BEDMAX launches Jubilee Pine Tree Campaign

As a commitment to the 2012 Jubilee celebrations BEDMAX have today announced that they will be launching their ‘Jubilee Plant-a-Pine Tree Campaign’ at the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials being held between Thursday 3rd and Monday 7th May.

BEDMAX, who produce tailor-made pine shavings for horses, will be giving away 1000 Scots Pine saplings to visitors from their stand at Badminton.

The Plant-a-Pine campaign is intended to celebrate the Royal Jubilee year, and underlines the importance that BEDMAX places on sustainability. But the initiative also crucially highlights the unique health benefits that horses and owners gain by using shavings made mostly from pine.

BEDMAX has been making shavings predominantly from pine ever since the company launched its pioneering, purpose-made bedding in the United Kingdom in 2000. The BEDMAX Jubilee Plant-a-Pine campaign enables BEDMAX to emphasize the importance of its main, scientifically-tested ingredient. So any visitor to Stand 13 at the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials who collects a free sapling will not only find out more about the benefits of pine but also have the satisfaction of knowing they are helping to provide more health-giving trees for the future!

The anti-bacterial power of pine is particularly important as more and more owners turn to wood shavings or other wood product-based bedding for their horses, as BEDMAX Managing Director Tim Smalley explains: “We decided to use pine because our research justified the health advantages BEDMAX provided to horses in the stable. Pine has been used medicinally and as an antiseptic for centuries in cultures all over the world, but it wasn’t until recently that its anti-bacterial effects were scientifically proved. Now we have scientific evidence that pine really does kill off a wide range of harmful bacteria and fungi, and this is a factor that horse owners should be aware of when they’re choosing bedding.”

Scientific tests have shown that different types of softwood vary enormously in their anti-bacterial ‘performance’.  They show that pine works much faster and more effectively than larch or spruce, the two types of wood most used for horse bedding.

• In two comparative tests using pine, larch and spruce, carried out by a group of scientists in Germany in 2002 and 2005, pine proved to be the most powerful and efficient killer of two of the most prevalent harmful bacteria: Escherichia coli (E.Coli) and Enterococcus faecium.
• In the case of E.Coli in particular, pine killed the harmful bacteria much faster and more completely than spruce or larch, and completely prevented regeneration, unlike the other two softwoods. (²)

Although BEDMAX has been using pine for 12 years, the company has been prompted to raise the profile of pine by some remarkable recent experience in the use of its pine shavings by sheep farmers at lambing time.

Tim gives further details: “Over the past two years a growing number of sheep farmers have been using BEDMAX pine shavings in their lambing pens, and many of them report that this is reducing their lamb deaths by a large proportion as well as saving money on expensive antibiotics.”

• The principal cause of death is E.Coli infection, which causes conditions such as scour or diarrhoea.
• Among farmers using BEDMAX, many report that they are virtually eliminating E.Coli infections and reducing lamb deaths.

He continues: “We think this is a significant practical demonstration of the hygienic properties of pine shavings. We set out in 2000 to produce a bedding that was as healthy and as hygienic as possible for horses. We believed then that using pine added an extra benefit to all the other benefits we designed into our shavings, and science has confirmed that belief. Using pine does not make our shavings more expensive, but it does add an hygienic advantage for owners and their horses. It’s another BEDMAX plus that makes our shavings even better for horses and even better value for owners.”

In the UK, pine predominately grows in the East and the South of the country while spruce tends to be found in the wetter western side.

They will continue to roll out their campaign at other events they support throughout the year, including the Equi-Trek Bramham International Horse Trials, The Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials, Blair Castle International Horse Trails and Your Horse Live.

Further details about the ‘Jubilee Plant-a-Pine’ Campaign and BEDMAX Shavings can be found at www.bedmaxshavings.com. Or come along and see the BEDMAX stand at the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials to collect your free pine sapling, so you too can be a part of this campaign.

You can also follow us on Twitter at @BedmaxShavings.