A Novel Bedding Material Made from Cotton Waste, Gypsum, and Old Newsprint for Rearing Turkeys

SUMMARY Two experiments and 3 field trials were conducted to examine the usefulness of a novel bedding material for rearing Large White commercial turkeys. The control bedding was pine shavings (PS) in both experiments and all trials. The novel bedding, aGroChips (AC), is a chopped paper product made from cotton lint waste, gypsum, and old newsprint following a proprietary paper manufacturing process. In both experiments, hens and toms were reared according to typical industry techniques. In the first experiment, use of AC resulted in significantly (P < 0.05) heavier toms and hens. In the second, the toms brooded and reared on AC were significantly (P < 0.05) heavier than those brooded and reared on PS, whereas toms brooded on one bedding and then reared on the other were intermediate in weight. There were no differences in final cumulative FCR or carcass yield in either experiment. Three field trials were conducted with Large White commercial turkey hens in which the hens were brooded either on PS or AC, with both groups reared on PS. There was a mean increase of 0.2 kg in BW, a decrease (improvement) of 0.03 in FCR, and an increase of 3,200 kg per trial for AC-brooded birds (based on 16,000 hens placed per brooder house). A hard, dry litter crust was observed in the AC houses. With subsequent testing, further changes in the manufacturing process to create a hard, durable pellet may result in a more usable and useful bedding material.