(805) 461-6411

Atascadero Hay and Feed is a local family owned operation.  I’m Kevin Buffett, the owner, and I  grew up in this county.  I  understand our unique local farm, ranch and livestock needs.  The products we sell are the same ones I use in my own ranch operation – high quality products at a fair price.  Those products are accompanied by the expertise of myself and my staff. We will strive to provide solutions to your problems, answers to your questions, with an abundance of local-grown home-town hospitality.

Choosing the Right Bedding:

Products we sell for bedding include: Wood Shavings, Wood Chips, Rice Hulls, Pellets and Straw.  They each have their own advantages and disadvantages.  It is important to consider these different traits to choose the one that best suits your needs.

Wood Shavings will result in less disposable material than straw, but may be more difficult to dispose of. Straw is easy to compost.  It also breaks down easily when spread on adjacent fields, and as a result it doesn’t remove a lot of nitrogen from the soil.  The type of bedding used will affect the fertilizer value of manure. For example, wood products (especially pine) will break down much more slowly than straw. When manure is spread as a fertilizer or soil amendment, wood shavings bind to nutrients in the soil and make them unavailable. They also require more nitrogen to decompose, and removes it from the soil, so it isn’t available for other plants or crops to use.

Straw may not be the best bedding of choice for animals that like to eat it. Sheep particularly are prone to eating straw.  Oat straw is generally more palatable than wheat or barley straw (it is finer stemmed) so you might have a bigger problem with it being eaten.

Shavings are preferred by horse breeders because they are less dusty than straw, and may result in less respiratory irritation. Horse owners should not bed their horses with shavings from black walnut trees, as this shaving is likely to cause laminitis or founder.  Because of this, all hardwood shavings are often avoided on the chance that black walnut might be mixed in. Similarly, horse owners should be careful if they get shavings from a lumberyard or similar source since potentially deadly hardwoods may be mixed in. We carry several different brands of soft wood shavings that are safe for horses.

Pelleted wood products provide good quality bedding.  They expand readily when water is added, are absorbent and easy to handle, and may be especially useful on smaller farms.

Rice Hulls are sometimes favored by horse owners, as the gentle abrasion of the hulls gives a nice sheen to a horse’s coat. They also are a good substitute if your horse is allergic to shavings.

Cedar and Aspen chips and shreds make a nicely aromatic bedding for dogs and small animals.

Although a variety of bedding products can be used effectively, they should all be considered as part of a farm’s overall management plan.

We are always ready to answer any questions you may have about the different bedding products we carry, and will be happy to help you choose the best bedding for your livestock needs.