Wood Shavings Bedding: The Complete Guide

Two loads of shavings can sit side by side on the pad and look like the same product. In the stall they behave nothing alike. One fluffs up, soaks the wet spot and lasts the week. The other packs flat by day three and leaves a damp mat under the animal. What separates one load of wood shavings bedding from the next is species, moisture content, particle size, and how well the fines were screened out before the truck ever left the yard.

Most barns buy on availability. Somebody has product this week, so that is what goes in the stalls. That works until it does not. This guide covers what wood shavings bedding actually is, how softwood and hardwood differ, why moisture content matters more than almost anything else, and the exact language to use with a supplier so you get the same load twice.

What wood shavings bedding actually is

Bedding-grade wood shavings are thin, screened flakes of clean untreated softwood or hardwood produced by planing and milling. They are used to absorb moisture and cushion the lying surface in horse stalls, dairy barns, poultry houses and livestock pens.

That puts them between two other products people mix them up with. Sawdust is finer, closer to a dust-like powder, made by cutting rather than planing. Wood chips are coarser and chunkier, closer to landscape mulch than bedding. Shavings sit in the middle: big enough to stay loose and airy, small enough to cover a stall floor evenly.

Bedding shavings come from a few places. Planer mills produce them as a by-product of surfacing lumber. Secondary wood manufacturers — furniture shops, millwork plants, pallet operations — generate them the same way. And clean reclaimed lumber gets processed into them.

That last stream is where our own operation sits. Pallets and clean wood recovered through the recycling side of the business get sorted, processed and turned back into lumber and shavings. Usable fibre that would otherwise go to landfill ends up in a barn instead. Recycled wood shavings are not a lesser product when the input is clean and the screening is done properly.

What must never be in it

The input matters more than the process. Bedding-grade material should never contain:

•          Treated, painted or preserved wood. Pressure-treated lumber, painted trim and anything with a coating or preservative on it.

•          Wood with metal or fasteners in it. Nails, staples and banding fragments do not belong anywhere near a lying surface.

•          Black walnut. This one is specific and serious, and it gets its own section below.

Ask any supplier where the wood comes from and how it is sorted. A straight answer is a good sign.

Softwood vs hardwood shavings

Softwood shavings come from pine, spruce and fir. Hardwood shavings come from maple, oak, poplar and similar species. They are not interchangeable.

Softwood shavings are generally lighter per unit of volume, absorb more per unit of weight, and break down faster in a compost pile. Hardwood shavings are denser, hold less water for their weight, and are slower to break down — which some operations prefer for composting timelines and some find inconvenient.

The Ontario government’s bedding data backs the absorbency difference. Ontario.ca publishes an Absorbency Factor (AF) for common bedding materials, measured as water held per unit weight. Softwood sawdust rates 2.5 AF. Hardwood sawdust rates 1.5 AF. For comparison, straw sits at 2.0 to 2.5 AF, sand at 0.3 AF, and peat moss at 10.0 AF.

Those figures are for sawdust, not shavings. But the same directional difference between the two wood types generally holds. If absorbency is your priority, softwood shavings are the safer default.

Black walnut is not safe for horse bedding

Black walnut wood residues, including shavings used as bedding, are associated with laminitis in horses. Extension sources are clear on this. Black walnut should not be used in equine bedding, and even a small proportion mixed into a load is a problem — horses can react to bedding containing a fraction of black walnut material.

This is a species-specific hazard, not a reason to avoid hardwood shavings generally. Maple, oak and poplar shavings are not black walnut. But it is a real reason to know your supplier’s wood source, because black walnut looks like any other dark hardwood once it is a flake in a pile.

Cedar and small animals: the evidence is mixed

Aromatic softwoods, cedar in particular, come up constantly in discussions of small animal and poultry bedding. The concern is that volatile aromatic compounds may irritate airways in small caged species.

The evidence base here is mixed, and you will find confident claims in both directions. The sensible position is caution rather than certainty: avoid aromatic cedar for small caged animals, and use a plain, low-dust softwood or hardwood instead. For horses and cattle in ventilated barns, cedar is a much smaller part of the conversation. If you have a specific species question, ask a veterinarian who knows that species.

Moisture content: the number nobody asks about

Shavings that arrive wet have already spent part of their absorbency. You are paying freight on water and getting less capacity in the stall. It is the single most overlooked variable in a bedding order.

Ontario.ca recommends aiming for bedding at 60% or higher dry matter in dairy barns. That is a target for the bedding in use, not just at delivery, and starting wet makes it much harder to hit.

The lying-time research is worth knowing. Ontario.ca reports that cows spent 1.1 hours per day less lying down on wet sawdust at 34.7% dry matter than on dry sawdust at 89.8% dry matter. That is an hour of rest per cow per day, lost to wet bedding.

Kiln dried vs green

Kiln dried wood shavings come from lumber that has been dried in a kiln before milling. They start low in moisture, so more of their absorbency is available the moment they hit the stall. They also store better, because dry material sitting under cover stays dry.

Green or air-dried shavings carry more moisture from the start. They can still work, particularly in well-ventilated buildings with frequent cleaning, but they give you less headroom and they are less forgiving if storage is imperfect.

The squeeze test

You do not need a moisture metre to catch an obviously wet load. Grab a handful and squeeze.

Dry shavings spring back when you open your hand. They do not clump, they do not hold the shape of your fist, and your palm is dry afterward. If the handful stays balled up or leaves your hand damp, that load has already used part of what you bought it for.

