it is particularly beneficial if the bedding also contains essential and/or vegetable oils. This can also bind any residual dust that may be present.

A particularly high level of security against ingestion by animals can be achieved by adding bitter substances to the bedding. But even without the addition of bitter substances, ingestion of the bedding according to the invention, especially by horses, only occurs in very rare cases.

By using flax shives from dried flax straw in combination with wood chips in the mixing ratio according to the invention, a bedding can be obtained which, despite the numerous advantages mentioned above, causes only very low costs both in production and in daily use.

Claims (4)

1. Bedding for animal husbandry, in particular for horse husbandry, which has proportions of wood shavings and proportions of straw, characterized in that the proportions of straw consist of shredded and dried flax plants, these straw proportions being formed by flax shives from broken flax straw, which have a weight proportion of between 50% and 80% of the bedding, and wherein the weight proportion of the wood shavings is between 20% and 50%. 2. Litter according to claim 1, characterized in that the wood chips are at least predominantly formed by wood shavings. 3. Litter according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it contains essential and/or vegetable oils. 4. Litter according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that it contains bitter substances.