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Copyright © 2001 Eastern Ontario Farmers Forum Inc. All Rights Reserved |
This stuff even keeps the flies away
Here’s a bedding that keeps the flies away, keeps the cows clean and it’s free.
More than 100 farmers from London to Madoc have switched to this paper sludge product to bed their cattle. Called Nitro-sorb bedding, you can get it free within a few hours drive of Oshawa, where the product was developed by a beef farmer.
Bob Campsall says if farmers farther east than Madoc want his product he’ll have to charge a handling fee. As is stands, Campsall is paid to take away the paper waste from an Oshawa recycling plant so he can afford to use the recycled newsprint and cardboard, mix it using his own recipe and deliver it without charge. The bedding is roughly 60 per cent organic matter (reclycled material) and 40 per cent kaolin clay, he said.
"I like everything about it," he said. "I’ll tell you one drawback. It’s a little high in moisture, more than some farmers would like to see."
The benefits are surprising:
· The clay picks up the nutrients in the manure and releases them slowly if used to fertilize a field;
· Binding up manure, the bedding keeps the cattle clean and shiny.
· Flies are not attracted to the barn. "This (bedding) is a clean carbon source," says Campsall. "You don’t see flies. That’s a major benefit."
· Disease is reduced. "I’ve used it (bedding) for four years and four years of calving have not treated one with scoures. It will also reduce strawberry foot. The skin on teats will be softer."
Call Bob Campsall at 905-261-4301.