Recycled office paper byproduct available as animal bedding choice

Since the early autumn of 2010, more than 200 farmers in east central and northeast Wisconsin have tried an alternative type of bedding for their dairy cattle and other animals - a byproduct of office paper that is recycled at an area plant.

It is being sold and distributed by Alternative Animal Bedding that is operated by Lynn Heemyer, his wife Cindi, and their daughter Jess.

The senior Heemeyers still live at Phillips in north central Wisconsin, where they moved 13 years ago after operating a dairy farm in South Dakota for 20 years. They also had a sawdust bedding business while in South Dakota.

The Heemeyers' link with the new bedding product started when Jess learned about it through an internship while attending St. Norbert College in De Pere. At the time, all of the byproduct, which is now being used for bedding, was being discarded at a landfill.

What starts as baled computer soy ink paper discarded by medical facilities, banks, government offices and other institutions is separated into two types of fiber at a recycling plant, Lynn Heemeyer explains.

The long fibers are formed into what's called a "wet lap" and sent to paper mills for making paper - some of which is used for National Geographic magazine, he indicates.

But the recycling process also leaves a residue of short fibers. It is that dark gray material that the Heemeyers are obtaining and distributing for animal bedding.

The product was tested at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's research farm near Marshfield and was first unveiled to farmers during the Brown County Fair in August of 2010, Heemeyer points out.

He adds that a reclassification from industrial waste was obtained from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for the byproduct.

At the start, the alternative bedding was running at about 48 percent moisture - a bit too high for many farm settings, Heemeyer acknowledges.

A change made during the last three months has been to add four tons of agricultural lime to every 25 tons of the bedding before it is delivered, he notes.

This reduces the bedding moisture to 40 percent and will help to raise the pH of the soil on which manure is applied, Heemeyer points out. He also observes that the lower moisture could limit the reproduction of bacteria in the bedding.



The recycled paper byproduct is suitable for use in free and tie-stall dairy facilities, calf huts, loose housing bedded packs, on mats and mattresses, and in horse stalls and riding arenas, Heemeyer states.

He says most of the users are replenishing the bedding about every three days.

For bedded packs, Heemeyer suggests about a 50/50 mix with corn, soybean, or other rough straw in order to keep the conditions drier. A few farmers have also chosen to mix the alternative bedding with sawdust or sand, he adds.

A semi-load of 30 tons is sufficient for bedding about 400 cows for one week, Heemeyer indicates.



The delivered cost within 25 miles of De Pere is $6 per ton or $180 per load (with an extra cost for the lime). For an additional mileage charge, deliveries will made within a 70-mile radius of Green Bay.

The deliveries are handled by Brillion area dairy farmer Daryl Woldt, who does trucking as an auxiliary enterprise. He has two trucks and a third one is being built for hauling the bedding, Heemeyer indicates.

Because of the texture of the product, the truck boxes are tarped and covered.        

Most farmers store the bedding, which is relatively fine, in a commodity bin or shed or other building and then distribute it with a sand shooter mounted on a skid steer, by direct dumping, or even with a spreader (in large facilities), Heemeyer observes.

He says outside storage has not proven to be much of a problem when the product is rained on.

In addition to the cost savings compared to wood shavings or other purchased bedding materials, Heemeyer reports that dairy farmers are finding that their cows are a lot cleaner.

He adds that this can help to lower the somatic cell count in milk - a benefit that Woldt is noticing - but emphasizes that good management is required to achieve this and the alternative bedding is not a remedy for poor management in dairy cow housing.

The recycling plant from which the alternative byproduct bedding is obtained is producing about 330 tons per day seven days a week or a total of 2,300 tons per week.

Of this, the Heemeyers are obtaining about 1,000 tons per week for delivery to approximately 100 farmer users at the moment.

On two or three days per week, Heemeyer travels from Phillips to tend to and promote the business by visiting area farmers. On a recent day, he and Woldt visited farmers in northeast Fond du Lac County and picked up a few first delivery orders.

To reach Heemeyer, call the office in Phillips at 715-339-6243 or his cell phone at 715-820-1520. The e-mail address is lynn@alternativeanimalbedding.com.

The Heemeyers also have a Web site at www.alternativeanimalbedding.com.