Bedding Poll - what are you using in the way of the new bedding types?

[Michelle73]

Just been reading about easibed, nedz bed, cushionbed etc etc and wondered what everyone uses out of these and what you pay for them. Whether or not you do go through just one bale a week or not? My mare is due to be in by night from December through to 1st April and one pallet load of cushionbed would be 30 bales. I worked out this entire pallet should last me the whole of the winter and it should work out cheaper than straw working on at least 5 bales of straw per week at £2 per bale.

So what are you using and what are your comments please:

 

[CrazyMare]

Currently on shavings, 7 bales left. Looking at possibly changing to AquaMax in the next few weeks, as struggling to get shavings deliveries.

 

[Bugly]

Flax....but run out and deciding what to go for this winter....(one horse very messy on flax) so thank you for your helpful poll.

 

[kerilli]

the farmer who brings my hay told me yesterday that he wouldn't be surprised if straw costs as much as hay this year!
i'm using Ecobed, about 2 bales per week on top of rubber matting, £5.50 ish per bale (haven't worked it out exactly). i have 2 pallets that should do the whole winter because i'll only have horses in occasionally, hopefully, most of mine are out 24/7.

 

[LankyDoodle]

I use Aquamax with George. New horse is on straw and it's a total disaster at the moment! Don't really know how to stop the bed getting wrecked. I have nearly a full big bale left that I don't want to waste. I have thought about a layer of an absorbent bedding under the straw but that just seems like a waste of money to me - 2 beddings getting wrecked instead of one!

After started G on shavings 6 years ago, moving onto straw, trying hemp, then back to shavings, then megazorb and now aquamax, I can honestly say nothing works better for him. It can be annoying as the poo separates easily, but Ihave never known a cleaner bed, and he is a very wet horse! I pay around £5 a bale and buy a pallet of 80.

My straw is in a big bale and is equivalent to 8-10 small rectangular bales. It costs £12 and I imagine I will use one every 6-8 weeks.

 

[nikki_07766]

We use easibed, we pay £6.15 or something it's just gone up from £5.95, it's not gunna be long before it's nearly as much as shavings... would be really in intrested to see what other people are paying....

 

[gummybear]

I am currently paying £7 a bag for shavings, and was told yesterday that in the next couple of months it will be going up to £9 a bag!!!

 

[Michelle73]

[ QUOTE ]

My straw is in a big bale and is equivalent to 8-10 small rectangular bales. It costs £12 and I imagine I will use one every 6-8 weeks.

[/ QUOTE ]

How do you mange to make one big bale straw last 6-8 weeks?

do you have rubber matting down?

Mine would be on concrete with whatever bedding on top. I think 3- 4 bales down every weekend then deep litter weekly topping up with the 5th bale of straw during the week to keep her bed looking fresh. If one big bale is equivelant to 10 bales I would go through one every two weeks - that would end up being cheaper than any other bed at £6 per week but I have no where to store big round bales!

 

[theequestrian]

I was using Cushionbed but since they had a fire at the plant at the beginning of August they haven't been able to supply and they do not know when they will be producing again. Have now switched to Easibed which is very similar and easy to get. It takes a bit of getting used too. Started by taking all the wet out regularly but found that it can be left in and only removed when it starts to come to the surface. Makes it very easy and economical to use and reduces the size of the muck heap which is another saving.

 

[Michelle73]

How much are you paying for it and how many bales a week do you use?

 

[LankyDoodle]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

My straw is in a big bale and is equivalent to 8-10 small rectangular bales. It costs £12 and I imagine I will use one every 6-8 weeks.

[/ QUOTE ]

How do you mange to make one big bale straw last 6-8 weeks?

do you have rubber matting down?

Mine would be on concrete with whatever bedding on top. I think 3- 4 bales down every weekend then deep litter weekly topping up with the 5th bale of straw during the week to keep her bed looking fresh. If one big bale is equivelant to 10 bales I would go through one every two weeks - that would end up being cheaper than any other bed at £6 per week but I have no where to store big round bales!

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't really have storage for big round bales - the farmer has just been very kind to us as he knows how difficult it is for people to get straw at the moment.

I have rubber mats down and only cover half to three quarters of the bed with straw. I also don't have a big fluffy bed because he trashes it and doesn't need a fluffy bed. I make sure there are sufficiently large banks and then spread it thinly across the rest of the bed. I have only had him since the weekend and I started the bed with quite a lot of straw. I remove about half a wheelbarrow of straw a day and about 10 wheelbarrows of poo!!! He seems to do most of his poo at the front where there is no straw and then mixes it round, so while he is mega messy, he doesn't waste as much bed that way; so thinking about it, changing to Aquamax probably wouldn't make a huge lot of difference, as I would need to cover that front area to make any difference to how the mats are in the morning (wet, smelly, dirty and COVERED!). Then there's wee from the back to the front in the middle - I remove the sodden bits and mix the rest into the bottom of the banks, bringing some dry forwards. I haven't put any more straw in yet and have not allowed the bed to deep litter as it is too wet to do that. He's been on it 4 nights. I will need to put more straw in on Friday or Saturday (about 2 wheelbarrows full I imagine).

