Anyone else bed on straw?

metalmare

metalmare

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I've moved from Derbyshire, where this would have been seen as old fashioned I think by many, to Lincolnshire, where because of the farming industry it seems mad to do anything else! I pay £1.50 a bale and apparently that's dear - you can get bales for about 50p in summer. I only add a bale every few weeks as it's so easy to isolate the wet patches and it dries out well. I put four bales in initially to get a nice deep bed and banks.

I never thought I would love straw but I do. I feel like a Charles Dicken's character with ye olde wooden pitch fork!
 
1 bale every few weeks?
Gosh, how on earth do you do that?! Most of ours get 1/2 bale every other day, some every day if theyre messier.
 
I don't know to be honest, but he needs barely any. Probably because he's 9.2hh in a decent stable and I put lots in originally? Also he's out a good 11 or so hours a day. So little wees and not too many of them. Only the saturated stuff comes out - some can dry on the banks.
 
i love straw using it currently, it always makes me feel satisfied to see my horses lovely big cosy looking bed x
 
Yep me! It can drive me mad, but actually I quite like it
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I get through 2-3 slices of big bale straw every 2-3 days.
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I have one in at night and she's on straw - big round bales suppled by YO - but I'm an old-fashioned body and that's all there was in my young days. However, I did have to keep an Arab on shavings as he was such a gutty pig he would eat his straw bed, but I love a really deep, snuggly straw bed especially this cold weather.
 
Both mine on straw, I love making thier beds up, mine are £2 a bale, probably use two bales each a week, lift the beds every day if I can, but if they are in 24/7 deep litter, but usualy that has only been two or three days at a time. Other girls on yard use shavings, they take less time to muck out but work out more expensive then mine
 
I have 3 out of 4 on straw, only just changed, but used to be on it years ago, love the big beds when it's all done and too be honest whilst it's cold like the idea that my horses are cosy, the other horse is on Bliss, which I love, but it's getting more and more expensive and before long she will be on straw too. We get the big bales for between £12 and £15.
 
Love love love straw - takes me 5 mins to muck out, is so easy (i'm on earth floors so it drains too!)

Cardboard on the other hand is the work of the devil and takes three times as long to muck out! Possibly because its more expensive so I take longer to carefully dave as much as I can, but the poo does not roll off the fork like straw.

Wood pellets is the next venture, but I'd rather have lovely straw any day!
 
Horseless at the moment but have always been a straw fan - haven't found anything I like better - gives a lovely bed, I don't find it any trouble to work with and I just love the smell
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I have always bedded on straw and love irt except it is much smellier to muck out and the smell seems to stick to hair / skin / clothing much more than with a shavings bed - if I had a bottomless bank account I'd bed on Shavings but I do like straw for producing a nice thick bed very cheaply... our straw used to be 50p a bale but farmer put it up to £1 a year ago which I still think is pretty reasonable... I get through about 2 bales a week for my big lad...
 
Small bale straw in Leeds is 2.95/ bale. I am currently paying £20 / large bale for Barley straw. The quality is variable. It is still cheaper than the other options and I have tried them.
 
I loved how straw looked so inviting and that the horses seemed warmer on it but I hated that the straw I used didn't mop up the wee, so when mucking out wee would drip from the fork to the wheelbarrow, I resolved this by using a sprinkling of shavings underneath they do mix together but not too badly. However the smell on my clothes put me off even further, it smelt like I had rolled around on the floor of the stable but I hadn't
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I would use straw again only because of the price, but as I was given 8 small bales for free
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it will definately be used but mine live out 24/7 so have only used 1 so far and that was for the chickens.
 
I find straw beds look so much cosier in this harsh weather. Used to be on shavings but reverted back to straw a year ago.

Only issue is we are currently using 1-2 bales per day for two boys in 12' x 14' boxes in 24/7- Ted's choice not mine. I would prefer it if he was out for whole day, not 20 mins while I muck out, but then his Lordship aka Ted has other ideas! Only other complaint is when I get small straw bits in my boots, which can be a pain.
 
If you can then its cheap and always looks warm. Hate Neds Bedz as cost me a fortune and never seemed to soak up the wee and the dust made my chest bad. At least with straw I can throw it away cost effective.

I love shavings but at £8 + a bale with 3 horses I cannot afford. My straw is nice and £1.50 bale so I feel I can do well by all 3.
 
i love straw, you can build absolutely huge beds as it is so cheap!

and so easy to muck out.

i don't really understand why people use anything else- most of the shavings i have seen seem no less dusty than good quality straw.
 
Yep, love my straw beds i have 5 on straw and i use 1 bale a day between the 5 boxes and about 4/5 to initially bed each box. Lincolnshire is great for a cheap supply all year, i pay 75p per bale or £8.00 for a massive round delivered. I do prefer the small bales though, much easier and less mess.
 
I used shavings at my last yard, and changed to straw at this yard. We buy it from the farmer who grows it on site.
I love seeing Star up to her knees in a big fluffy bed.
Her feet have improves enormously, because the wet drops trhough to the base so she's stood on dry.
She's cleaner, because again, all the wet is at the bottom of the bed.
I'm saving £££££ because it's £1.50 a bale and I use 2-3 a week, rather than £7.50 for a bale of shavings and using one every 5 days.

The only shortcoming is, that the smell seems to 'cling' more.
 
We changed from shavings when the prices kept going up and up back to straw and are really pleased we did. We put paper underneath the straw beds which catches the wee so there isn't any horrible smells.
 
I really like that the wet is at the bottom, too! I think that's why I use so little. I'm able to rescue most the straw and throw only a little away.
 
I have just gone back to straw this winter after using shavings for a few years. £7 per bale of shavings is just ridiculous though.
I am loving straw again, looks so lovely and warm and far easier to muck out., my mare was really mucky on shavings, kicked the poo all thro the bed. now they are all in one place. fabby.
yeah is a bit more smelly on clothes but i jsut keep a tin of impulse at yard and have a spray if i need to go to shop on way home.
 
i think im one of the only ones to still bed ons straw in a yard of 40 boxes!! think my veteran would think rubber mats n shavings were some sort of punishment!!!! Love bedding her down on a big bed of straw!
 
i couldnt bed taz down on shavings i think id feel cruel he was on shavings at oatridge college and it was like he hardly had a bed but he had a good six or seven bags of shavings and one added when he needed it but i just didnt think it made it look like a nice big warm bed and plus i find straw easier to muck out looks far cleaner too
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