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Bad for doggies too?

Started by ohsoloco, February 08, 2005, 08:48:37 PM

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ohsoloco

I know walnut sawdust isn't good for cattle and the like, but I was just wondering if it can harm dogs in any way?  My pup isn't around the dust pile at the mill too much (the mill STILL isn't at my house yet), but when she is...well, she likes it as much (if not more) than playing in the snow  :)   I thought about getting some of this sawdust to spread around where my driveway meets my field (lots of mud where I turn around and park my trailer) but would like a little info. first  :P

Jeff

Adding sawdust to a mud hole creates more mud.  Initially it will soak up some of the water, but thats just initially. After that, the sawdust will help HOLD moisture and the mud hole will get bigger.  If you are using the sawdust to dry up, and then scooping it all out and hauling it away, then fine, if you are leaving it, don't do it.  (Lots of experience with sawdust and muddy log yards)
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Tom

I haven't seen sawdust hurt dogs.  Matter of fact, my friends dogs love the dust from aromatic cedar because it cause the fleas to get upset.  I think they may even leave because the dogs will roll in the dust and stand in the stream from the output chute.

Don't put sawdust where lyou have a mud problem.  It well deteriorate and make muck.  Your problems will be compounded.  The best thing to use for a mud hole is sand.  Next best is to fill with dirt so the water runs off instead of making mud.  The fail-safe solution is concrete, but, that is an expensive chore. ;D

ohsoloco

So NOW what do I do with all that sawdust   :D  ;)


Tom

start a compost pile.  Mix it with leaves and manure and a little fertilizer and some water.  Turn it every 3 or 4 days to mix it up some. When it rots, it well be black and rich and you can put it on your garden.  You'll have tomatoes as big as watermelons and corn that you can climb. ;D

CHARLIE

Ohsoloco, since walnut dust isn't good for horses and cattle, my assumption is that it wouldn't be good for dogs either.  Why not just give your local vet a call. That would be safest.

A woodworking friend of mine has some woods ajoining his home. He hauls the sawdust to the woods and makes walking trails. As it decomposes, he just layers more on.  Of course his trails aren't running through mudholes either.  If you do compost sawdust, be sure you don't compost the walnut. Garden's don't do well with walnut. If you ever look under a walnut tree that is in someone's yard, you'll notice the grass doesn't grow very well. That is because the walnut has a toxin that elimintates or reduces compitition. 
Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

woodhick

Any woodwaste, sawdust, chips,etc will remove nitrogen from the soil as it degrades.  If you compost or use on garden or yard be sure to add plenty on nitrogen to compensate. :)
Woodmizer LT40 Super 42hp Kubota, and more heavy iron woodworking equipment than I have room for.

iain

I thought that wood decomposition only robbed nitrogen when it was incorperated into the soil, not when layed ontop, worms pull it down and pass it through, am i right or wrong anybody?


        iain

MrMoo

I have read in our gardening book to not put sawdust into compost. I also know from experience it does not decompose as fast as other things in the compost like leaves. Of course I learned that by not reading the gardening book & going a head & putting sawdust into the compost. :) Darn bloomin know-it-all

Ron Wenrich

The only animal I know of that has a reaction to walnut is horses.  We have a farmer that uses walnut on cattle, and has no problems.

You could make a sawdust box for the dog.  Same as a sandbox, but use sawdust.
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

SwampDonkey

As Charlie says the walnut has toxins. Juglone is allelopathic to plants in the nightshade family (tomatoes, eggplant, potato) and fruits such as apple, black berry and blue berry. It is also harsh to trees and shrubs such as azalea; basswood; white birches; Hopa crabapple*; hackberry; Amur honeysuckle; Japanese larch; lespedeza; lilac; saucer magnolia; silver maple; mountain laurel; loblolly pine; red pine; scotch pine; white pine; potentilla; privet; rhododendron; and Norway spruce ( Source )

The nitrogen issue comes when the microbes that decompose the sawdust accumulate it and asymulate it into organic nitrogen that plants cant use. This is the case when the carbon:nitrogen ratio is more than 20:1 (low nitrogen) which is the case with sawdust. In order for nitrogen to be available to plants the microbes have to mineralize it into ammonium so you need compost higher in nitrogen like foliage and manure. ( Source ) Sawdust is slow to break down because it is high in carbon content.

cheers
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thecfarm

Back on the solution for mud,ROCKS.I live in Maine,will gladly ship you as many as you want.All sizes avialable.Ones the size of golf balls and some as big as a dump truck.I use rocks for any wet spots I find in the woods.Been hauling for years.Still a good selection left. :D :D
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

ohsoloco

I was most concerned about the sawdust harming the dog in some way, but glad to have the heads up about the sawdust not solving the mud problem.  I used some of the sawdust from the mill to make a path to walk on when I was sawing in someone's field a while back, but I got to leave at the end of the day  ;) 

It's not really a mud hole, but the ground is so soft right now that it's nothing but mud where I turn the truck around and back the trailer in.  It's only a problem when I have to get out to hook up or unhook the trailer  :(  Actually, the way my pup is going, she'll have all that mud inside the house pretty soon  :D

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