Cherry Shavings for bedding

[Josh Hulit]

I have a few big bags of cherry shavings from a kitchen project, mostly from my planer and shaper. Can these be used for bedding for my goats? I've read some mixed reviews online about toxins in cherry wood. Anybody else using these for goats, chickens, etc.?

[dave toney]

I don't know about bedding, but cherry scraps and shavings are great if you like to smoke meats.
The best turkey I have ever smoked was with cherry.
Dave

[Brad Shipton]

I put all my cherry shavings into my garden and have not killed any of the deer that seem to enjoy eating my plants. I know walnut shavings is very bad for horses.

Brad

[Phillip Pardue]

About 25% of my shavings go to my chickens. Really, there is nothing I won't use (although there are species I prefer such as ERC) and they get whatever comes off the jointer/planer. Wilted cherry LEAVES are poisonous to livestock and walnut is poisonous to horses just from contact. That said, I have walnut in the chicken's laying boxes right now and they seem to enjoy it just the same.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

This site claims that there are confirmed cases of dogs and horses having fatal reactions to eating cherry wood. That is sufficient for me to avoid it.

http://www.avianweb.com/safewoods.html

Although I cannot speak authoritatively and say that Cherry is OK or not, I can provide a few general guidelines that we used for our goats (and other livestock such as horses, cows, etc).



Most wood shavings used for bedding has had the dust removed. it is no better for the animal to breath in the wood dust than you. Note that hard woods usually have more dust (at least I think that is true).
Some woods are known to be toxic to horses (some types of walnut, for example, but you did not ask about Walnut).
Ever smell pine? It has an odor that comes from Phenols. These are toxic to some animals. I think that there was a problem with this for Goats eating Holly. Cedar contains more phenol than pine....
Watch for obvious problems in your shavings such as mold.
Pet rescue shops will usually not use wood shavings from trees that produce fruit with pits because the pits because the contained stone is toxic. The thinking is that if the stone is toxic the wood may be as well (no idea). Black cherry leaves contains a precursor to cyanide. Probably in the oils. This is likely not a problem with the wood itself (in my uneducated mind), but I would worry about bark.

Read this article from the portion that begins "Toxicity is a minor, but real concern
One of the more sinister aspects of cherry's strange chemistry is that it harbors some bitter and potentially dangerous compounds."

http://www.finewoodworking.com/pages/w00156.asp

Now, here: http://www.degutopia.co.uk/degutoxic.htm it claims that it is safe when dried and the leaves / bark removed.

[Chip Lindley]

Cattle-raisers cut all cherry trees from their pasture land. The most toxic parts of the cherry tree are the leaves and especially fruit. Those little dark red berries are poisonous unless diluted many times. Birds are no doubt immune to the berries, but not larger animals. As far as eating the wood per se', horses have been known to die from eating any stall lumber. Wood splinters lodged in a horse's digestive system can certainly cause fatality. I doubt if it matters what species of wood as much as quantity of wood. Since there is no sap in cherry lumber, animal risk of poisoning from eating cherry bedding would be a absolutely minimal.

[Adam Cook WV]

I don't want to say definitively, but I have goats and have lost one to breaking off a cherry limb and eating the wilted leaves. I use mixed sawdust, and planer chips with a little straw on top to keep the dust down for bedding. Its a mix of whatever goes through the planer at our high school shop, cherry is definitely in there at times but really low in a percentage. With almost any old goat worth 75- 150 dollars I think I would just compost the chips or use them under mulch in a flower bed. Just my 2 cents.

[ken gibbs]

You can graze horses in a pasture with cheery trees but you MUST remove dead cheery limbs and leaves so the horses can not eat them. When rural power companies trim power line right-of-ways they are required to have a crew to manualy remove cheery branches if live stock is being grazed where the trimming takes place.