12x12 stable, how much straw

kerrieberry2

kerrieberry2

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if you have a 12 x 12 or larger stable, how much straw do you go through per week?

large or small bales?

I am planning of putting down a layer of shaving and straw on top. the floors are concrete and I don't have any rubber matting! have 3 horses stables so just trying to workout a likely cost for the winter! I'm being good and saving money now to help for the winter costs, but would be good to have a rough idea of how much I need to save each month to over it!

so advise would be greatly appreciated.
 
I'd just use a big straw bed (you don't use any more straw per week than on a small bed I don't find). Last winter I was using 2 small bales of straw a week for a relatively messy 16.2hh youngster. Hope than helps with your budgeting :D
 
I know it is expensive-but it may be worth investing in rubber matting. there are lots of offers on ebay at the moment for excellent quality EVA rubber mats (which I have just ordered myself) it saves so much on bedding costs and really pays for itself over a period of time, as well as being more comfortable for your horses!
 
It really depends on your horse, some horses love to eat their beds or be extra messy while some are almost perfect going to the toilet on one corner all the time!
 
It depends on the horse (size and cleanliness) and how you like your beds.

I have two big horses, so do beds to the front of the stable, leaving a foot or two for waterbuckets. I have rubber mats and don't do banks nowadays, but still like the straw to be above their fetlocks. One horse is messy the other is very clean. I use about a third to a half of a bale every day.

When we had ponies we did smaller beds, so squares in a corner of a 12x12, say 8x8 beds. I like the horse to be able to face whatever way he wants and still be on the bed, so the bed needs to be longer than him in each direction, if you know what I mean. I'm not a fan of these half beds where there is a deep strip of bed at the back and the horse is stood with its back end up a step on the straw and front feet on mats..
 
Thanks guys all very different so guess ill just have to wait until the winter and work it out then. Will try and save 100 a month to cover the bedding and hay. My stables are very large, not sure how big. And don't know how messy the horses will be. The mares lived out for the last 11 yrs. don't remember her being massively messy before. The gelding is only 3 and never been stabled and the mini poos in the same place in the field everyday so hopefully he'll be a clean boy. Ill do a small bed for him though

Thanks for your replies :)
 
I bed on straw with no mats. I like nice generous deep beds.

When I used small bales I used 2 a week for a fairly wet and messy horse. I now use big bales and as I share them with cows I have no idea how much they are using.
 
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