Deep litter or not deep litter

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heidiharvsnroo

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I can't decide whether I should try deep litter or not?

Over the summer I left my mare's bed down as she was only ever in it for a few hours at a time every few days and I skipped out after she had been in and then bottomed it every 2 weeks.

However, now its getting grotty outside, I want to spend more time with her and still get home in a reasonble time following work. One of the girls does deep litter on straw at our yard, and I've never considered it until now.

When I say deep litter, I mean that I'd bottom the bed every weekend, and just skip out monday-friday, putting plenty of clean on top and removing any really squelchy bedding as and when I needed to during the week.

She's not on rubber matting, doesn't dig her bed out and doesn't churn it up. I pick her hooves out every day.

Anyone else deep litter with straw? How do you find it? With my last gelding I skipped out one day, then mucked out the other, but he used to dig his bed up a lot and was on rubber matting so he never had an overly deep bed.
 
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Deep litter yes, on straw no! Tried it and it normally stinks! I have deep littered with wood pellets & shavings which worked a treat and I'm going to switch back onto this when my heston bale of straw runs out!
 
I done it for last 2 winters with a fab shaving/pellet/hemp bed. Gone back onto straw this winter as need to keep my costs down but I just couldn't deep litter straw, I tend to skip out for 2-3 days then bottom it.
 
whizzer said:
I done it for last 2 winters with a fab shaving/pellet/hemp bed. Gone back onto straw this winter as need to keep my costs down but I just couldn't deep litter straw, I tend to skip out for 2-3 days then bottom it.
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I think I'm using the term deep litter a bit loosely. I'm talking about skipping out monday-thursday/friday (I normally finish half days on Friday so it would depend) and then mucking out over the weekend when I have more time.

Interesting, broke_but_happy, the girl at our yard who deep litters on straw, her stable doesn't smell at all, and her horses are immaculate.
 
deep litter with straw does work, but it smells disgusting and is a pain to remove, i used to work on a yard where all the horses were deep littered in the winter, and had to be removed in spring, we were lucky we emptied the wheelbarrows into a forklift bucket, i wouldnt personally do it with straw, shavings or any other more absorbant bedding no problem
 
JenTaz said:
deep litter with straw does work, but it smells disgusting and is a pain to remove, i used to work on a yard where all the horses were deep littered in the winter, and had to be removed in spring, we were lucky we emptied the wheelbarrows into a forklift bucket, i wouldnt personally do it with straw, shavings or any other more absorbant bedding no problem
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Again, someone else saying it smells "disgusting".

I must be missing something, with the stable on our yard that does it, either that or my nose isn't working properly.

:confused:
 
heidiharvsnroo said:
I can't decide whether I should try deep litter or not?

Over the summer I left my mare's bed down as she was only ever in it for a few hours at a time every few days and I skipped out after she had been in and then bottomed it every 2 weeks.

However, now its getting grotty outside, I want to spend more time with her and still get home in a reasonble time following work. One of the girls does deep litter on straw at our yard, and I've never considered it until now.

When I say deep litter, I mean that I'd bottom the bed every weekend, and just skip out monday-friday, putting plenty of clean on top and removing any really squelchy bedding as and when I needed to during the week.

She's not on rubber matting, doesn't dig her bed out and doesn't churn it up. I pick her hooves out every day.

Anyone else deep litter with straw? How do you find it? With my last gelding I skipped out one day, then mucked out the other, but he used to dig his bed up a lot and was on rubber matting so he never had an overly deep bed.
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If you want to do a really good deep litter bed then empty out stable, wash floor, when dry cover with a good layer of garden lime then put down a really deep straw bed, whack the bed down with the fork until it's really thick and dense. Then only take out the dung for the duration of the winter - leave the wet as it drains through to the bottom and if the bed is thick enough is absorbed and dries out.

I prefer the combo deep litter bed where the base is made up of a deep layer of shavings around 20cms deep with a similar depth of straw on top.

Really economical on beding and your time.

Currently my mare comes in at night to help keep her dimensions down and is deep littered on shavings - takes me no more than five mins to skip out and set fair.
 
Personally, I don't deep litter, and the bed is fully mucked out daily. The yard that I'm on doesn't like shavings, and I don't like straw, so I'm on chopped rape straw (a bit shavings like, but rots down quicker) and I'm not keen on it - giv me shavings anyday.

