When we had horses I found they did a good job of shredding the straw I used just stomping around in the stalls on that straw, and I never had a problem with the straw getting digested when it was mixed with manure. I'd not get a shredder/chipper just for that.

I've no experience with horses, but I'd think that unshredded straw would work better as bedding in any case  less likely to fly around and out of the stall and leave bare spots.

just use the straw as it comes it will have urine in it so it will still break down, no benefit in adding an extra process in there.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: len's garden page

I wasn't going to shred the straw until after I had used it as bedding, hence I would be shredding the straw/manure/urine. In my past experience, it takes a long, long time for straw to decompost as it is, and I want to speed up the process.

got the idea of what you are wanting to do, but for the extra input of effort and machine i don't know that you will speed up the process much at all straw being carbon is inherintly slow to break down. maybe add some green hays on top like spoilt lucern or pasture grass hays in as well that might do more to help plus do more for amending or feeding the medium.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: len's garden page

Thanks, len. I do have some moldy alfalfa/grass hay that I could mix in with it. I'll give that a try.

I have done a little bit of what you are talking about, throwing a few shovel fulls of manure mixed with other material into my chipper shredder. It does a good job of disintergrating it into fine pieces and scattering it all over the compost pile. Try a few shovel fulls, alternating some dry materials like leaves of dead sticks to clean the insides up a little. If the straw is too stringy it will clog the screen, if not you can do a bunch of it.

I think that anything composts faster in small pieces than it does in big clumps. I "rescued" a few hundred pounds of cauliflower, along with a big box of other mixed veggies, from the local supermarked dumpster the other day, could have just made a trench in the top of the compost pile and buried them, {{gwi:260941}} (is some of it, along with a bit of other mixed veggies) but decided to take my mower and make a nice {{gwi:260943}} for the micro herd. ":^)

I put it all into the trench and covered it up. Today when I stuck the thermometor into the pile, it quickly climmed to 150*.
Bill P.

Almost all the info about chipper/shredders in listed in the Forum -- Tool Shed. You can use the 'Search' feature either within your current forum, or search the whole GardenWeb Forum area.

My opinion is that is it very hard to buy the proper machine. The right machine for shredding leaves is not the same as for mainly chipping branches.

1) If you buy a used machine, make sure it works properly when you buy it. Don't think you can buy a cheap older machine and get it fixed.

2) When buying a new or used machine, make sure it shreds leaves as YOU need them to be shredded. A screen with holes in it by the discharge is propably necessary for proper shredding.

Horse power is not everything. My second purchase, a 5 hp chipper/shredder stalls much easier than my 4 hp original Troy-bilt. I think the larger mass of weight (1" shaft
diameter and 3" length, and hammerblades) of the Troy-Bilt is a positive feature.

Try to shred some semi-wet leaves, not all your leaves will be dry. If the owner does not want to start it for you, don't buy it. And put your hand on the engine when you first start it to see if it is warm (might indicate the owner knew it was hard to hard earlier, and he sprayed starter fluid in it).

Make sure you can easily take apart the machine to clean it out, you will probably be doing it a lot. My Troy-Bilt takes two minutes to clean out by removing three hitch pins holding longer pins. My other chipper/shredder takes long to remove twelve bolts and screws; and you have to balance the two heavy halves.

Cymraes,

I have a 15 year old MTD 8 hp chipper shredder that I use to prepare materials for composting. I have very infrequently shredded straw. I use primarily shavings for horse bedding.

You might try using a mulching mower on the straw or even getting one of those special thatching blades for your mower. However, if you are determined to get a shredder, two things to think about is the throat size of the shredder and how the material is loaded into the shredder. My shredder has a drop down ramp and I simply sweep material into it. Others I've seen require you to pick up the material and drop it into a hopper. I suspect that gets tiresome real quick.

Bob
Central Arizona

Bob, that sounds kinda like {{gwi:260944}}. The "ramp" can be lowered like {{gwi:260945}} so that leaves etc. can be raked or swept into it. It creates a vacuum when running to help suck them in. Another member has this one now.
Bill P.

I have used a Sears model where the intake chute can be lowered to the ground, as well as my Troy-Bilt where the material to be shredded has to raised about four feet to go in the machine. The Troy-Bilt is my favorite because it shreds leaves into very fine particles. The intake on the ground where leaves can be raked into the chute is not as much of a advantage as you might think. They have to be very dry, and I have found pouring leaves from a trash can into the Troy-Bilt top chute goes quicker than raking leaves into the Sears machine.

My Ace brand chipper/shredder has a chute that can be lowered to the ground. But that is not a advantage because the machine stalls so quickly. Seven Sweet gum balls will kill the engine in one second.

Wet leaves do clog up the screen quickly, but I never had anything stall or kill the 5 Hp B & S motor on that MTD in the picture. It did a good job on dry materials however.
Bill P.

Thanks for all the info - I think after reading the posts, that the straw/manure mix may just plug up a shredder and be more of a job than I intended.

You might think about renting one from H.D. of some place similar for a half day or weekend to see how it works on the material that you have.
Just a thought.
Bill P.

I have a chipper however straw seems to be hard for it to chew up. And wet, horse waste straw it would not like.I would give it a try with a mower, fluff, mow, fluff and mow and I would think that might help to cut it up some.
Sandy