December 2004

Kenaf Bedding Shows Promise

Its price and lack of national availability will hold it back for now, but we think this product will grow—literally and figuratively.

We believe Kenaf shows a lot of promise for equine bedding.

It looks like a spongy cross between cat litter and cereal, and it may soon be available in a feed store near you.

Nafcore horse bedding is the dried and chopped core of the kenaf plant. Tobacco farmers in Southern U.S. regions are finding the tropical plant easy to grow but tricky to market.

We visited Greene Natural Fibers (GNF) in Snow Hill, N.C., a new, large commercial operation dealing directly with the farming, production and marketing of kenaf. While our field trials backed up their claims of the benefits of using kenaf bedding, we don’t think wood shavings will be replaced anytime soon. …