Bedding (alternatives to shavings)

[tabithakat64]

One of mine is currently on shavings as she eats her bed and is prone to laminitis, I paid nearly £10 today for a bale

What alternatives are there to shavings?

I don't want something that I have to water in or deep litter and YO doesn't want us to have shredded paper.

 

[Eira]

Flax?
EasiBed?

£10 a bale

We're still paying £5.50 but am expecting a rise

 

[the watcher]

I use a mixture of Bedrap (chopped rape straw) and Easibed - you can use them in the same way as shavings although I choose to deep litter

 

[smellyellie741]

although aqua-max has to be 'water' when first put in it dosent take 1/2hour to soak in and works out a lot cheeper than shaving as you dont take out as much

 

[Maisy]

Where in the world do you get shavings from at that price.....I pay nearly £5 for mine.....they are nice too.........(I am only in Cambridgeshire!)

 

[rara007]

We use stuff called Bliss, which they don't seem to want to eat.

 

[Tornado951]

At the stables where I have Hermione they just have rubber matting - there's nothing for my round Hermione to eat and it's dead easy to clean!

 

[ajn1610]

We use bliss too it's good.

 

[luckilotti]

Cushion bed, yep, it seems to be designed to deep litter with but you dont have to and quite a few on our yard do full muck outs daily.
Rubber matting really is a god send for reducing bedding cost.

 

[Madasmaz]

I have Equimat stable mats (cos they are light), but have to use something that is absorbent on them. I have tried ordinary shavings supplied by the yard...too dusty, other brands of shavings, liked bedmax, but not quite so absorbent. Then got a job lot of easibed, and REGRETTED it. I use 3x the amount, its hopelessly non-absorbent, and I can't leave pee on top of mats under their bed because of the stink of ammonia. Liked Bliss, as wet stuff oes into hard lump, but it wsa murder on my lungs. Next I'm going to try a mix of bedmax and megazorb or aquamax. Hopefully, they should be dust free and absorbent?????

 

[Peanot]

Hi, I use the `excel` bales. This is a mixture of shavings and chopped straw and it has citronella added to it. I find it non dusty and this is why I changed from normal shavings. I`m not sure if it is like any others that you have mentioned above but thought I`d give you my opinion.

 

[Madasmaz]

Cool, thanks for that Peanot. Looking for something with fly repellant properties. Pony got eaten by some bug in the barn in May, only 2 of us out of 10, but ended up with oozing sores. Took ages to heal but with the aid of derma gel winter coat coming through thick and fast...phew, thought I was going to be left with loads of bald spots. Not a good look, lol, and can't get toupees for pony hips.

 

[chocolate86]

I have oil seed rape stalk finely chopped, with eucalyptus, fab bedding in everyway as my old horse had dust allergy, aslo ate straw and shavings got too expensive £7-8 a bale. A bale of this stuff is £5 (same as bedmax bale size) off the neighbouring farm... ask around some of the local farmers if they do something similar. It is absorbant, easy to muck out and smells great (added bonus)

 

[Angua2]

I use flax on rubber mats. find that it is very absorbant. I deep litter during the week and have a dig out at the weekend and top up with one bale a week. Soon mounts up until they ahve a good amount of bed.