Deep litter tips

H's mum

H's mum

Well-Known Member
Joined
27 November 2003
Messages
4,196
www.coligone.co.uk
I've not managed to sort out any rubber mats for H yet - and she's scraping her hocks as she's getting up - She's currently bedded on a nice bed of corley biowood wood pellets (all broken down into the soft bedding before putting into the stable)

However... the bedding moves if I take out the wet each day and it doesn't give a firm base - so I've decided to try deep littering - which I've never done before - Leaving the wet in, has given a more firm base - but the wet patches do seem very wet - and I was wondering if anyone had any tips for deep littering?

All ideas welcome!
Kate x
 
I really don't like deep litter, I think it takes longer to muck out than a normal bed, where you can just chuck everything up. And mares do tend to be smellier and messier peers than the boys, so you can get a little amonia over power! We left our beds up during the day to air out the floor, then down at tea time. We tamped down the shavings beds to make sure they were firm (it is a big flat thing ont he end of a wooden broom handle) and didn't have issues, even those on really fine shavings.
 
I would call what I do deep littering but i still take out the wet patches when they rise to the surface, I just don't dig through the bed looking for them. How deep is your bed? It might need to be deeper.
 
take out the very wet sodden patches from the top and fill the hole back in with semi dirty bedding. are you scraping the dry off the top every day and throwing up banks? this rotates the whole bed a bit better and means you can determine exactly where the really wet bits are accumulating.
 
Keep on - eventually you will have a lovely deep bed that doesn't move. Keep adding the pellets until the bed stops moving and the urine drains below the top surface. A good deep litter bed is around 12" deep.

I find them so easy to muck out, just pick up the poos, rake over to level and you are done. Works out so much cheaper too. Don't disturb the lower bed as it is that that will protect your horses hocks.
 
I deep litter my messy beast. I flick up all the loose stuff and scrape off any wet so the base stays flat. It never moves and I have never taken out all the base. I am anul about mucking out so it can take 15 - 20 mins to do if I am on a slow day. but now he is only in for 5 hours every day its just skipped out and the bed is lifted up to expose the base once a week.
 
Everyone on our yard leaves the wet for the week , taking the top of the worst stuff thats from the floor right up to the surface out when it comes up. Then, at the end of the week we fork it all up, take out every last bit of wet and then leave it to dry, put that stuff down and then put the new stuff in the banks. It soon all rotates and you have a beautiful white bed day in, day out
grin.gif
 
Seriously Em I've tried everything - I've tried lots of bedding - treading it down, trying to keep it firm - she just churns it up
frown.gif
I've started using the Equi-dri to combat the amonia - so that's not too bad - and I've been scraping off the wet and moving it about - I don't like deep litter either but until I can get the mats sorted out it's all I've got left to stop the scuffed hocks
frown.gif
I just don't seem to be able to do it - when others say that deep littering is dry and clean - mine isn't! LOL!
crazy.gif


Roll on the rubber matting that's what I say!
wink.gif

Kate x
 
Yes I've been scraping off the top wet - but not digging too deep as if I start disturbing the base it smells more and gets even worse!
blush.gif

Do you think topping up more frequently with more bedding would work?
Kate x
 
Sounds like you need more bedding in their and really dont disturb it, or take the wet out. it will settle I promise I had the same trouble with my horse when I took him off mats and deep littered him. It took a week to settle then it was great. I started with a really deep bed, about 8 bales and covered the whole floor minus one bit and the front were I put down a piece of rubber matting so when he paws the ground while eating he is not slamming his foot on concret (I also feed from the floor to try and minimise him pawing).
 
How many bales do you put in per week? When i was on shavings (on straw now boo hiss) id pull all the banks down so it was completley flat everywhere, then put 2 bales around the sides. Then the next week when i'd muck out etc i'd mix it all in with the banks, pull it all down etc
smile.gif
it soon all worked its way through
grin.gif
2 always used to be plenty for our beds
smile.gif
 
I hate deep litter too if I'm honest
frown.gif
But the pellets make a firm base which she can't move - if it's dry - it just gives way and then she scrapes her legs
frown.gif
Total nightmare - I just wondered what tips people with really clean dry deep litter beds can give me - I've been putting in 3-4 sacks of new bedding a week so I'm not being tight on the bedding front
smile.gif

Kate x
 
Well I started the stable with 20 sacks of wood pellets and I've been putting in 3-4 a week - but I've been taking out wet and trying all different ways to find the best way to manage it - I'll persevere!
smile.gif

Kate x
 
It'll soon come
smile.gif
Soo much quicker too. I miss my shavings bed
frown.gif
I used to actually have fun mucking it out, as opposed to smelly straw *pulls face*
 
This is how I've been mucking her out - but the bed has been too dry and moved too much - she's then cutting her hocks on the days that the bed has been cleaned - towards the end of the week when the bed is heavier, she doesn't scuff herself, which made me think about deep littering her - it's only whilst I get the mats sorted out - just need some handy tips!
smile.gif

Kate x
 
Perhaps you arre using too much. Maybe dont add any for a week or so and see what happens. if your not taking much out but you adding 3 - 4 sacks, there could be way too much bedding in the stable and therefore the equilbruim cannot establish.
 
