Sawdust question

[Hexe]

I'm not sure where to post this because it affects other livestock as well, but this seems a good place to start.

My dh has the opportunity to get free sawdust from the carpentry shop at work. The sawdust is a mixture of regular woods (pine, oak, poplar, etc. etc.) and some more exotic stuff like teak, mahagony, etc.

The only time we use sawdust at all is for poultry in the winter and for emergency or inclement weather during calving/lambing, a few days here or there. Usually the livestock is outside, using natural shelter.
However, having to confine them at all can add up in the use and cost of shavings/sawdust.

Supposedly it wouldn't be good to use it for bedding for long-term stalled stock, but what about for short-term confinement?

Any input is appreciated, as always.

[genebo]

You can't count on the sawdust from a carpentry shop being pure wood. Plastics, epoxies and ven metal shavings creep in. I know, I worked in one for 2 years.

I used it as mulch in places where my goats and Dexter cattle couldn't eat it. It's good for that. I would worry that the livestock would ingest something they shouldn't if it was used as bedding.

[nosqrls]

Walnut and I believe cherry are toxic to horses and some other animals.

[goodhors]

Better to pass on sawdust from a woodshop, than have some exotic wood hurt the animal. Friend got some, forgot to ask about Walnut, ended up foundering her horse just STANDING in the walnut, which wasn't even much in the mix. AND it was "only" one night of being bedded in the Walnut. Absorbed THRU the hooves and skin. Cattle probably have the same issues, so certain woods could harm them standing or laying in the wood.

Not sure if Walnut or other woods are toxic for people, who would be getting products from those chickens.

Best to skip the "free" sawdust as bedding. Not worth the risks of problems.