I am probably really wrong but I don't see a way of cleanly deep littering straw, but that's probably because I own 2 of the wettest geldings the world has ever seen! The bed would just be MINGING!

If I am only putting in let's say 4 barrows of straw a week then this huge bale is easily going to last that long

 

[Michelle73]

Thought you must have rubber matting down!

)

 

[Angua2]

flax with rubber mats for both mine

both horses are very messy so do a full muck out every day and top up with one bag each per week. One bag is about £6.75

 

[ajb123]

Have had my extremely filthy mare on Aquamax for about a month now and love it! Takes a bit of getting used to but well worth it. Using 1 bag a week at £6.35. She is on rubber matting and I bed down about 2/3 of her stable (which is large!) Apparently the Queen is using it at Balmoral so if its good enough for Queeny it'll do for my "Fat Baggage"!!!!!

 

[piebaldsparkle]

Bedmax - Use 2-3 bales a week at about £6.30 per bale.

 

[Posa]

Megazorb. 5.30 a bag and i use a bag a week.

 

[liveryblues]

I use easibed (have to at our yard) find it very good to work with. Its not the most absorbent bedding but i find it works extremely well with a layer of megazorb underneath. I use 1 bale of easibed per week & half a bag of megazorb. Currently pay5.98 for easibed & 5.25 for megazorb.

 

[lilym]

ecobed and paper mixed, seems to work quite well.

 

[Halfstep]

I use Bliss. Its £5.90 per bag and seems to last very well. Use one bag a week. I used to use Equizorb and still would except their prices soared to nearly £9 per bag!!!! Can't afford that.

 

[Spyda]

Rubber mats with Megazorb. Use about a bag a week per stable and it costs about £5.50/bag collected.

 

[Rosehip]

Mellys on Shavings until my Cushion Bed pallet gets delivered. They started accepting orders on 29th sept so the other groom at the yard (her Dad is an agent) is placing the order for me . I bought 4 bales of shavings yesterday - £6.70 a bale!!! She wont be getting many top ups!!!!

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

Aubiose!! Fantastic stuff, wouldnt change if you paid me!

 

[alsxx]

I use straw for one - i have a big bale which costs me £20 a bale - approx 10 - 15 small bales to one big bale - going on how slowly i am getting through it at the moment i think it will last me well into January!! I do deep litter though as I work full time...The other is on sundown red, love it but dont know if I will be able to get any more for a while!!

 

[imafluffybunny]

I used Nedzbeds for a while on top of rubber matting, I found it was great for the first few days then it would absorb the moisture from the air making the whole bed damp and brown in colour. I am now back to shavings..........

 

[Sunflowers]

Still on good old shavings! Deep litter with plenty clean on top.

Mine are in virtually 24 hours a day in winter months but are skipped out about 4 times a day. I only take wet out if it is building up too much in one area; generally I aim to have a good 4 inch deep litter base underneath the clean stuff on top, which I find keeps them warmer and safer from knocks on the concrete below.

Would have rubber too if I could afford it!

Only problem is shavings are going up, mine aren't the best quality and they now cost £6 bale. Top quality are more like £7.50 eeek!!!

 

[ChowChow]

I love NedzBedz and I use 1 bale a week (with rubber matting)

 

[wigton]

Currently using shavings at £5.50 bale on rubber mats approx 1 bale per stable per week (horses out during day in at night) but getting harder to get hold of so we are looking at alternatives. We must be the only area where easibed is more expensive than shavings? Easibed is £6.95 but because shavings hard to get hold off everyone buying easibed and this is getting scarce as well! not many choices around here, only seen shavings, easibed, bedmax for sale other than straw but mine is so dirty on straw the muck heap would double within weeks!

 

[angiebaby]

I'm using easibed at the minute and hate it!!
Its heavy, takes too long to muck out and is not absorbent like bedmax.

 

[Solstar]

bedmax- works out at about £6 a bale. use 1 bale per bed per week- i have deeeeep beds down and take the wet out on my day off- i also have rubber matting down at the front of my boxes.

 

[longtalltilly]

I use soft chip! Its great, I put in about 8 bales to set the bed up in my rather large 17ft square stable and add one a week! its about £5 a bale although goes down to about £4.70 when you buy in bulk which although isnt much of a discount its soon adds up to a better one!!