Dust, fines and screening

The “dust” in a load of shavings is mostly fines — small particles created during milling and again during handling, loading and unloading. Screening removes most of them. No screening process removes all of them, which is why the honest description is low-dust or screened, never dust-free.

Fines matter twice. They are the respirable fraction, the part that ends up in animal and human airways in an enclosed barn. And they are the fraction that packs down, filling the air spaces between flakes and holding moisture against the animal instead of wicking it away.

There is a lot more to say about barn air quality, ventilation and low-dust bedding, and we have a dedicated post on it. For buying purposes, the short version is: ask whether the product is screened, and ask what screening actually means in that supplier’s yard.

Particle size and what to specify

Fine and coarse shavings do different jobs. Finer shavings pack tighter and give better coverage over a stall floor, which some horse people prefer for appearance and cushioning. Coarser shavings drain better, dust less, and according to Ontario.ca, finer materials such as chopped straw and sawdust harbour more bacteria than coarser materials such as shavings.

That is a real trade-off, not a ranking. The right call depends on species, housing, cleaning frequency and how you handle manure.

When you call a supplier, specify these five things:

What to specify	What to say	Why it matters
Species	Softwood or hardwood, and any species you must exclude	Drives absorbency, weight and compost behaviour; excludes black walnut
Grade	Fine or coarse	Coverage and packing versus drainage and bacterial load
Screening	Screened or unscreened	Controls the fines fraction and airborne dust
Moisture	Kiln dried or green, and your acceptable range	Determines how much absorbency is actually available
Format	Super Sack totes or bulk trailer	Must match your loader, storage and yard access

Write that list down and use the same wording every time you order. Consistency in the spec is what gets you consistency in the load. For the species-by-species call on fine versus coarse shavings, see our dedicated post on that comparison.

Handling, storage and shelf life

Shavings do not spoil. Wood is wood. But they absolutely get wet, and wet shavings are a different product than the one you ordered.

Store under cover. Keep the pile or the totes off bare ground, on a pad that drains. Check where your roof runoff lands before you decide where the pile lives — a downspout emptying onto the working face of a bulk pile will ruin more product over a winter than anything else on the yard.

Totes vs a bulk pile

Super Sack totes hold 2.5 cubic yards each. They are loader-friendly, they stack, and they let you keep two grades on hand without the two mixing. If your storage is tight or you run different bedding in different barns, totes solve a real problem.

Bulk delivery by walking-floor trailer is the right answer when you have a dry pad, room to work, and enough throughput to move through a full load before weather gets at it. You need a plan for the working face — keep it tight, keep it covered, and pull from one side rather than opening the whole pile to the sky.

Settling and volume

Volume is measured at loading. A pile settles. Shavings compress under their own weight, and they compress more when they are handled repeatedly or when they take on moisture.

Order on the volume you need in the stall over your ordering cycle, not on how big the pile looks on the pad the day it arrives. Track what you actually use for a month and order to that.

Buying wood shavings bedding in Southwestern Ontario

Before you place a first order, walk your yard and answer four questions.

•          Access. Can a loaded trailer get in off the road, and is the approach solid in spring?

•          Turning room. A walking-floor trailer needs room to back in, unload and get out again without a three-point turn on soft ground.

•          Unloading surface. Where exactly does the product land, and does that surface drain?

•          Storage. Where do the totes stack or the pile sit, and is it covered?

Sorting that out before the truck arrives saves everyone a bad morning.

Oxford Animal Bedding delivers across Southwestern Ontario — Norwich, Woodstock, Ingersoll, Tillsonburg, London, Brantford, Kitchener–Waterloo, Cambridge, Hamilton, Stratford, St. Thomas and Simcoe.

Most working barns run a standing delivery schedule rather than ordering load by load. You set an interval that matches your usage, and the product shows up before you are scraping the bottom of the pile. It is the simplest way to avoid the scramble that happens when you run short on a Friday.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are wood shavings good for animal bedding?

For most species, yes. Shavings absorb well, handle easily with standard equipment, and being coarser than sawdust, they harbour fewer bacteria than finer materials according to Ontario.ca. The variables that decide whether a specific load performs are moisture content, dust level, and whether the wood source is clean and untreated.

What is the difference between wood shavings and sawdust for bedding?

Shavings are larger flakes produced by planing. Sawdust is a fine, dust-like particle produced by cutting. Softwood sawdust holds more water per unit weight at 2.5 AF, but shavings dust less and, per Ontario.ca, finer materials carry a higher bacterial load than coarser ones like shavings.

Can you use kiln dried shavings for bedding?

Yes, and drier is generally better. Lower starting moisture means more of the material’s absorbency is still available once it is in the stall. Dry bedding is also easier to keep above the 60% dry matter mark that Ontario.ca recommends for dairy barns, especially through a humid stretch.

How are wood shavings delivered in Ontario?

Two ways. Super Sack totes hold 2.5 cubic yards each and are built for loader handling, stacking and keeping grades separate. Bulk loads come by walking-floor trailer for barns that can take and store a full load. Your yard access and storage usually decide which one fits.

Ready to spec your shavings? Get a quote

Our bedding comes out of a full-circle operation. Clean wood and pallet material recovered through the recycling side of the business gets processed back into lumber and bedding, so usable fibre stays out of landfill and the supply stays steady rather than depending on one mill’s off-cuts.

Delivery runs on our own fleet — trucks, trailers and walking-floor trailers, scheduled around your yard rather than someone else’s route. That is what makes a standing schedule work.

Have four things ready when you call: grade, volume, format and a description of your yard access. Request a quote through the site or call 519-468-3400 and we will work out what fits your barn.

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