Bedding help, for a yard that can't use straw...

Girlracer

Girlracer

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Just a bit of a query really, as at the end of the month I am moving my two horses to a small yard which I will be renting myself.

As the muck heap area is very small, and I will be having to organise having the muckheap removed I would like to steer away from straw bedding. Not only that but it can be quite messy and stinky, really I have only used it because it has been included in my livery!

So therefore I'm a bit 'green' when it comes to other types of bedding, and what is likely to be the best to use.

I have two horses, both 16.1 Thoroughbreds, one of which is particularly messy!

So I need something economic in both usage and muck heap, preferably that gives a good bed as neithter stables have rubber mats (not yet anyway, I might look to do that down the line).

Do you guys have any recommendations?
 
I use wood pellets, but I've got rubber mats so don't need to put much bedding down. What about wood shavings for a big bed with a wood pellet base for the messy one to soak up the wet?

We'll be moving ours up to our house at the end of the month, I'd love to go back to shavings!
 
dibbin said:
I use wood pellets, but I've got rubber mats so don't need to put much bedding down. What about wood shavings for a big bed with a wood pellet base for the messy one to soak up the wet?

We'll be moving ours up to our house at the end of the month, I'd love to go back to shavings!
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This - we've got the base with shavings on top and no matts.
It's brilliant for mingers of which we have several, and my big TB mare loves it. The hardest stage is getting a good base established - resisting removing the wet - but once that's down it's really stable and works well.
 
Have you already got your muck heap removal sorted and do you know what is going to happen to it.

I only ask because if it is being taken by a farmer for spreading then it might be worth speaking to them - lots prefer straw as it doesn't need to rot down quite as long as shavings. If it's a disposal company though that are paying to get rid of it properly then it won't matter what you use.

I have to admit though that I do like a nice straw bed. We got the opportunity a few weeks ago to go on sawdust - the nice really fine stuff from a sawmill. I think we lasted 3 weeks before going back on straw. Yes our muck heap was a tad tidier for those 3 weeks but the stables were a pain to muck out, horses seemed to go through more sawdust than they did straw (and they all eat their beds) and it worked out more expensive!

I currently have 4 on straw - all on good deep beds and a large square bale of straw lasts me 2 weeks and costs £22.
 
Unfortunately the owner has asked that we don’t use straw, sorry I should have made that clear, and there is already muckheap removal in place from the previous occupants. Although there’s left in September, so the muck heap currently is just ‘muck’ from poo picking. And from experience of having Major on straw I would probably fill our little space in a fortnight! I love a big comfy straw bed, but I am sick of how much my dogs stink and how un-absorbant it is (especially as they seem to wee SO much!). So really I’m not that upset that I have to move away from straw, I’m just a bit stuck as to where to go. Leaning toward a wood pellet base with shavings as banks/on top.
 
Girlracer said:
Unfortunately the owner has asked that we don’t use straw, sorry I should have made that clear, and there is already muckheap removal in place from the previous occupants. Although there’s left in September, so the muck heap currently is just ‘muck’ from poo picking. And from experience of having Major on straw I would probably fill our little space in a fortnight! I love a big comfy straw bed, but I am sick of how much my dogs stink and how un-absorbant it is (especially as they seem to wee SO much!). So really I’m not that upset that I have to move away from straw, I’m just a bit stuck as to where to go. Leaning toward a wood pellet base with shavings as banks/on top.
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If it helps to give an idea of quantities of waste - one of ours is a big WB who's a right dirty git. On straw he was a minimum of 3 barrows in the morning, 1 at night removed, with at least one day a week where I'd remove 5 barrows. On the shavings / pellets combo he gets a barrow taken out in the morning and about half of an evening, and about once a week I take an extra barrow load out if I dig out his worst patches. And that's also with moving him from a 12x15 stable to a 12 x 20 pen with a huge bed.
 
As others have said you need to take into consideration what can be taken by the person removing your muck heap, before you make a decision on what to use. We have an agreement with our neighbouring farmer in that we dump all our muck on his land providing it is all straw based, so that they can spread it.
 
I have two horses at home with just one mat at the stable door I can't stand them over the whole stable unless they are fitted and sealed as they just move and stuff gets under them, I have one on straw but the other one will eat the lot so he is on shavings it's a very deep bed with banks, I have tried everything aubiose, wood pellets, easy bed, soft bed and a few others I can't remember but I always go back to shavings as I find them the best, to start of a big bed yes its expensive but I use between one and two bales a week and muck out every other day, my horses are out for about 9 to 10 hours in winter and the bed stays lovely and white all year I just prefer them over anything else.
 
