Eva pine shavings plants supply poultry houses

By RONNIE THOMAS The Decatur Daily

Many people who make poultry a steady part of their diet might not know the process that gets the end product to the dinner table.

For example, what, some might ask, do pine shavings have to do with raising chickens?

"When you put 20,000 to 25,000 chickens in one house, you have a lot of excrement," said Tony Estes, who with his wife, Belinda, has raised chickens for five years for Ingram's Farms in Cullman.

Besides the tons of feed the chickens devour, he explained, the chicken houses have touch-peck drinkers for their water.

"That's all coming onto the floor, and you have a lot of moisture," he said. "There's nothing better than pine shavings to sponge it up, and it's all recycled. Farmers use the litter, buying it in lieu of chemical fertilizers."

As the chickens leave, Estes said, and to get ready for the next batch, the grower works up the litter, lets it dry and places a fresh cap of shavings on top.

Joel Holmes and his nephew, Nathan, know the steps well. They raise chickens for Wayne Farms. Joel has been in the business 15 years and Nathan 14 years.

Tim Shaneyfelt isn't in the chicken growing business but he understands, too, because he occasionally cleans out chicken houses for the fertilizer. He owns Shaneyfelt Farms, a cow and calf operation, and Shantyfelt Dozier and Backhoe.

But what happens if the shavings supply stalls and prices soar? That's the dilemma all faced.

"Last October, there was a downward spiral," Tony Estes said. "Sawmills slowed down, and some other manufacturers got deals to do something else with their wood. I bought from several sources and they stopped delivering. I had a guy haul shavings from Crossville. Trucking it that far gets expensive."

Joel Holmes said shavings were getting harder and harder to find and prices kept going up.

"We brought (shavings) in from South Alabama, and we trucked in our last shavings from Georgia," he said.

Shaneyfelt felt the hardship. He couldn't get the litter he wanted because the chicken farmers couldn't get the shavings to replace it.

So, Shaneyfelt, the Esteses and the Holmeses found a solution by building their own companies.

Shaneyfelt began operations recently at Shantyfelt Shavings in Cold Springs on Morgan County 55 East between Falkville and Eva.

The Esteses, who operate three chicken houses in Cullman County, are developing their plant, Alabama Pine Shavings, on Eva Road.

And on a lot next door, the Holmeses soon will open H&H Shavings. Joel Holmes operates five chicken houses and Nathan three houses, all in the Eva area.

The companies will follow a process to produce the product similar to Shaneyfelt's.

"We buy pulpwood from five or six loggers in the area and run the wood through the machine," Shaneyfelt said. "The shavings are about 30 hundredths of an inch thick and an inch long."

He said pine is the preferred wood because it doesn't produce mold that some farmers noted with timber such as poplar and sweet gum.

"We want to make sure the farmers have a healthy product," Shaneyfelt said. "The chickens will digest a certain amount of shavings, and the pine doesn't impact their health."

When they couldn't get the shavings, some farmers resorted to other materials, such as sawdust, sand, peanut hulls, ground-up cotton hulls and shredded cardboard.

"There was too big a demand and not enough shavings," Shaneyfelt said. "Our companies should help alleviate that problem."

Horse owners also will turn to the companies for stable shavings.

"The shavings are good bedding for various smaller animals," Shaneyfelt said.

Tony Estes and Joel Holmes said they could not have developed their plants without the support of the Rural Morgan County Industrial Development Board and District 3 Morgan County Commissioner Don Stisher.



On the Net:

Shaneyfelt Shavings, http://www.shaneyfeltshavings.com">http://www.shaneyfeltshavings.com

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Information from: The Decatur Daily, http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/index.shtml">http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/index.shtml