Best bedding for deep littering?

[muckypony]

I'm sure that this has probably been done to death (sorry!) but most threads I have found suggest straw or normal shavings.

Soo I want to deep litter with no matting, can't be straw and would prefer something other than the usual shavings (Hunters or similar).

I like Aubiose but believe they are expensive? Is there something similar?

What do you use and how much a week do you use?

Thanks

 

[Dizzleton]

I don't have mats in my stable so I do a really deep litter of oat straw. I take the poo out everyday and take the wee out every other day. It worked great last winter and my horse was always clean, dry and seemed to be happy with it!

 

[honetpot]

hemp and flax are also good for deep littering, unbranded is usually the cheapest

 

[WelshD]

Arden Safemix is pretty good, a little dusty but stays very stable when deep littered and is reasonably easy to dig out

 

[Irishbabygirl]

Miscanthas is good for deep littering - I get it for £6.72 so very reasonably priced too.

 

[Dizzleton]

P.s mine is £1.80 a bale, I use about 5 bales to make the bed then use 1 bale a week

 

[jenni999]

Wood pellets are the best. No smell and more absrbent than anything else.

 

[muckypony]

Thanks. Someone else has mentioned miscanthus as well so will look into that.

What makes of hemp/wood pellets are there? I have never used them before so am pretty cluel!

 

[martlin]

I deep litter on Laysoft, which is woodchip. It stay in place, looks nice, is not dusty and fairly absorbent, it costs me around £6 for a 25kg bag and I use on average 1 bag per horse per week. The dirty ones need an occasional extra bag, but some can get about 10 days between top ups.

 

[jenni999]

Liverpool Wood Pellets or Five Star Bedding are my preferred makes - although not sure Five Star are trading at the moment as the owner died suddenly. You add water to the pellets so they start to break down and then spread them out - but they don't feel wet. I've used them for really wet horses and they're great. You just scoop the poo off the top each morning and then take out the wet patch and fill in the hole.

 

[OLDGREYMARE]

Don't buy miscanthus from Fennington Fibres,I started a deep litter bed and 2 days later the wee was running out the front of the stable,it is not absorbant and when I complained to the company they said it was claimed to be dust extracted only and didn't give a sxxt!

 

[GinaGem]

Liverpool wood or straw pellets. Both excellent for deep littering.

 

[mulberrymill]

be careful with the straw pellets , we found they stuck to everything from rugs to knees, hocks and elbows then set like concrete and couldnt get the stuff off. Never had that problem with wood pellets.

 

[montanna]

bed-down is great for deep littering

 

[Oscar]

Miscanthus is not absorbent at all.

 

[spotty_pony]

I'm using Rape Seed Straw this year and am currently starting to deep litter it - in process of building a base at the moment ready for the winter. It is proving to be very absorbent and doesn't smell at all. I buy it in bulk at £5.50 per bale and you get as much as Shavings, it's more absorbent and best of all it's cheaper!