Chopped rape straw bedding

[awelshandawarmblood]

I've found a local supplier of this bedding with eucalyptus added, says it's highly absorbent (aren't they all!) due to the pithy inner core of the rape straw & also treated with mould. Looks to make a nice bed off the photos & cheaper per 20kg than shavings, does anyone have any experience of using it? It's for a rather wet messy gelding & won't have matting under it

 

[ihatework]

I’d always choose chopped rape straw instead of shavings. It’s not miraculous but it’s similar to manage and definitely more absorbant. Better for muckheap/spreading too and overall cheaper system

 

[Xmasha]

Yep, bought a load this year due to my normal shavings brand being unavailable. I like them. they are absorbant, and the bed looks comfy. I find a sprinkling of shavings on the bottom and then a full bed on the top worked best for us. The best bit is they decompose better, so much better when spreading on fields. I will buy more.

 

[Brownmare]

It was my choice of bedding before discovering wood pellets, and I would go back to it again if wood pellets were ever not an option but I do still prefer the wood pellets.

 

[sherry90]

Yep I use Swish and highly recommend. My gelding is quite messy and wet but with this he is tidy and easier to muck out. Several things have helped though, he has a bigger stable than when I was on other bedding and I have also built up a big bed, wet comes out twice a week. They do a lemon peel scent one which is lovely and keeps flies at bay.
I liked wood pellets but found them dusty in their coats and tails and created a layer of film on rugs etc and very heavy when wet. Much harder to take the bed out too on my back.

 

[spacefaer]

I use crs - wouldn't use anything else now - it's a lot better than shavings - less dusty, more absorbent and rots down very quickly. The farmer where I dump my muck wouldn't take shavings either.

The trick is to have a deep bed, then the wet stays underneath and doesn't mix in with the dry. And at £4.50 a bag, I love it too ?

 

[scats]

We use probed but have used swish. A deeper bed is definitely better with it.
We use it coz our farmer won’t take shavings, but happily takes this stuff.

 

[TPO]

I switched from shavings to Nedz Pro and absolutely loved it. Much more absorbent and smelt 100x better

However I've just order miscanthus bedding to try this winter. Mainly because its over £1 cheaper a bale and with 3 horses that adds up. However having done some reading it appears to be even more absorbent than the chopped straw/nedz. Time will tell...

It is the Burley Bed stuff that I've ordered

https://www.burlybed.co.uk/burlybed

 

[Ranyhyn]

Its all we ever use as we spread our muck on our farm.

 

[awelshandawarmblood]

Ahh great feedback! Thank you everyone! I'll get a few bales this weekend to start my bed off I'll keep my cob on shavings as hes exceptionally clean, this is for my youngster who'll be in a slightly smaller stable than ideal for the foreseeable until a bigger one becomes free - he'll only be in when its horrendous so not that bad.

The trick is to have a deep bed, then the wet stays underneath and doesn't mix in with the dry. And at £4.50 a bag, I love it too ?

Wow! I though £6.99 was cheap in comparison to the £8+ shavings around here! This is unbranded I think, but I'm hoping the eucalyptus smell will discourage any snacking! *fingers crossed*

 

[spacefaer]

Mine is unbranded but he delivers nationwide (and the bonus is that he's only a couple of villages away so I can get it pretty quickly too!)

 

[Myloubylou]

My two eat the chopped rape and I didn’t like burleybed as didn’t find it absorbed the wet. Currently on wood pellets which is dead quick to skip out but super heavy to remove wet which sets like concrete. I like flax but mice get in. Only bedding I actually rate is aubiose but is so expensive.

 

[awelshandawarmblood]

My two eat the chopped rape and I didn’t like burleybed as didn’t find it absorbed the wet. Currently on wood pellets which is dead quick to skip out but super heavy to remove wet which sets like concrete. I like flax but mice get in. Only bedding I actually rate is aubiose but is so expensive.

I've not got on with wood pellets & like flax too but difficult to get a hold of regularly here. Was the chopped rape you used scented? My youngster chews everything so won't take much for him to try it I'm sure!

 

[Season’s Bleatings]

I've used it before and liked it, though shavings worked out better for me in the end.

Our mare adored it... if I opened a bale in her stable, she would shove her face into it and sniff it lol!

 

[skint1]

We had ours on chopped rape straw last year, our farm made it so the only criticism I had was it was not particularly dust free, but it was highly absorbent and the horses seemed comfortable with it.