I am using a straw and shavings mix on one of mine who is currently on Box rest. I also shred every piece of junk mail/envelopes/old H&H's and add them to the bed (cross cut shredder). I started the bed with 10 bales and take the wet out once a week. The bed is about 10 inches thick with decent banks in a 12x12 stable. Despite him being in all the time I am only adding 1 bale a week (£6.40 per bale) when I take out the wet. He is skipped out well 3 times a day and when the wet is taken out the whole bed is dug over, including the banks, and relaid. I stamp it down well and have found that this bedding (Excel I think it is called) does not move as much as normal pure shavings. It is also impregnated with Eucalyptus so you get no amonia smell at all.
 
I dunno, perhaps you problem lies in the fact your horse is too wet for your shaving choice. I use a mix of chopped straw and shavings the eucalyptus, its v absorbent and like above post says no smell or ammonia either.
 
I think you may be right - I never had this problem with megazorb
frown.gif

Maybe I should change - or get my mats sorted out pdq!
blush.gif

Thanks for the input - I appreciate it!
smile.gif

Kate x
 
I deep litter on shavings basically i put 8 bales of shavings in a 12 x 12 stable to start off and make nice big banks every day i put rubber gloves on and take the poo off the top but dont touch the wet. Every week i add 1 bale of shavings into the banks if the bed looks a bit wet 1 day i take a bit off the banks once i have taken the poo out. I have a reasonably wet mare and her stable never smells unless i disturb the wet. I think you are disturbing it too much therefore it isnt packing down, i reckon mine takes about 2-3 weeks to settle.
I put my bed down when the horses came in in Oct and havent taken the wet out at all yet will just take the whole bed out once we turn out 24/7, and no it doesnt look bad and soaking wet on top in fact the top shavings stay pretty much white.
 
Hhmmm... maybe I haven't given it enough time to settle then?
I have been guilty of changing and swapping from full muck out to deep littering - so maybe I should see what happens after another week?
crazy.gif

Kate x
 
I used the pellets over the winter and found them brilliant for semi deep littering but after the initial making of the bed with dampened pellets, after that, I always put the whole bag straight on to the bed without soaking. I found it so much more absorbent that way than if it was soaked; they break down over the next couple of days and fluff up the bed again.
I just took out droppings and used a garden rake to smooth the bed over and to air it but I never moved any of the wet from the floor at all after I 'turned' the bed after the first fortnight thinking it might need the wet taken out and found the floor as dry as a bone!
I think Kate, it's a case of leaving the bed to settle, just rake it smooth but don't dig into it at all so the base doesn't get moved at all and try putting straight pellets on (even the youngsters wouldn't eat them!) so you're not adding more water to the bed as well as her urine.
Let us know how you get on.
 
I simple leave the wet, remove the droppings, it takesa bout a week(on shavings) to become stable, I throw up the loose top layer every day, leaving the wet base, and then drag what I've thrown back down so there's about an inch of clean stuff on top of the wet.
 
Sadly when I went out this morning H's hocks were bleeding so I've got no alternative than to go out this morning and find some rubber matting - It's a cost I could do without at the moment but it's going to be a lot cheaper than the impending vets bill!
blush.gif
frown.gif

Thanks for all the tips and advice from you all - much appreciate it!
Kate x
 
Hate deep littering, always feel I've missed something (like mucking out lol). I like to air the stable floor every day.

Yay to rubber matting! Just some tips, which may be of use
wink.gif


When you get the mats, they'll be slippery from the manufacturing/storage process, so you'll need some sort of decent covering until the slipperyness goes.

They are naffing heavy and flaming awkward to move! Get a helper and roll them up and tie up with binder twine - that makes it easy to carry (will need two people).

You'll need a strong, sharp knife (and spare blades!) and someone with strong hands to cut mats to fit your stable. Even the heavy mats move.

The mats have channels underneath, try and get them so the wet will run in the direction of the slope of the stable (to the drain).

Try not to get the bobbly mats (like raised pimples), get the grid effect instead
smile.gif
. Friend has the grid type, I have the bobble type - the grid ones are asy to sweep, whilst mine are an absolute pain! Takes fooooooooorever
frown.gif


As an alternative, our YO sells the thinner stuff (comes in big rolls, about three feet wide). They glue theirs down and that seems to work well. Neither the neds nor the mats slip. I can find out how much they are if you want?
 
If his hocks are bleeding then there's a problem. Either the bed isn't deep enough, or the pellets you are using aren't suitable and aren't bedding down enough. I can't see why that would be though, as if you had a normal depth bed down on the floor he wouldn't scrape his hocks.
I throw a couple of buckets of Megazorb around where I know the wet patches are, and deep litter on straw. The "base" probably gets about 4" deep, but when I muck out I don't need to expose that, I lift the loose straw and remove the droppings, then put the loose back down. Once a week I take the wet out, let it all dry, put it back down and add one bale of straw. Cost £2 per week, time 10 mins a day for 6 days, about 40 mins on day 7. You have to keep the bed deep enough so that the horse is stood on dry matter, not wet.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top