Deep Litter "Never Again"

Most of the stables on my yard are deep litter straw. They are mucked out daily but where you would normally clear down to the floor, these are cleared down to the base layer, muck and wet patches removed and then backfilled.

The trick to successful deep littering is always to have it sufficiently deep that any liquid sinks down well below the surface layers, then there is no ammonia, no smells and minimal disturbance of the bed. Ours are never cleared out completely ( except on infection control grounds)

I do the same except I choose to use chopped straw for my own as I finding it quicker to work with and slightly less dusty
 
My OH deep littered some of his years ago when he was in the army and found it worked really well. Certainly no smell - it wouldn't have been tolerated. He and the EI reckon it depends on how you deal iwth the upkeep.
 
We dont as all of ours are just SO messy, its not worth it.

Our really messy gelding gets a generous sprinkle of shavings on top of rubber mats, full sweep out twice a day. Our mare gets skip out and kick over of shavings in morning, full sweep at night - she has quite a lot of shavings on rubber mats. My foaly has similar to gelding, but she has alot of dry shavings that I sweep backwards and then do a full sweep out every 4th or 5th day.xxx
 
Have to say i am a fan of deep litter, so long as i can do it my way. I only really semi deep litter just keep a thin even layer of deep litter about 3/4 to the front of the stable, i take out all the poop every day and never let it get to deep. Saves a fair bit of time and my horse likes his big comfy bed he lies down a lot. Have to say mine does not smell that you can notice, until you disturb it in spring obviously.
 
I am a fan of deep littering. I use flax as bedding and it seems to work well. My horses dont seem to 'trash' their beds so obviously this helps. I skip the muck out everyday and only remove the wee when it starts to show through or smell. Usually every 2-3 weeks depending on how much they are stabled. I only then tend to remove one wheelbarrow full. Flax seems to absorb well and compact. I used to use shavings and never deeplittered because the bed got distrubed quite alot. :)
 
I used to be on a diy yard that deep littered but it was done wrong.....i've since had to deep litter my boy as he got lami 8 wks ago and has to be on box rest deep shavings bed and to full muck him out he takes three bales a week to put back in. he is a commited box walker:)
so i've got a rounghly 7inch think base which i leave in and then 2-3 inch on top that is loose and i can put up the backs to get the poop out and if there is any surface wet. then it goes back down again nice a fluffy.
bed is clean, still white and not smelly and only goes through one bale a week if that just as a top up. as along as you keep the base level and do it right than deep littering works wonders, plus its warmer in the winter months.
xx
 
I can't deep litter, i normally last all of about 2 days before i can't take anymore and take it all out so i've given up now and just clear it everyday! I'm probably doing it wrong, but i don't mind taking a little bit out daily!
 
I deep littered for 2/3 weeks over the VERY cold spell this winter and also came to the conclusion of ''never again'' after emptying 15 full stacked wheelbarrows over 7hours of non stop shovelling and a very,very sore back later.
 
"I deep littered for 2/3 weeks over the VERY cold spell this winter and also came to the conclusion of ''never again'' after emptying 15 full stacked wheelbarrows over 7hours of non stop shovelling and a very,very sore back later."

sorry but i can't see how it could take 7hrs to move 15 wheel barrows, when i remove a bed after the winter from a 18x16 stall its only about 5 wheel barrows the trick is not to fluff when you fork up onto the barrow, fork the loose stuff away from the deep litter layer first and then move the bottom layer.
 
i bought 2 mats for £10 each.... use shavings (small bed) and literally take the middle out every day.....


the bale (one a week!!)... is in with my livery so it costs me no extra


that ^^^ is why i dont understand why people deep litter......

use matting and shavings.... takes me 15 minutes flat to do my bed/waters/hays... :)


ets;; my mares 15.1 and a scruff. so time is the key for me as im always rushing round liek a loon.
 
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