By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Ten years ago the use of shredded newspaper as animal bedding in this country was at an all-time high. Recycling plants were offering very little in return for old newspaper and that bedding was inexpensive and plentiful.

Things have changed. According to researchers at Ohio State University, animal bedding options are aplenty and straw has become the bedding of choice. Aspen wood, wood flour, pine shavings and red cedar chips are preferred by some, with corrugated cardboard, corncob grindings and peanut hulls next in line.

“Farmers in Ohio and Indiana have access to so much straw, that’s what most are using,” said Phil Myers, Clark County extension educator for Agriculture and National Resources. “You get some of the show pig people and the small hog producer, who will use strictly wood shavings, if they’re using any at all. I know some people use still newspaper, but not as many these days.”

And that puzzles researchers at OSU, who say the benefits of using newspaper outweigh other bedding products. A recent OSU study on this subject analyzed newsprint with black ink and examined the paper as bedding and its absorption and decomposition.

The bedding was evaluated in terms of management and disposal, taking into account the animal behavior and aesthetics. In this study the newsprint bedding was shredded into small bales.

Evaluators commented on the ease of use, stall maintenance, storage and disposal of the newsprint.

They also observed animal behavior, such as grazing on the newsprint, grooming of the animals and insulation qualities. The general appearance of barns and fields were qualitatively assessed as to dust levels and stall and barn appearance.

The findings of the study favor the use of newsprint. For starters, the newsprint bedding was less expensive and more absorbent. Shredded newspaper still sells or $10-$75 per ton. While this price fluctuates, it generally stays below the price of other bedding material.

The studies also confirm that newspaper is two to three times more absorbent than all other conventional beddings.

In the past many farmers worried about heavy metals used in newspaper ink. Until 10 years ago, lead, cadmium and other toxic metals were common in paper inks. But nowadays many publishers use organic pigments, the same found in tattoos, lipstick, hair coloring and other cosmetics. Soy ink is a perfect example of this safe ink (and what Farm World uses).

Despite this study, ag agents surveyed in southwestern Ohio say straw is still preferred over newsprint.

“One of the advantages of using straw with ruminant animals such as sheep and goats is when they pick at the bedding, it helps them by giving them some micro-nutrients,” said Myers, who was also once a livestock farmer.

Compared to other forms of bedding, less newspaper is needed to bed on a daily basis. A comparative study in Pennsylvania with dairy cows revealed a need for 28 pounds per day of sawdust, compared to just 4.2 pounds of chopped newspaper.

While newsprint decomposes readily when saturated with livestock, applying it on a field may test one’s nerves. “When using newsprint, cleanup can become a problem because you can’t put it in a manure spreader like you normally do with straw,” Myers said.

He and others believe the low cost of conventional animal bedding has recently steered farmers away from using old newsprint.

Using newspaper for animal bedding is not a new idea. The USDA began studying the use of newsprint in the late 1960s. Even when favorable results were documented, newspaper did not become popular like other conventional bedding materials because their prices were generally low, with large amounts of straw and sawdust available in a readily usable form.

In the mid-1980s paper was again the choice for bedding.

The large volume of paper on the market, and the decline in availability of conventional bedding because of dry weather, increased interest in paper as a bedding material. In 1991, newspapers used 330,000 tons of newsprint – good thing, because the wet spring of 1992 made farmers consider it for bedding once again.