Am not impressed by...

J

JenHunt

Well-Known Member
Joined
14 November 2007
Messages
7,049
Location
Thirsk, North Yorkshire, UK
Visit site
... a well known brand of shavings that comes in bright yellow bags (not sure I can mention the name on here? :confused:)


We haven't used shavings for a year, and at this time of year the horses aren't in unless they have have have to be so we didn't have any bedding 'in stock'. My sisters horse came in with gravel about 3 weeks ago and was been on box rest for about 10days which used the last of the beds up. he went out sound, and came in again last week with another gravel in the same foot.

I was away, and my dad was away for work, so my mum went to the local feed merchants to get some bedding. she asked them for dust free shavings and having had a look at a couple of examples went for this particular brand.

Yes, you get a lot of bed per bag, and they look pretty, smell nice and appear to be dust free.

But, they were bl**dy expensive (£6.95 a bale), and don't absorb anything. At all. My mum has a back problem so had to get a neighbour to unload them into the stable for her, and then has only been able to skip the stable out. When I mucked out over the weekend the wee was running out of the bedding through the fork, and out of the stable drain!

Not impressed. I expected better from such a big name brand!
 
I think these are a 'marmite' sort of shavings, we had some delivered to the yard I was on and we all hated them, but the guy who delivered them says he has some yards who love them and won't have anything else.

Don't think that is a bad price though.
 
Coo. You're lucky! Here in N. Oxon, the cheapest, bog standard shavings I could get were £9 a bale. Luckily, the boy has changed to straw without a problem, or last winter I'd have gone bust!
 
Know which ones you mean and I dont like them either for the same reasons. However, if you have a lot to use try mixing them with some ordinary shavings and that might help with the absorbancy. £6.95 isnt bad really, I paid £8 for Snowflake last winter but have to say they go a long way and I only used 2 bales per week. My horse does have a decent bed on top of rubber matting so I dont scrimp on them.
 
That's actually pretty cheap. Console yourself that your mum could only buy four bags, imagine if you were stuck with ten or more bags:eek:
 
I agree with you, they are useless at absorbing the wet and although they aren't the most expensive they aren't cheap either. The only thing they are good for is making up a lovely looking bed!

As Izzwizz said try mixing with normal shavings - I did this last winter and it certainly made the best of a bad situation.
 
I use them and I love them. I had to change after my boy had an allergic reaction to his other shavings. They are cheaper (nearly £2 cheaper per bale than his other shavings) and I had people tell me I wouldn't like them but I gave them a go just to see. I completly agree they are not very absorbant at all but I do find picking the poo out a lot easier. I am lucky in that I have a rather large stable now and he pee's in one area and then doesn't walk in it, if I had a smaller stable or a box walker then they wouldn't work for me but for now they are great.
 
Assume you are on about bedmax? We use it at the yard and love it, mixed with Cushion Bed it makes a good deep stable bed, and we find it pretty absorbant. I use it with my 2, mixing it with normal shavings (like snowflake or hunter) and its brilliant for a deep litter bed. That price is pretty good tbh, not much else cheaper that is any good!!
 
We use it and it works well for ours, BUT we have earth floors, so absorbancy is not a problem as the wet drains through the whole floor.
 
not sure of the brand you mean but under £7 a bag is pretty good, paper is super absorbent, (my mare has about a foot - a foot and a half deep bed and is skipped out a few times a day and mucked out once a week, works really well
 
I think Jodie3 has the measure then, it would seem that they are a bit of a marmite thing! I guess they just didn't suit us, it seems that even straw is more absorbant tho, and I haven't seen so much wee running out of the stable drains in the years since we had 5 at home!

I will definitely be returning to wood pellets, I realise now just how easy they are to work with, and how absorbant they were last winter! Even my mum says she found them easier to work with, even though she didn't like the look of the beds.

and at £3.75 a bag it works out quite a lot cheaper to stick with the pellets!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top