Part of your new year’s resolution might have been to get a better night sleep. You might have done this by gracefully managing your sleeping arrangements. Should this be any different for your animals? We have recently touched on the importance of providing high quality equine bedding for your horses. So, why don’t we look at the importance of your quality cubicle bedding. Statista have advised that the amount of milk consumed by the British people has only increased year by year. Research conduct suggests that over 15 billion litres of milk were produced in 2021 alone to help satisfy the ever increasing demand. This perfectly illustrates the need to pay particular attention to your cattle’s wellbeing this coming year as we can only expect milk production to increase. Being an established company providing high quality cubicle bedding in Staffordshire, we have collected quite the plethora of information. We pride ourselves on ensuring your animal bedding is up to the best possible standard. Comfortable Bedding A commonly cited fact is that cows spend over 14 hours a day lying down. If your cows could tell you anything, we are pretty sure they would tell you they would love comfortable bedding. A run of cubicle bedding is designed to maximise comfort. This is evident by the fact that cubicle beds allow for ample sleeping space and the handy ability to lunge forward as they rise for feeding purposes. Alongside the fact that by providing them with one of our industry leading cubicle beds to maximise their comfort. This can also lead to increased milking production as lying down more comfortably helps blood circulation. Preventing Diseases Cattle are susceptible to a vast selection of diseases. These diseases include, but are not limited to: Babesiosis, Clostridiosis and Mastitis. Research has found that one of the most effective ways to to prevent these diseases is by providing your cows with clean top quality bedding. Agri-Dust & Agri-Soft Dust When improving your cow’s bedding arrangements you might want to consider what they are lying on. We have already advised that using inadequate soft dust can cause abrasions in your cow’s udder which will drastically affect your cow’s health. Luckily, we have two fantastic offerings...
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The temperatures have started to drop and winter is truly on its way, but what does this mean for our horses? As the leading provider of equine bedding across the country, PH Winterton understands the importance of keeping your horses healthy during the colder months of the year. For our latest blog, we will share some essential winter care tips to help you get through without any issues. Do daily routines change? It is common practice to turn horses out all summer and then stabling them during the winter, which represents a substantial change in their diet and management. We would advise completing this gradually over 10-14 days to help prevent colic. Start this change by bringing your horse in for a few hours a day with hay then slowly increase the amount of time to help avoid sudden disruptions to their routine i.e being out all the time to being based in a stable for a large chunk of the day. With reduced daylight hours and poor weather, it can be challenging to maintain your horse’s fitness with some owners deciding to give horses a rest period at this time or riding less. What are winter ailments for horses? The winter months can increase the risk of your horse developing conditions such as mud fever and rain scald due to wet and muddy conditions. Mud fever explained Mud fever is usually caused by bacteria and can be common in winter when horses are exposed to persistent wet, muddy conditions. Wet conditions will cause the skin to soften and mud rubs against this softened skin which causes damage to the surface where bacteria can enter. What is rain scald? Rain scald is a non-contagious skin condition caused by the same bacteria as mud fever. Scabs form in places along the horse’s neck, back and hindquarters instead of the lower legs. Why is high-quality equine bedding so important? One of the most important parts of keeping your horses happy during winter, and any other time of the year, is giving them the best equine bedding to rest on. PH Winterton offers three different kinds of horse bedding to suit all customer requirements. These include our premium brand Cheshire Choice, our...
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Converting to bulk rather than bagged horse shavings bedding is one way that stables can save on expenses. It can feel like you are throwing money away with bagged bedding, as you you have to buy the bedding plus the expense of cleaning it and then disposing of it. When buying bags of bedding this can add up fast, whereas bulk buying can save on expenses. Bulk horse shavings have a smaller price tag because of the economies of scale. Since bulk materials arrive loose, either in a trailer or the back of a dump truck, there is no plastic waste. Stables focused on environmental impact can use bulk products to help cut down on non-recyclable plastic. Reliable supplier of horse shavings Find a reliable supplier (such as PH Winterton) is the key to success with bulk bedding. Once you decide to bulk buy bedding you will need a place to store it. This could be a designated shed, a corner of the arena, underneath a lean-to or in a covered trailer that is used to pick up the bedding are all common choices. Ensure you pick a spot that is out of the weather and convenient to use so that it is not a battle at chore time. PH Winterton sources a number of our horse bedding products from sawmill waste collections, which can also be used for biomass fuel. Not only are sawdust and shavings useful for the maintenance of livestock, but they can also be used to make sawdust mulch. The sawdust is mixed with compost or grass clippings to produce a mulch that is extremely effective for acid-loving plants and helps your plants prosper. Contact us with any questions If you have any questions about equine bedding, please do not hesitate to get in touch with PH Winterton now. Our horse bedding products are available to customers across the country including deliveries to Worcestershire and...
