Alternative bedding types?

[mynutmeg]

We have been using green sawdust as our yard supplied it however they are stopping so am looking into bedding.
It must be dust free as two of ours are COPD/resp problems. My mare is clean but wet and my sister's tb is a messy little b***er.
I skip out/remove all the wet every day and lift the bed every couple of days and my sister deep litters her beds.

I like bedmax but go through at least 3 bales a week with my mare so really isn't cost effect for me.
The bedding we've got down to (after hours of reading ) plus questions about them are:

Megazorb - is this a type of wood pellet ie do you have to wet it down to use or does it just come out ready to use? How many bags a week do you use? What do you like or not like about it?

Unibed/Nedz bed style chopped rape straw - how many bales a week do you use? What sort of bed does it give? What do you like or not like about it?

I have looked at hemp style but can't afford it as it's so expensive. We have looked at sood pellets but am concerned about it being dusty in the summer and also how warm it is given you use it damped down.
Any other bedding you use that you have liked? What have you liked about it?

Thanks

 

[hobgoblin]

Megazorb is amazing you don't wet it I use 1-2 bags per week on two big horses who are currently stabled about 15hrs at the moment I started using it this year won't be going back to any other sort of bedding now I have the bed about 6" deep on rubber mats covering half the stable ( boxes are big though 14x16) hope this helps

 

[hobgoblin]

NB completely dust free too

 

[galaxy]

Megazorb is great, but my very wet mare got through a a huge amount of it every week if I put enough down for her to lay down and not be covered in stable stains.

I tried Safemix and really got on with it, but cant get hold of it around here any more. I then tried shavings, comfybed and all sorts of others but always got through at least 2 bags a week and mare still had terrible stable stains (she is sensitive skinned and does not appreciate them being washed off constantly)

This year I came across Flaxcore. Flax bedding is highly absorbant, much more so than shavings. The bales are the same weight as shavings, although look smaller and I go through about 1.5 a week. The biggest benefits are though that they are over £1 cheaper per bag than other bale beddings and no more stable stains!! It is so absorbant that the wet soaks straight through to the bottom of the bed and stays there. It is quite heavy, so it doesn't move around, so I have to dig down to find the wet. I have never had this with any other bedding. If your mare is wet like mine I'd highly recommend it.

 

[mynutmeg]

galaxy - how much do you pay for the flaxcore?

 

[rosie_equine]

Flaxcore is an excellent bedding, it is incredibly absorbent and fully dust extracted, my mare suffers from COPD/RAO and have I no problems when using Flaxcore.
She is also quite wet and I am stabling at night, sometimes during the day too if it is heavy rain (most of the time atm, our fields are waterlogged!!)
I only take the droppings out daily and remove the wet once a week, I then put a new bale in.
There website has lots of info too: http://www.hemptechnology.co.uk/flaxcore.php

 

[galaxy]

Dirty mynutmeg I didn't see your post. I pay £5.75 for a bag of Flaxcore.

 

[Pipkin]

I've just rang my farm shop to see if they had any flaxcore, £5 a bale, am going after work to grab ten bales

 

[mulberrymill]

Just had a look at this. They are about a mile from my house but none of my local feed merchants stock it. I'm sure the site used to be another name and folded a few years ago. Anyway emailed then to see if I can buy direct, seems silly to go 10 miles for a product on my doorstep. It looks very good

 

[mynutmeg]

How do you get it so cheap!! I'm being quoted about £8.35 per bale as a pallett delivered - might be something to do with being up in Cumbria but nowhere local to me stocks it. Am still going with flax tho I think as managed to pick up a bale of hemp locally which I belive is very similar and love it - I can't believe the amount I took out tonight compared to normal but the hemp locally is £12 a bale so will be going with flax