It sometimes seems just about anything can be made out of flaxseed — paper, linen, food, animal feed, particle board, insulation, paint, car door panels, and linoleum.
Now add another product to the list — livestock bedding.
Durafibre Inc., a division of Cargill Ltd., has begun marketing a new high-quality livestock bedding made from processed flax fibre.
Flaxsorb is aimed primarily at the horse industry and is intended to replace traditional wood shavings and straw.
“The benefits of this product are so great it will just sell itself,” said James Mowbray, director of sales and marketing for Durafibre.
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Flaxsorb’s ability to absorb liquid is 61 percent greater than wood shavings and 200 percent greater than straw. It’s not toxic, absorbs ammonia, creates a cleaner, drier stable, and decomposes more easily than wood shavings.
It’s also virtually dust free, a big selling point among horse owners concerned about their animals’ respiratory health.
“Dust is a huge issue,” Mowbray said, and not only in terms of the horse’s health.
“You don’t have your barn staff wearing masks because of the dust and you don’t have dust all over the barn.”
Terry Boehm, a Saskatchewan flax grower from Allan, Sask., and a director of the Saskatchewan Flax Development Commission, said it’s always good news to see new flax-based products coming on the market.
One of the commission’s goals has always been to look at new uses for the straw, he added.
“We consider it to be a resource that is generally being burned up, but there are purposes for it.”
He said that on a recent trip to Europe, he was surprised by the strong demand for horse and livestock bedding produced from flax and hemp straw.
Flaxsorb is produced from shive, which is the woody core that makes up about 70 percent of the flax plant’s stem. The high absorbency arises from the fact that a large surface area is exposed during the manufacturing process, in which the shive is broken down into small pieces.
While the product has gained its greatest initial acceptance from the equine industry, including riding stables, show horses, race horses and pregnant mares’ urine operations, Mowbray said other potential markets include poultry, hogs and small animals like rabbits. There could also be interest from dairy producers.
While welcoming the introduction of Flaxsorb, Boehm also cautioned that only a limited number of producers will benefit directly.
One of the limitations of flax straw is that it’s a bulky product with high transportation costs, so a processing plant will draw its supplies from nearby.
“It’s not going to consume all the flax straw or fibre that’s in the countryside, but every bit of utilization helps,” he said.
The Durafibre plant in Canora, Sask., buys about 30,000 tonnes of flax straw annually.
Mowbray declined to say how much the firm pays for flax straw, saying individual producers can get quotes by calling the firm.
