Miscanthus litter

[Howard E]

Anyone know of a source of this in the US? Said to be far better poultry litter than wood chips.

http://www.miscanthusbedding.co.uk/

I have a row of it myself.....serves as a windbreak and cover for the birds....... but I have no good way of chopping it.

Guy I work with has several acres that is harvested, but all his is contracted to Purina.......and they use it as fiber filler in dog food.

 

[aart]

Would think your guy would know?
Does he harvest and chop his?

Now that I've looked it up....I have large(8' tall) ornamental grasses, not sure of species. I trim one down every fall, for snow throwing space, using hedge trimmers.
Have cut it up using the trimmers, works pretty good but definitely labor intensive.
Obviously it will grow where you are, processing is always a challenge.

 

[DiYMama540]

Agree with @aart . All ornamental grass species will go dormant and dry in the winter, but chopping them to smaller, straw like pieces will be a pain. If you're up for the extra work though, I'd say go for it! I'm sure you can find some other people who need their grasses cut down also.

 

[Howard E]

His is harvested in December......after major killing frosts.......by a custom crew that comes in and bales it. Large square bales that require tractors or skid loaders to lift it. Placed on a truck and shipped to the feed mill on a truck.

I have a medium sized chipper shredder, but when I've tried using it, this grass tends to clog up the chute. Less labor intensive than hedge clippers, but still the job lasts longer than an all day sucker.

Best farm sized tool I know of would be a silage chopper with haylage head on it.....purchased used, might be found for under $1,000. But I would rather just buy bundles of it like we do with wood chips or peat moss. Seems to be available like that in the UK, but not so much on this side of the pond.

My grass.....now in it's third year......grew to well over 10' tall. The volume of litter that it would produce is impressive.