 

[Henry02]

Great stuff

 

[holeymoley]

I've used Nedzbeds Pro in the past, its definitely more absorbant that shavings. However I changed to wood pellets as it's quicker to get a muck out done with pellets. I also have bad memories of nedz as it was when my guy was very unwell, the smell of it brings back the awful memories. Crazy but it does!

 

[TPO]

We had ours on chopped rape straw last year, our farm made it so the only criticism I had was it was not particularly dust free, but it was highly absorbent and the horses seemed comfortable with it.

The nedz pro has been brilliant in regards to dust. I switched to bedmax for low dust and the nedz has been so much better for my horse.

I've used wood pellets before and I like their quickness but never liked them as a bed. I also found them really dusty when they dried up a bit; there was a fine coat of dust on everything. That doesnt happen now that all 3 are on nedz.

I just hope the burley bed is as good as its says and the reviews that I've read, if not it'll be back to nedz.

They all had a sniff at it and 2 tries to eat it but spat it out after one taste and that was that. It does have a unique smell

 

[{97702}]

I absolutely love rape straw bedding - I got mine from a local supplier, found it totally brilliant! My horse was quite clean, but all the wet went through to the bottom and it stayed fabulous looking.

If you live near Ross on Wye let me know and I’ll tell you the supplier ?

 

[Sossigpoker]

I use a local supply of dust extracted chopped rape straw. I use wood pellets underneath where he pees and only take the wet out once a week. Works really wel.I put in two bales a week , they are only 13 kg bales though but at 3.50 a bale works out cost effective

 

[The Xmas Furry]

TPO, I've used Burley bed a couple of years ago when my usual Miscanthus was out of stock. It was a lighter colour but did the same job. My supplier doesn't stock it usually as we are outside the main delivery area, just the Easy Pack which has still whooped up as was £6.80 in April, it's now £7.55!
Aubiose is £9.75, so I might pick up a couple of those for the smalls.

 

[TPO]

TPO, I've used Burley bed a couple of years ago when my usual Miscanthus was out of stock. It was a lighter colour but did the same job. My supplier doesn't stock it usually, just the Easy Pack which has still whooped up as was £6.80 in April, it's now £7.55!

Thanks TFF, I dont know anyone personally that has used it and I've never used miscanthus before.

I placed a bulk order via efeed and it was £8.40 with bulk discount. Still £1.11 cheaper per bale than Nedz so hopefully it works as well if it better ??

 

[The Xmas Furry]

I keep quite a deep bed as after a few days it packs down, usually just remove the wet at a weekend. Mind you, with the smalls I just remove droppings, level over and clean all out around Easter as they all come in from dusk till dawn through Dec to clock change in March or when its decent enough.

 

[ed&arch]

I use ProBed on all of mine including my wet gelding.
Dust free, absorbent and smells good too!

 

[Quigleyandme]

I use chopped or milled straw. Rots down well in the muck heap which is a fraction of the volume compared to when I used shavings.

 

[Sam_J]

I use crs - wouldn't use anything else now - it's a lot better than shavings - less dusty, more absorbent and rots down very quickly. The farmer where I dump my muck wouldn't take shavings either.

The trick is to have a deep bed, then the wet stays underneath and doesn't mix in with the dry. And at £4.50 a bag, I love it too ?

£4.50 a bag?! I'm paying £7 a bag for Swish - what brand are you using?

 

[Tiddlypom]

Do horses eat it? One of mine is a dustbin.

 

[TPO]

Do horses eat it? One of mine is a dustbin.

I use Nedz Pro which is treated with something to make it unpalatable as well as some antibacterial stuff. I know manukau honey is one part of it.

Greedy cob and nosy QH both took a mouthful then spat it all back out. That was the first day they were bedded on it and have never tried since

 

[brighteyes]

I've found a local supplier of this bedding with eucalyptus added, says it's highly absorbent (aren't they all!) due to the pithy inner core of the rape straw & also treated with mould. Looks to make a nice bed off the photos & cheaper per 20kg than shavings, does anyone have any experience of using it? It's for a rather wet messy gelding & won't have matting under it

Fabulous stuff if they don't eat it. Rots down really fast and highly absorbent.

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

Sorry but I used chopped rape stalk bedding, at that time you had eucalyptus in it for the winter & citronella in it for the summer. It was marketed as "Bliss". To be honest it certainly wasn'y bliss, it was bloody horrib;e. I certainly wasn't absorbent & it was difficult to muck out. I think it was actually far worse than using straw. You can take photos of the bed & it looks good but in reality it's awful