The challenges of high winter rainfall levels and difficult ground conditions are being compounded on some farms by tighter supplies of straw. In some cases, cost is a barrier and higher prices currently make it a more difficult prospect to purchase additional supplies.

While costly, when it comes to lambing management, skimping on straw supplies is a false economy when you consider the knock-on effects of disease establishment.

There are some alternative bedding options that can be utilised but many of these also depend on your location – transport costs rule them out if hauling long distances.

Many of these bedding options are also not widely used in Ireland and as such there is a lack of information about their advantages and disadvantages.

Some are more widely used in the UK and EBLEX has developed a bedding materials directory that is a useful guide for those looking for in-depth information. It can be found at beefandlamb.ahdb.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/bedding_materials_directory_2011_low_res131011.pdf.

The guide looks at a number of alternative bedding options, with the most useful highlighted as woodchip, sawdust/wood shavings and miscanthus, while peat bedding is not included in the guide but is being used in greater frequency on cattle farms as an alternative to straw.

Existing supplies

Before progressing down the route of assessing alternatives, it is worth assessing existing straw supplies. In general, a lowland ewe will require 7kg straw bedding per week to absorb all urine while hill ewes require about 4kg to 5kg straw.

As a general rule of thumb, a 4x4 round bale of dry straw weighing 140kg will be sufficient to bed about 18 to 20 lowland ewes or 30 to 35 hill ewes for one week on a silage-based diet.

This requirement may reduce 20% to 30% for ewes fed hay or haylage.

For lambing pens, Teagasc advises that approximately four to five round bales will be needed per 100 ewes.

Woodchip

Woodchip has been shown to be a useful alternative offering animal health and welfare benefits. It is a good free-draining bedding material provided it has less than 30% moisture content and preferably if it has a moisture content about 20%.

Timber used must be untreated, with treated timber not permitted for bedding due to the risk to animal health.

It is advised to use an initial 10cm-deep bed with a fresh top-up layer used as required. As is the case with any bedding material, the diet offered will have an effect on the length of time bedding remains dry and the duration between top-up being required.

The downside to woodchip is its disposal as it takes a long time to break down. Therefore spent material will need to be composted, adhering to nitrates storage regulations, or ploughed down.

Sawdust/wood shavings

The guide lists sawdust as a comfortable, clean bedding material provided it is managed carefully and preferably where it has been screened and dried. It highlights that it can be particularly useful as a bedding material for ewes and lambs in individual pens.

Again sawdust from treated timber is not permitted to be used while damp sawdust should be avoided due to its risk of harbouring spores. The guide also raises anecdotal reports linking the use of wet sawdust with increased cases of footrot.

The recommended approach is to use an initial 30cm to 60cm-deep bed. Drainage is described as deteriorating over time and therefore the advice is to replace every four to eight weeks.

One possible option listed is using sawdust in combination with straw to prolong its use and stretch existing supplies.

Miscanthus

The primary use of miscanthus (often called elephant grass) is as a material for biomass production, but where available it can also provide a useful bedding material.

There is a caveat to this statement, however, in that it must be chopped before use which limits the opportunity of purchasing in bulk unless equipment to shred or chop is available.

The material can also be purchased chopped and dried in small bales but price makes this prohibitive for using as a widespread bedding material.

Recommendations for use are similar to sawdust, with an initial 30cm to 50cm bed used. Manure degrades quickly and can be spread on to land.

Rape straw is similar to miscanthus but is not as suitable due to its more coarse nature and recommendation of drying below 20% moisture before using.

Peat bedding

As mentioned above, peat bedding has been used in greater frequency this year on cattle farms. The best results are achieved where a deep bed is initially applied with its lifetime prolonged where the bedding material can be mixed to bring more absorbent material to the surface.

Where used in a suckler or dairy situation, it is best used to bed animals up to calving with straw, then used to calve animals.

A similar approach is best advised with ewes lambing. Again, location is likely to be the biggest factor in using peat with transport costs a big factor.

An in-depth article on peat use for cattle bedding was previously published and can be read at www.farmersjournal.ie.