Dust control on horse and livestock properties

Lanes, barn drives and farm roads

On a stock property, most of the dust comes off the gravel. That's the lane in from the county road, the drive to the barn, and the road the hay truck and the horse trailer use. Those are roads, and roads are what we treat on farms, ranches and rural property.

The job is the same as on any road. We set an appointment, pre-wet the lane with water, and then the truck sprays the lignin. You can drive on it right away, and it's fully dry in about two hours on a hot summer day. It's built to last the season.

What lignin sulfonate is, and its feed uses

Lignin sulfonate comes from wood. The FHWA gravel roads manual says it's a by-product of pulp milling, which people in the field sometimes call tree sap, and that these products bind the soil particles together when they're worked into the surface gravel.¹

It also shows up in federal feed rules. 21 CFR 573.600 reads, "Lignin sulfonates may be safely used in animal feeds in accordance with the following prescribed conditions." Those conditions are specific. It can go in as a pelleting aid up to 4 percent of finished pellets, a binding aid up to 4 percent of flaked grain, a surfactant in feed molasses up to 11 percent, or an energy source up to 4 percent of finished feed.²

Lanes and arenas are different jobs

A road and a riding arena want opposite things from their surface. The Forest Service guide says dust treatments on roads last longest on a stable, tight surface that sheds water easily.⁴ Penn State Extension's arena bulletin describes close to the reverse for footing.³

"A 'perfect' riding surface should be cushioned, provide traction, not too slick or dusty, not overly abrasive to horse hooves, inexpensive and easy to maintain."

The same bulletin says footing is meant to be a cushion sitting on top of a hard-packed base. It's plain about dust, too. It says riding arenas, indoor ones most of all, have real dust problems, and that arena dust irritates eyes and noses and contributes to respiratory damage in both horse and rider. It also notes that footing with more than 5 percent of material passing a 200-sieve screen tends to be too dusty.³

Penn State works through its own set of arena dust methods, and it doesn't discuss lignin sulfonate. So I make no claim about lignin in arena footing. If your dust problem is an arena, call me and we'll talk it through first.

Tell me about troughs, wells and drainage first

The USDA Forest Service's dust palliative guide gives one caution for lignin products in particular.

"Determine prior to application if significant migration (water drainage) might occur from the treated area into local streams, ponds, and lakes."⁴

It also says to keep the product out of drainages and roadside ditches that lead to streams.⁴ So when you call, point out:

• Water troughs and stock tanks beside the lane.
• Well heads close to the road.
• Where the lane drains, whether that's a ditch, a creek at the bottom or a stock pond.
• Pasture, garden or feed storage right at the road edge.

We'll go over it with you before we spray. I drive the truck myself, so what you point out when you call is what I watch for on the day.