03/27/08 Bedding slump

Every now and then two industries are connected that don't seem to have much in common. I'm Jeff Keane; I'll be back right after this with an example. Without really thinking about or examining it very closely you might think the housing slump wouldn't be too related to the horse industry. Well, you would be basically correct except for the small detail of wood shavings that many horse owners use for bedding. People that use wood shavings for their horse stalls are blaming the down turn in the housing industry for a definite shortage of shavings. Good old supply and demand kicks in and true to theory, wood shavings demand higher prices. According to an article in America's Horse magazine, horse trainer, Ted Turner of Aubrey, Texas says the cost of shavings has grown by 70 percent in the last two years. Turner says he can still get the bedding if he pays the price. He is able to pass the costs on to his clients, but horse owners buying shavings for their own horses don't have this option and feel the effects of the additional costs. This has caused average horse owners to be very frugal with bedding. Shipping wood shavings very far becomes another cost additive because of the product's lightweight. Straw could be a second choice bedding material, but in our part of the Northwest straw prices have followed hay prices resulting in the highest prices for straw that I can ever remember. I'm glad our range horses bed themselves in sagebrush, bunchgrass and rocks. I'm Jeff Keane. America's Horse February/March 2008