If I was to deep litter, Evelyn's method sounds good, easy and economical. Might even consider doing it :)
 
Evelyn said:
If you want to do a really good deep litter bed then empty out stable, wash floor, when dry cover with a good layer of garden lime then put down a really deep straw bed, whack the bed down with the fork until it's really thick and dense. Then only take out the dung for the duration of the winter - leave the wet as it drains through to the bottom and if the bed is thick enough is absorbed and dries out.

I prefer the combo deep litter bed where the base is made up of a deep layer of shavings around 20cms deep with a similar depth of straw on top.

Really economical on beding and your time.

Currently my mare comes in at night to help keep her dimensions down and is deep littered on shavings - takes me no more than five mins to skip out and set fair.
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I was looking at doing something similar, and putting a layer of shavings down to absorb the wet and then skipping out the top layer of straw each day. Keeps her warm as well I think, especially as she's not on rubber matting.

Thanks
 
Years ago, for various reasons I would fully muck out one day then fill the stable with straw and bank it well (far more than normal), skip out each day and top up with straw from the banks, then muck out at the end of the week. It worked very well for years like that with no detriment to the feet, no smell at all and the horse always had a dry bed to lay on. You must use plenty of straw to start though (I'd use 3 small bales of barley in a 12 x 12 - bales seemed bigger then than they are now), to skimp will give you a rotten bed and it will smell. Even at the end of the week and being anally clean, I would be able to save a lot of the old bedding to use as a base. I always found barley or oat straw far better and more absorbent than wheat, I have to be desperate to use wheat!

You can only try it to see if it suits you, nothing ventured, nothing gained and because it's not everyone's cup of tea does not mean you shouldn't try it out at all. At end of the day, it's what suits you and the horse, nobody else should matter.
 
Maesfen said:
Years ago, for various reasons I would fully muck out one day then fill the stable with straw and bank it well (far more than normal), skip out each day and top up with straw from the banks, then muck out at the end of the week. It worked very well for years like that with no detriment to the feet, no smell at all and the horse always had a dry bed to lay on. You must use plenty of straw to start though (I'd use 3 small bales of barley in a 12 x 12 - bales seemed bigger then than they are now), to skimp will give you a rotten bed and it will smell. Even at the end of the week and being anally clean, I would be able to save a lot of the old bedding to use as a base. I always found barley or oat straw far better and more absorbent than wheat, I have to be desperate to use wheat!

You can only try it to see if it suits you, nothing ventured, nothing gained and because it's not everyone's cup of tea does not mean you shouldn't try it out at all. At end of the day, it's what suits you and the horse, nobody else should matter.
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Thanks for that.

We can use as much straw as we want at our place, its all inclusive of the price so I'm not too bothered about the cost, its just the time it saves me.

She's on loan to me from a friend and I spoke to her about it. She's said what I'm talking about doing is technically semi deep litter and as long as I give the bed a full going over once a week and she has plenty of clean to lie on then there's no major issues.

Even when I fully muck out now, I seem to end up with loads of bed left over afterwards that goes back down with another 2/3 barrows of clean on top. (She only has one banking at the back as she gets cast if she has them at each side!)

Thanks for the advice. I think what I'll do is invest in a bale of shavings and chuck a bit of that down over the areas I know she tends to toilet in most and then do a normal straw bed on top, with a full muck out once a week and skip out each day (obviously taking any wet that's ridiculously squelchy or visible if she's been rolling). See how we go.
 
I'd second what Maesfen has already suggested. Deep littering on straw is the only way that ever really worked for one of my ladies. She's now on shavings and rubber mats (it's a nightmare to get straw where we are at the mo!), but straw, with a thick, packed down bottom layer and lots of lovely fluffy stuff on top was the only kind of bed she didn't dig up having some kind of wild party in her stable every night! No smell either...
 
wyrdsister said:
I'd second what Maesfen has already suggested. Deep littering on straw is the only way that ever really worked for one of my ladies. She's now on shavings and rubber mats (it's a nightmare to get straw where we are at the mo!), but straw, with a thick, packed down bottom layer and lots of lovely fluffy stuff on top was the only kind of bed she didn't dig up having some kind of wild party in her stable every night! No smell either...
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The Ginger Ninja doesn't seem to be that bad to be fair, she has the odd day where she's been digging but other than that she seems to be quite good. But she does lie down a bit and I'm conscious of her lying on the concrete and digging through, as even with the deepest straw bed its easily moved.

My last horse was a pain as he had wild parites every night but I couldn't deep litter as he was prone to thrush so there was no way I wanted to risk it,e ven though I know deep down if done properly that shouldn't have been a problem.

