Bedding supplies

[Anonymous]

We have started using a new bedding from ashecoproducts (www.ashecoproducts.co.uk) its brilliant value and they are great to deal with, the product is also 100% recycled made from selected recycled wood. They also treat the material with a unique treatment to ensure the best quality. My previous supplier had significantly put the price up and said supply was becoming difficult to maintain. ASH have assured me they have no supply issues and have enough material for the next 6 months!!

Is anyone else using this material and enjoying the same benefits? or had similar problems with getting good bedding or was it just my previous supplier telling me lies?

 

[Anonymous]

The animal bedding industry is in a bit of a mess.

Most wood based animal beds are bi products of other processes. As the building industry is in a decline, less wood is being processed so less wood waste. The UK furniture and board producers are also on a go slow. In addition the UK was buying unprocessed wood from Poland and processing it here, but that has reduced and we are now buying ready processed wood from Russia.

A lot of shaving used to come in from Europe, but with the poor exchange rate and an EU tariff?, it is financially better for the producers to burn the shavings in Belgium as biomass.

Good suppliers with established supply chains should be ok, but those who buy on the spot market are likely to run short.

We supply a wood animal bed that is made from UK managed forests and their factories run up to 24 hours a day. There is sometimes a waiting list but they look after their good retailers (who pay on time etc) We also supply a cardboard bedding. Last Christmas there was a shortage as UKPLC seemed to shut down, so no one wanted boxes so there were no off-cuts. Supply this year seems much healthier and stocks are very good.

In times of shortage some retailers use price as a way of rationing their supply. If this happens to you, shop around. We supply nationally and for those buying a pallet at a time (more equestrian than Poultry) we can often beat local prices (especially if they have been inflated). The other thing to check is the weight of the bale. We are having problems locally with someone selling bales that are bigger than ours but only weigh half as much as they are not compressed. Some people perceive these to be better value!