Bedding Alternatives

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Worried1

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For the last three years we have used diced cardboad and been really pleased, its consistent, good quality and stable (no oun intended!) in price.

We operate our own haulage so have been fortunate enough to be able pick up a full artic load (16 pallets of 30) which has been returning empty back to our depot.

Rang to book our usual order and have been told that prices have now risen 50p a bale.
This means that inlcluding haulage they are now comparable to shavings.

I have rung another supplier and been told that their prices have risen as well pretty much in-line with current supplier.

It's recycled cardboard so I fail to see in our current wasteful society how costs could have risen so much!

So I was looking into alternatives and wondered if anyone could reccomend shaving suppliers who will sell in bulk or the dreaded wood pellets which I am loathe to try but feel we have no option so am going to have to bite the bullet!

Any suggestions would be welcome :)
 
have you tried the wood pellets??? I think unfortunately you need to speak to the liveries and come up with a majority vote of what they want - the livery price to rise to stay on shavings or to go to wood pellets

This is what i did and they all chose wood pellets to keep the price down

x
 
My main concern is supply, as I don't want to change bedding and then find out they cannot cope with demand which is what I think happened to LWP...

x
 
You can always use a poncier version than LWP if you're after pellets
Like www.whitehorsebedding.co.uk, or their LWP competitor www.whitehorseenergy.co.uk.
In LWP's defence i think all of the non horsey wood pellet guys get a bit manic in winter with everybody actualy buying pellets for the boiler as opposed to horse!

If you're picking up an artic at a time though you might have more luck getting shavings direct from one of the manufacturers. The cheapest i found was arden www.ardenwoodshavings.co.uk (they make safemix which a bunch of eventers are on) but even bedmax is pretty cheap if you can convince them to let you collect direct (or call your local feed merchant and get them to 'buy' an artic's worth of shavings and you collect!)
 
Worried1 said:
My main concern is supply, as I don't want to change bedding and then find out they cannot cope with demand which is what I think happened to LWP...

x
Click to expand...

LWP are fine now we also used another company which are good called corley biowood xx
 
I don't use cardboard however there is a company in w sussex that makes it and i've noticed it's fairly cheap- pm me if you want the name of the company, i also have another contact who may be able to help you as they sell (i can't remember if it's eco bale or ecobed) at a really good price- or they did do when i tried it !
 
A couple of years ago I used to buy finacard cardbaord bedding at £5 per bale (used to buy a bale at a time so obviously buying in bulk and it would have been cheaper) - just looked on website and they are 13.99 per bale! That is an insane increase unless it is now some super sized bale!?
 
call eco comfybed (number on the internet). They will let you collect and whilst its not shavings, its extremely well priced, dust free and more economical than shavings to use as well as being quick and easy to muck out
 
wood pellet bedding is such a faff, it seems cheaper but by the time you've factored in faffing-around time (watering, spreading, watering again) and the fact that it is disgustingly gritty/dusty, i don't think it's worth the effort. plus it would have frozen solid last winter... when i realised that i was v glad i'd given up on it! the cardboard is always lovely and clean and dry (says she, who slept on it for 27 nights on foalwatch so can now speak with bitter authority!)
re: the rise in Ecobed prices - they don't actually use recycled cardboard (something to do with health and safety iirc, used boxes might have had chemicals or heaven-knows-what in them) so the raw material must have risen in price. :( :(
 
Having tried every type of bedding for my p**sy box walker I use auboise.
One bag every 10 days at £9.60 I don't think that's too expensive.
It doesn't stay white but by adding new bedding dry it keeps the bed clean and fresh smelling. (I take wet patches out as they rise to the top this is the only bedding that I've managed to make a solid enough base out of so the majority doesn't move when she box walks.
 
Another vote for aubiose. If you gave me free shavings or whatever, I'd give them back and carry on paying for aubiose because I rate it so well. My compost heap likes it too :) Gosh £9.60 a bale - I'd love that! Last lot was £10.50 for me.
 
My vote goes to Aubiose too. A little expensive to start up, I thought, but it's very economical (you hardly need to take any out when mucking out) and there's no dust. No watering either!
The only down side I could see is getting rid of it afterwards. Our farmer wouldn't take it (or shavings) away so we had to burn it.

I hope you find a good solution!
 
Aubiose is a no. Muck removal company won't take it and we are not allowed to burn in the UK anymore - huge fines.

We have rubber in all stables so think we might just have to accept that the prices of cardboard have risen as we do like it.

FYI - just tried to ring Harbour and send an email but it appears the company no longer exists. thank you though.
 
No don't have the capacity to store it and it makes the muck heaps huge very quickly. Bales of shaving and or cardboard are perfect because they can be stored on the trailer unit and then delivered to the yard on pallets as and when we need them. Plus in winter they can be stored outside.
 
Do some serious shopping around if you are going to shavings. I am currently paying €5 per bale which at today's exchange rate is £4.47 and I pick up same as you do! They are fab shavings and really good beds. I know anyone I have contacted have said cardboard prices are going to keep going up due to oil prices and not as large a market as shavings.
 
Gosh, I'm amazed muck removal companies won't take it. I bought a bag of compost recently and it was clearly a hemp based product so I can't believe there isn't a market for it. It take quite a bit home for my garden.
 
The farmer who takes away muck our wants to be able to spread it very fairly on their fields, aubiose does rot down but takes some time which means they would need to store it somewhere to rot down first.

He is happy to cardboard as it rots down immediately.

Cpatainmouse - looks interesting thank you!
 
As reply above- but I do use them. Mainly because they are reliable and consistent... I use them for shavings and haylage and hay. They do other bedding too. Mischanthus ( don't know much about this product) and kuwala bedding. Www.colehay.co.uk. 01837 83837- pat cole
 
Is easibed cheaper than shavings? My current YO sells shavings cheaply from goodness knows where but when I move in August I will have to pay normal prices so I am also looking for cheaper alternatives this winter, and straw costs 10x as much as anything else as my pony would eat so much of it.
 
zoon said:
A couple of years ago I used to buy finacard cardbaord bedding at £5 per bale (used to buy a bale at a time so obviously buying in bulk and it would have been cheaper) - just looked on website and they are 13.99 per bale! That is an insane increase unless it is now some super sized bale!?
Click to expand...

The price on the website is for a single bale delivered via a courier and therefore it is expensive.

However, if you buy in bulk the price is from £4.00 a bale plus VAT but including delivery.

You need to email for a quote.

It works out a great deal cheaper than shavings and makes a better bed.
 
Alot of watage with cadboard i found. I swopped to wood pellets and i really like them. If you deep litter you only need to take wet out once a week and it doesnt smell (so no ammaonia!) You only need to wet them when you first put the bed down and after that you just put them in dry. Only one bag a week needed at £3 a bag. very cost effecive and keeps muck heap down. Only takes me 5-10 mins to muck out the dirtiest horse alive!! x
 
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