Eco Shavings supplies quality wood shavings to the poultry, piggery, equine and horticultural industries. All these milled shavings are derived from sustainably farmed sources, are kiln dried, and have a moisture content of approximately 6%.
Wood shavings emanate either as a waste product from the wood milling industry or as a manufactured product from an enterprise specifically established to manufacture wood shavings. There is no industry standard as to what makes up good shavings, however, the following is expected from the end-users:
- Shavings must be dry,
- Shavings may contain some sawdust however the lower the volume of sawdust the better is the perceived quality of the shavings,
- Shavings must be clear of debris and/or splinters of wood, and
- Shavings are not to be hard to touch.
End-users of shavings are now, more and more, starting to consider the biological control that has been maintained over the product. Certified biological clean shavings is a developing market trend and may result in the failure of companies not focused on these criteria and the emergence of others that have adjusted operations to satisfy changing market demands.
The market purchases shavings either per bag (bale) or per kg. The product does not facilitate the supply in bulk so regardless of the unit of sale shavings are usually supplied in bags. There is no industry standard on bag sizes, so sizes could vary considerably from one supplier to another.
Also, there is no standard as to the type of shavings required by each user. A “nest box shavings” could be used in nest boxes as easily as it could in broiler houses or in the equine or horticultural industry. The use of specific shavings is an end-user preference and is a subjective preference based on his/her own personal preferences.
The classification of shavings as “Nest Box or Floor or Equine or Horticultural” is a generalized description intended to reflect certain general industry norms.