deep littering

[samuelhorse]

need your advice,

have decided to deep litter my very wet gelding on shavings. his stable is 12 x 12 with equimats under. I have put in about ten bales of shavings.

Now, what i want to know, is, what does everyone do once it is laid. Do i leave the wet and keep adding a bale, do i take the wet out??

was going to put him back on straw, but when i spoke to the vet, he couldnt really comment, butjust said, the shavings would be cheaper in the long run than a vet bill for impaction colic (hes recovering from laminitis, on restricted rations and scoffs straw - even sprayed with jeyes fluid)

Small sprinkling isnt an option, its revolting by morning and neddy is even mankier being palomino with poo and pee stains from head to foot and smelling like an elderly male yak has urinated in his pockets!

 

[MistletoeMegan]

You could take just the muck out and leave the wet in, so long as the wet stays at the base of the bed; if the wet is coming up you can add more bedding on top.

Or, you can take the muck out everyday and take the wet out once a week - up to you really

 

[milliepops]

I deep litter my mare, who can be disgusting in the stable, but you may not find that it works for you. I think it works for me because I have a dirt floor under the bedding, and just concrete at the front of the stable (no bedding). This means that the pee does drain well and the deep litter stays relatively dry. I'm not sure it would work if your floor doesn't drain well.

Having said that, I have deep littered on concrete and rubber floors before so it's worth a go. When I start off, I put a good deep bed in (usually start with some Aubiose and top up with shavings), and just take the droppings out every day. To begin with it's a bit painful as the bedding moves around a lot, but after a while it starts to bed down and you get a solid-ish base which stays pretty neat as long as your horse doesn't dig it up. I then pull some clean shavings off the banks every day so she has something clean and dry to snooze on.

Works for me, I leave the bed down until I feel guilty and dig it up, but to be honest our stables are so well ventilated and get a lot of sunlight, so it tends to stay dry and not stinky! Current bed has been down for about 9 months!

 

[DollyDolls]

After a few days, some wet may rise to the top, take an inch or two out, & cover over with fresh.

It's best to put in a couple of bales for the first 2 or 3 wks, then you may manage on 1 or 1.5 per wk after.

The main thing is to not disturb the base. Take only droppings out and leave the rest well alone.

 

[TirionWirion]

I agree with Milliepops, both mine are on deep litter shavings on a concrete floor which drains towards the front left corner - I have haynets at the right/middle front - i just remove the pooh every day and add a new bale usually once a week. In time the bed does creep forwards and I usually just remove the wet front bit for a few weeks before a full muck out which usually coincides with the school holidays so probably every 12 weeks. What I have found is that the bed lasts longer and stays drier if the initial bed is made up of shavings and I alternate what I put on top as clean with wood planeings which are coarser bigger shavings. I don't have any problems with urine smells which I did have when they were on straw - the stables are close to the house and they haven't had any problems with thrush. The only problem that I have is little black midgey flies which sit on the surface but a swift spray with flyspray after mucking out keeps them away. Sorry my answer is long - OH has gone out, the kids are in bed and the telly is rubbish!!!!!