I just use wood pellets and don't chuck away any bedding so if I had my own muck heap it would be tiny. My barrow is full of poo and stray hay only.
 
I use wood chip - a nice deep bed, skip out poo and remove the wet once a week, or as it rises to the top. Wood chip falls through the tines so much easier than shavings as it is a bit heavier. If you buy it from a heating fuel suppliers, rather than an equine supplier, you only pay fuel vat instead of 20% - makes it much cheaper. I pay about £3.60 a bale when I order a pallet load (25kg bales). It also doesn't blow off the barrow on a windy day or stick to the horse as easily
 
I was using the Megazorb wood pulp which is brilliant but has gone up to an eye watering £9 a bag! Mine are in quite a bit at the moment so have changed to wood pellets and loving it so far. Pallet of 34 bags worked out at £5 a bag and goes such a long way as swells so much once dampened. My 2 (TB & ISH) have mats but have put decent beds down Sat night and haven't had to top up yet despite being in. Mucking out dead easy and this morning took out 1 barrow between both stables - result!
 
Aubiose is one I really liked, when I didn't have rubber matting I deep littered it, threw the dry top layer up when horse was out to let everything dry, and when it "squelched" I'd take that patch out and pack some dry bedding into that hole in the base. Really worked, never let the base get too thick, just let it sit like a rubber mat really. It worked, and at the end of winter I only took 2 or 3 wheelbarrows out when I cleared the base out as it had compacted so well.
 
My old mare was very wet and messy. I had her at home and put down rubber mats and started using Bliss (chopped rape straw) bedding. I skipped out every day but only dug out once a week - it was really effective and I only used one bale a week. You need to start with a least 8 bales so you have a good base - our organic farmer was very happy to have the muck as it composts very well and quickly. FYI she had previously been on straw with a shavings base, but this was quite expensive and a lot of work every day.
 
I use pellets underneath and shavings in top. Skip the poos daily, then once a week scrape off clean shavings and dig out worst wet and put down dry pellets. Put shavings back on, and top up with new.
Very economical and my weekly wet removal is only one barrow per pony.
 
Makemineacob said:
As others have said you need to take into consideration what can be taken by the person removing your muck heap, before you make a decision on what to use. We have an agreement with our neighbouring farmer in that we dump all our muck on his land providing it is all straw based, so that they can spread it.
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Echo this - wood does degrade eventually but it is mostly softwood and is acid, so really not great for soil conditioning - for that reason I don't have it on my yard. Instead we used chopped rape straw, a local make is Alto bedding which isn't really more expensive than good shavings. I actually buy the version for chicken bedding which has less eucalyptus but is otherwise the same only slightly cheaper. Without rubber mats it does make a good deep litter bed if you keep it well topped up. Otherwise I have also used chopped miscanthus - again, makes a good deep litter bed and biodegrades well. More expensive but good is flax, you have plenty of choice.
 
JillA said:
Echo this - wood does degrade eventually but it is mostly softwood and is acid, so really not great for soil conditioning - for that reason I don't have it on my yard. Instead we used chopped rape straw, a local make is Alto bedding which isn't really more expensive than good shavings. I actually buy the version for chicken bedding which has less eucalyptus but is otherwise the same only slightly cheaper. Without rubber mats it does make a good deep litter bed if you keep it well topped up. Otherwise I have also used chopped miscanthus - again, makes a good deep litter bed and biodegrades well. More expensive but good is flax, you have plenty of choice.
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As long as you have VERY deep pockets, you have plenty of choice. Good shavings are at least £8 per bale, I like that wood pellets are less than half this price for my horse to pee and poo on.
 
9tails said:
As long as you have VERY deep pockets, you have plenty of choice. Good shavings are at least £8 per bale, I like that wood pellets are less than half this price for my horse to pee and poo on.
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The chopped rape straw we use is £5.90, the horse version is just over £6 and if I remember rightly the miscanthus was just over £7 per bale. I don't have deep pockets but I would need them if I had to dispose of wood products, so although I don't know how much the pellets cost, for me they would be false economy. They are not going to get any cheaper - lots of biomass boilers needing them as fuel these days, to a degree that also applies to the other products but it is the disposal that bothers me. 9tails how do you dispose of yours?
 
I'm on a livery yard, the muck is spread over the neighbouring farmer's fields. Our muck heap is very large so by the time it's moved it has rotted down to what's known as black gold to gardeners. Compost that is very rich in nutrients, I use it on my own garden and will be adding a lot of it to my allotment.
 
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