A wood chipper is an absolute game changer on a homestead, large or small! There are so many uses for wood chips that will save you money, time, and, effort in the long run, plus eliminate hazards along the way.
In this article, we’re going to discuss the top 5 uses for a wood chipper on a homestead and I’m confident that you’ll want one by the end! If you’re unsure of which woodchipper to get, keep reading to learn which one we chose to add to our homestead. It’s amazing!!
*Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links to products (including Amazon). I’ll earn a small commission if you purchase through my link, at no additional cost to you! Regardless, I only link to products that I personally use on our homestead or believe in.
5 Uses for a Wood Chipper
So, you’ve likely heard of using wood chips as mulch (yes, it’s amazing!), but what else can you use a wood chipper for? The options are endless, but let’s chat about the top 5 wood chipper uses below. If you think of any others, be sure to add them to the comments!
#1: Creating mulch for the garden
As an avid gardener who has fallen in love with mulch, this is the topic that I get most excited about! Wood chips are a great form of mulch to suppress weed growth, moderate soil temp, encourage worm activity, reduce watering needs, and even protect against plant disease.
I love to use wood chips as mulch on my walking paths and garden perimeters because they are semi-permanent. All I need to do is provide a fresh layer on top each spring and that’s it! Many gardeners like to use wood chips on their planting rows as well, but I prefer a temporary mulch like organic straw. Either way is fine!
#2: Providing livestock bedding
Wood chips used for livestock bedding is a great, sustainable option! Plus, animals love scratching around in it for added entertainment. Buying bales of straw or compressed bags of wood shavings are often transported long distances and the cost can really add up in a hurry.
Just be mindful of only using dry wood chips in the winter. Adding moisture to your coop or barn in cold temperatures is a recipe for frostbite and hypothermia. Make sure to read about the 6 Essential Steps to Chicken Coop Winterizing if you have chickens!
#3: Creating compost
Having a healthy compost pile on the homestead is worth its weight in gold! Not only is it a great way to keep waste out of the landfill (veggie scraps, soiled animal bedding, poop, eggshells, etc.), but it adds nutrients back to your garden soil while also improving its organic matter.
While wood chips take longer to compost down than things like vegetables or straw, they will still get there with proper management. The nice thing about our most backyard wood chippers is that the resulting wood chips are fairly fine (compared to large commercial models), so they’ll make great compost!
#4: Maintaining trails, paths, and animal enclosures
This was one of our main reasons for getting a wood chipper! The soil on our homestead is largely clay, so we have a complete mud mess to deal with each spring. Now that we have an endless supply of woodchips, things have been MUCH better.
Since spreading a few inches of wood mulch on top of our trails and around the chicken coop, the coop is cleaner and muddy dog prints are minimal in our cabin. Whew! Plus, our chickens absolutely love scratching around in the wood chips for bugs. It provides great entertainment and tasty treats!
Next year, I want to add wood chips around my garden shed and underneath our picnic table. This would help keep things neat and weed-free in areas that are challenging to mow. I can’t wait!
#5: Preventing fires and brush management
If you live on a wooded homestead like we do, you’ll have a lot of brush to contend with! Whether it’s an area that needs cleared for a barn, or just managing down trees, you’ll want to be able to safely manage the brush and branches that aren’t firewood worthy.
While it may be tempting to leave it all in a pile, that can become a fire risk, especially in years of drought. Burn piles are also technically an option (we use them from time to time!), these can get out of control quickly. Plus, hauling all of the brush to a safe location to burn can be very labor-intensive compared to chipping on-site.
The BEST Wood Chipper for a Homestead (in our opinion)
We did A LOT of research and knew we couldn’t settle for any old wood chipper. We live on a 240-acre homestead that is largely wooded and we have a high need for wood chips, so we knew we had to get a real deal chipper.
We looked at a few “backyard” woodchippers on Facebook marketplace and always came home empty-handed. They have small infeeds, which means you’ll have to chop up branches into small pieces before even starting. And then, they are manually fed, so you’ll have to stand there the whole time while it slowly feeds in, making your arms numb in the process.
If you only have a couple of branches to deal with on occasion, a backyard model is fine. For a working homestead? Heck no.
Meet the Woodmaxx MX-9900ss!!! Isn’t she a beauty?! We purchased one this summer and couldn’t be happier with our decision. Why did we pick this one? Keep reading to find out!
High efficiency
We have A LOT of chipping to do – we’re talking thousands of down trees along our 7-mile-long trail system from the epic 2023 winter storm. Eep! So, efficiency is our number one priority.
How do you make a wood chipper efficient? A large 9×9 infeed opening with hydrostatic drive. Being able to throw a 9″ diameter tree into the chipper and simply walk away to grab another one is an absolute game-changer! No need to chop the tree up into smaller pieces and stand there forcing it in the whole time.
It’s incredible how much we can get done in just an hour! See it in action below:
High power
Who doesn’t like a lot of power, right?! But, in all seriousness, we knew that we were going to have to push the machine a bit with all of the chipping we have to do and the last thing we want to deal with is a broken machine.
The WoodMaxx MX-9900SS wood chipper features a robust, USA-made 200cc hydraulic infeed motor. This high-quality orbital motor is built to handle heavy loads and withstand thousands of hours of rotational resistance, making it ideal for pulling large, dense materials smoothly into the infeed bin.
To see all of the parts in detail, check out our unboxing video below where Ryan takes the whole thing apart and totally nerds out on how awesome this machine is!
Made in the USA
We always prioritize USA-made products as much as possible, so we were thrilled when we discovered that the MX line from Woodmaxx is all made in the USA. American manufacturing standards are among the highest in the world and it’s great to support our local economy.
We’ve been really impressed with the heavy-duty construction throughout the entire machine. This thing truly is built to last!
Adjustable discharge chute
Since we plan to repurpose nearly all of our woodchips, being able to direct where they are going is important to us. All of Woodmaxx’s wood chippers feature a 360-degree swivel, which is so awesome! Whether we want to make a dedicated pile on-site or direct the wood chips directly into a trailer to haul off somewhere, we can do that.
Skid steer attachment
We already owned the skid steer, so we knew our best option for a wood chipper was one that could mount to it. This not only provides lots of power to the woodchipper, but it makes it very easy to maneuver through our woods. If you have a PTO instead of a skid steer, Woodmaxx makes models for that, too!
Next steps
Ready to add a Woodmaxx MS-9900ss to your homestead?
First of all, I am SO excited for you! This is the real deal when it comes to wood chippers and you won’t regret adding one to your homestead. It makes big clean-up jobs fun and manageable!
*If you’re ready to join the Woodmaxx family, please consider using my affiliate link (at no extra cost to you!). We make a small commission from each purchase and so appreciate it!
Can’t get one yet?
I get it – a wood chipper is an investment. If you’re not quite there yet, many facilities offer wood chippers as a rental. You can feel it out over a weekend and decide from there. If you don’t have a lot of chipping to do and you’re just looking for FREE wood chips to use on your homestead, check out Chip Drop!
Other Homesteading Articles You’ll Love:
- The Ultimate Beginners Guide to Homesteading (5 Steps!)
- What is Homesteading? Here’s the Inside Scoop
- 30 Useful Gifts for Homesteaders
- The 22 BEST Homesteading Books
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