Another bedding post ... straw, Aubiose or alternatives

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CBAnglo

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A yard I know only allows straw or aubiose as it spreads its muckheap over its fields and therefore needs something that will break down quickly.

My horses are currently on hunter shavings (thickish bed) with very thick mats and do a full muck out every day. One horse is cleanish the other is the muckiest thing ever. Would use straw but one would certainly eat it and the other has a slight dust allergy made worse on straw.

I cant bring myself to deep litter, so am thinking the aubiose wont really work?

A friend of mine switched to Bliss and loves it. She does a full muck out every day (mucks out like me) but I dont know much about the disposal of Bliss although take it from their website that it can be spread directly onto the field.

Any other alternatives? Thanks
 
We have had to move onto Bliss for disposal reasons - it breaks down very quickly and as it is so absorbent, there isn't masses of dirty bedding to get rid of.

I absolutely love it - it is v. absorbent but also has the fluff factor, which the pampered pony informs me is very important
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Thanks for those suggestions and the endorsement of Bliss!

Found it very odd that the yard stipulates that only straw or Aubiose may be used ... wanted to say that I would be using chopped straw in the form of [ ] instead if that was alright as it breaks down easier/less dusty.

Is the Bliss dusty? My friend's horse has a dust allergy and he seems to be alright on it, although I think she wets it down as when she puts in a new bale it apparently does smell a bit? Anyone else have similar problems?
 
I haven't found the Bliss dusty at all - I am asthmatic so my lungs tend to be a good test of dustiness in bedding
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Bliss does't make me cough at all, shavings try their best to kill me.... plain straw can also be a bit iffy but Aubiose is fine.
 
Bliss, especially the one with eucalyptus tends to be a bit smelly and makes me sneeze a lot, one of my horses reacts to it the same way. It's not dusty, just irritating nasal passages with the smell, but it might be just me - I've had the horse in question for so long that she has become a spitting image of, haha!
 
Thanks for your replies.

So people accept Bliss as being pretty much like Aubiose?

And finally, do people do full muck outs or is it one of those beddings that is best if the wet is left in to form a base? Because I dont think I could cope with that (I have to throw the bed up everytime I muck out).
 
I've used both.

Aubiose IMO is far superior to Bliss, but really does have to be used in a (semi)deep litter system, it would be far to expensive to use like regular shavings.

Bliss say to use it on a semi deep litter basis, but I think you could easily use it as if it were shavings. I think Bliss is good value for money and we have the same rules as you on our yard (straw or aubiose type bedding) our YO was happy with Bliss as an option.
 
Thanks - I thought Bliss would be pretty much similar. The only problem is that I have heard there is a shortage so wondered if there was anything else, and it seems that nedz bedz is also similar.

I never had to worry so much about bedding before - have only been at yards which only had shavings!
 
There is loads of different brand names, is shredded rape straw. Comes under Bliss/Sundown yellow/nedz bedz pro/bedrap and I am sure others.
 
Thanks Martlin - never heard of the handy range so will definitely look it up.

Thanks Band J - will look up bedrap as well. Think I will end up buying a couple of bags of each and seeing which one is the best!
 
I hated Bedrap when I used it, it wasn't absorbent, stank like bait mix and moved around. However, there are a couple of people on here who love it, so I may have got a bad lot?
 
Ok, will not try bedrap then. Not keen on the smell of bait and doubt either of mine would be either. They are on livery so the quality of mucking out is a bit hit and miss so they have taken to digging out the corners of their beds to check that they have been mucked out properly! They dont do that after I muck out (I would be mortified!)
 
I've just swopped onto using wood pellets and its working very well. Very absorbent compared to straw or shavings, no smell and apparently breaks down really quickly. Worth thinking about
 
The main reason why yards that spread their manure over land don't want shavings is that it's a wood product, the same as wood pellets, therefore has very little fertilising value for grassland regardless of time it takes to 'break down' so if your yard would not be happy with shavings it won't be happy with wood pellets either, but they should accept any straw, flax or hemp based bedding.
Just thought I add farmer's point of view
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Yes, that is exactly the reason Martlin. They do burn some of the straw as well (not sure why) and the rest is spread on the fields.

I am not too bothered about not using shavings but I definitely cant use normal straw (otherwise would use that) so trying to find something as an alternative. Everyone else on the yard uses Aubiose so was trying to find something similar which I didnt have to deep or semi-deep litter.

Seems that the nedz bedz and bliss beddings are the best so will try both of those as well as the handy range. Dreading to see what it will be like with the mucky one!
 
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