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If you have never invested in horse bedding such as shavings before, you may not know about the different types available on the market. PH Winterton is a specialist in equine bedding, with three different types of bedding to suit any requirement or budget. Understanding Horse Bedding Wood Shavings – Wood shavings have been a popular horse bedding for decades now. They are often used for horses that suffer from respiratory disease or those that eat other types of bedding. Sawmill waste shavings, such as those provided by PH Winterton, are the most popular as they are high quality and have a low dust content. Wood shavings also provide excellent support for the horse’s hooves as they compact inside them. They are typically packed in polythene wrapped bales which makes them easy to stack and store – meaning you will be able to buy in bulk if that’s your preference. Flax and hemp – Flax and hemp bedding materials are often more expensive which limits their appeal. Also, there have been instances of horses eating the bedding. The same as wood shavings they are packaged in heavy-duty plastic bags for easy storage. Paper – Paper is usually shredded and consists of a mix of newspaper, magazines and other unwanted printed matter, with differing absorbency. The long paper stripes tend to be harder to muck out as they can stick together and become difficult to separate from the droppings. While cheap, paper, when wet, can become very soggy and less user-friendly. Rubber matting – Rubber matting is often considered a partial alternative to bedding in stables. Some people will combine horse bedding with rubber matting. Rubber matting on its own can lead to wet floors, dirty rugs and horses. The majority of horses don’t like to urinate on hard surfaces, so adding bedding such as shavings help prevent this issue. Hygiene standards need to be observed when using rubber matting, as they will need to be uplifted and thoroughly cleaned underneath to prevent a build-up of ammonia and dirty bedding material. Get horse shavings in bulk from PH Winterton If you have any questions about PH Winterton’s range of horse bedding, please do not hesitate to contact us now. We...
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Here at PH Winterton and Son, we know the benefit of using a renewable energy source such as biomass fuel and how it impacts our environment. It has recently been announced that the UK government will be investing £4 million in biomass products across 24 projects. For this blog, we will tell you all you need to know about this investment and why biomass remains the best sustainable energy source. What was announced? Projects (including start-ups and family-run businesses to research institutes and universities, will receive funding of up to £200,0000 from the Government’s Biomass Feedstocks Innovation Programme to produce low-carbon energy using organic materials. These projects will boost the productivity of biomass in the UK, with projects such as breeding, planting, cultivating and harvesting organic energy materials. UK Energy Minister Lord Callanan said, “We are backing UK innovators to ensure we have a homegrown supply of biomass materials, which is part of our wider plans to continue driving down carbon emissions as we build back greener.” UK Net Zero business champion Andrew Griffith added, “Innovation is crucial to achieving a low carbon future and it’s fantastic that the UK is home to so much world-leading entrepreneurial talent that will help us meet our climate change commitments.” Trusted suppliers of Biomass Fuel Here at PH Winterton, we are proud to be part of the approved Biomass Supplier List from the UK government. The Biomass Suppliers List (BSL) was introduced in April 2014 by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), which was formerly the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). Using biomass fuel pellets allows participants in the Renewable Heating Incentive (RHI) to easily demonstrate to Ofgem that the fuel used in biomass boilers meets the RHI sustainability criteria needed to claim their RHI payments. The fuel you will receive from PH Winterton is environmentally friendly and highly efficient meaning you will save money on energy bills whilst protecting the environment. All of the sawmill waste we create our biomass pellets with is of uniform size and debris-free from harmful contaminants such as metal which reduces emissions of the gases responsible for acid rain plus cut down CO2 emissions. If you have any questions, please do...
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If you have decided to start using biomass fuel as your main heating source, you may not know that there is both wood chip and wood pellets available for the boilers. Here at PH Winterton, we specialise in wood pellets, sourced from our sawmill waste collection service. For our latest post, we will look at the differences between the two types of biomass fuel. Wood Chip Biomass Fuel Explained Wood chips are small pieces of wood that have been cut to between 5mm and 50mm and are used instead of larger twigs and dust-like particles If large twigs are included they can block the wood chip boiler feed system and if they are too small (as in dust-like particles) they can upset the combustion of the boiler. The same situation can occur from high bark content, meaning care is needed in the quality of the wood chip, which is dictated by the raw material, chipper type and sharpness of blade plus handling. In order to produce wood chip fuel, trees are coppiced and the offcuts are chipped and then dried until the chip moisture meets required standards Wood Pellet Fuel Explained Wood pellets are made up of sawdust or fine shavings of wood extruded under pressure so that the wood resin binds the material into cylindrical shapes between 6mm and 10mm in diameter and 10mm and 30mm long No artificial chemicals are added to wood pellets but starch or cornflour is sometimes used to improve stability. This results in a high-density fuel with low moisture contents, which is less bulky to transport and store Choosing between these fuel types is often made during the planning of your boiler system design. The transport and storage needed will often dictate which fuel type you decide on. What are the benefits of biomass wood fuels? Can be compacted into deliverable packets which can be easily delivered and stored at sites Less variation in moisture content and physical form Flow characteristics make them easier to deliver Are there any other considerations? Biomass boilers can be set up for both wood pellet and wood chip fuels, which allows for future flexibility in supply. In order to change fuel types, the boiler needs to be...
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