While PittMoss is widely regarded for our sustainable, high-performing garden mixes, we have recently developed a new product line of poultry, pet, and horse bedding with unique benefits. Mark Goldman, Director of Technical Services & Sales at PittMoss, interviewed Gary Butera of the Mount Nebo Agway about his experience.
Gary, who has been with the Agway company for around two years, is a dog breeder and operator at CedarBilt Sleddogs. As the distribution and delivery manager for the Imperial and Mount Nebo stores, he has handled sales of PittMoss potting soils as well as animal bedding. The stores have catered to clients with small backyard flocks to commercial poultry farmers, and Gary has managed to obtain some of their feedback.
“The thing that I hear consistently over and over again is how much it does not stink. Everybody says it has a great absorbent quality about it,” Gary explains.
“Instead of having to do weekly or every couple day full swap-outs of bedding, they can cut it down to every other week or so. That’s fantastic when it comes down to the time it takes to take care of your animals.”
As a PittMoss user himself, Gary notes that these qualities not only save time on labor, but contribute to decreasing expenditures given that he can perform fewer swap-outs. Dust is also of negligible concern.
Another big selling point that Gary points out is the material’s ability to be composted easily in comparison to straw or pine shavings, which can take a year or longer to breakdown. PittMoss bedding composts in about three to four months, and actually starts composting during use. Gardeners can then use the material as a high-quality, upcycled fertilizer.
PittMoss Small Pet Bedding, which is very similar in its composition, has benefits liken to Roost. As previously mentioned, Gary is a dog breeder, specializing in Alaskan Huskies and other mushing breeds. Quite a few of his dogs are inside and outside animals, so weather can be an issue.
“I have found that the PittMoss product has a fantastic R-Factor to it, and it takes very little of the product to raise the temperature of my housing at least ten degrees. In the winter it is a fantastic insulator, and in the summer time when it’s too hot to put down any straw bedding, it is beautiful for keeping them off of the ground while also keeping them comfortable and cool.”
For his puppies, the PittMoss bedding also makes stall cleanouts much easier. Similar to a clumping cat litter, the material balls up, making it is easier to locate and remove waste. While Gary could tell by the color and wetness of the shavings or sawdust what areas needed cleaned out, dogs naturally moving about in their environment would stir up the material so that he would need to physically dig to ensure that all the waste bedding was removed and not merely being hidden. This not only keeps the stalls more sanitary, but saves him time on cleanouts, too!
The pups are also uninterested in eating the material, which huskies are notorious for.
“Just the type of material that PittMoss is, I have not had any issues, in comparison to things like straw or flake which I have spent a couple grand getting removed from stomachs!” Gary jokes.
In addition to his dogs, Gary owns rodents, which he keeps in glass tanks. With the lack of air flow, these enclosures can be susceptible to ammonia buildup. Ammonia is created when the nitrogen in their waste is broken down by bacteria, which can inhibit air quality and threaten the animals’ health. PittMoss bedding locks down moisture and ammonia smells, protecting animals from ammonia toxicity. The composition of the material also makes it ideal for burrowing animals, as it is soft and pliable for tiny paws to move without risk of splinters or sores.
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