Vegetative Buffers: From Biomass to Bedding

This presentation was given at the 2017 Poultry Science Association Annual Meeting, held July 17-21 in Orlando, FL at the symposium entitled, "Vegetative Buffers for Environmental Stewardship on Poultry Farms". The focus was on how biomass buffer species (switchgrass and biomass willow), whether planted as buffers or as field crops, can be harvested and used as poultry bedding. Particle size comparisons between the switchgrass beddings produced were evaluated to determine how particle distribution contributes to a bedding's overall success. The second half of the presentation detailed results from the willow project where green willow chips were compared to a commercial kiln-dried softwood shaving at our cooperator's broiler production facility.