Anyway thanks for the advice, think I need to find what works for me and the lady and stick to that! :o
 
if you are going to deep litter then you will go through a transitional period where the bed is a bit of both. you need to let the damp settle. you need a good deep bed thinking banks 3 to 4 feet high and packed and stacked, and flooring 18 inches to 2'6 deep. skip out and pat down, do not stir or look for wet. top up every couple of days, in 3 weeks you will have a settled base which shouldnt smell. continue topping up every other day. get ready for as huge, smelly dig out in the spring. digging the base out every week completely defeates the object of deep litter.
 
Defo deep litter.
I have 3 beds which are all 10 years old, don't smell and are not wet.
I originally went completely over the top with Easibed, put LOADS of bales in until each stable was mega deep, and started from there.
Now I just skip out the droppings and the bit of 'pee area' they leave, every day and top up the beds once a fortnight...sometimes longer.
However...a word of caution...if you have an Olympic Gold medallist in the peeing department...deep litter is as bad as every other system.
Bryndu :)
 
I would say only deep litter with shavings. As shavings absorb the urine, where as straw doesn't really absorb it as affectingly. However, you seem to be looking after your horse and if that's what suits you and your horse and it is not causing any problems then that's fine. I recommend you disinfect your stable if you start to smell urine.
 
I have totally the same routine as you :)
Have a small day bed in summer when they are in during day for a few hours.
Now it's winter and they're in at night I deep litter mine on Straw and dig the bed out once a week when i am off work. This works really well for my horses (and me!). The beds are big, warm and clean. There is no smell as they are deep enough and any wet that gets scuffed to the surface gets taken out daily. I am really strict about cleanliness and deep litter works best for me over winter. I used to have normal beds that got lifted everyday, but because the urine had not been absorbed the floor needed disenfecting and bed leaving up to dry for the entire day (which it never did in the damp weather). It's personal preference but if managed correctly I think deep litter straw works really well :)
 
These weekly muck outs you're describing are semi-deep littering. A true deep litter bed takes a good three/four weeks to establish and the resulting bed remains down totally undisturbed (most important) for months on end. Just dung is removed and very occasionally tops of any hard uneven patches need to be levelled off, other than this it must not be disturbed. Urine soaks to the bottom and actually ferments (and no, it doesn't smell) which creates the warmth at the surface for which deep littered beds are reknowned.
I deep litter my horses from beginning of October until around the end of March using Bed Down Traditional chopped dust-extracted straw. They are stabled overnight for approx 15 hours and I use about a bale a week per stable to top up since so little is removed. I do always dread the digging out, pressure wash and disinfecting process each spring, although with myself and OH pitching in, it's actually never as bad as you'd think. It's so time saving and economical deep littering - and so clean, warm and comfortable for my oldie and hunting horse there's not one disadvantage I can dredge up to not recommend it. Muck cart rarely needs emptying through winter too, another bonus.
 
I semi deep litter, it keeps the costs down and doesn't take very long to do so can spend more time with my Horse.

I am on straw, I take the poos out everyday then top up with clean straw. I take the wet out every 3 weeks.
 
Thanks for all the advice. I'm not quite brave enough to go for a full deep litter at the moment...might build myself up to that and try it next year!

Semi-Deep litter seems to be working for us at the moment, and I've got a bale of shavings so some of that will be going down this weekend once I've dug the wet out and we will take it from there. I also don't feel quite as bad because although I know its daft, I still feel rotten that I'm not doing a full change every day...think that's something that will come in time!

I got married this weekend, and didn't get time to do a full bed change on the Friday so unfortunately her owner got the pleasure on sunday. But, considering she'd not had the wet taken out for 8 days, she only took 4 barrows out which i don't think is too bad. :o

One thing I've come to accept and learn is that it is all about what works for you and your horse. If she's healthy and happy then so am I, plus I get a lot more time to ride and groom her.

Thanks everyone!
 
With wheat straw yes it works. I remove my bottom every month or so (takes about 5 wheelbarrows to do) BUT barley and oat doesnt work. We use what we are given (free) as I think the farmers here do deals and pay each other on straw. Currently using oat straw which is useless so doing full muck out every day. She eats half of it as well (I feed less hay ;) )
 
Fascinating thread! When I bought my horse in July the last owner told me that he was very much prone to thrush and mud fever. His feet werent in great condition when I bought him, even though it was summer. However, now he has hugely improved feet, no mud fever so far, a great diet and no thrush. Im interested to try this but wouldnt want to do it to the detriment of his hoof health... I would be really interested to know if anybody deep litters with horses that are prone to thrush? :)
 
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