Deep Littering.

M

MissMistletoe

Well-Known Member
Joined
17 September 2007
Messages
853
Visit site
Am considering deep littering my horse this winter. She will be stabled for approx 14 hours overnight between Nov and March.

I used to semi-deep another pony many years ago on Easibed; poos removed daily, all wet lifted on a Saturday and a new bale added- very cost effective, but very heavy to lift out.

Drainage is not great in the current stable, so I had an idea of adding a good layer of shavings as the 'base', and then packing with straw on top. I would also make some very good banks.

The ideal would be to rubber glove out the poos daily so as not to disturb the bed, and fork out any obvious wet patches. Then keep adding fresh straw to the middle and levelling and patting it down firmly.

The mare stables very well, and does not stampede around, so the bed should remain quite undisturbed.

I am aware that the whole bed will need to be dug out next spring, and a plan will be put in place.

Questions!
How thick should shavings level be?
Which shavings would particularly suit this base level?
How much straw do you end up putting in every day?
How terrible would it be to leave a lot of wet in there- as in the wet that is not visible. providing that the straw on top is always fresh and odourless?
Do the horses lie down happily? any issues with casting? I don't have any anti-cast rollers anymore, but banks will be very ample sized.

Thankyou and sorry to start talking about winter already!!
 
I love to deep litter my mare she is so much cleaner that way,

I use shavings fr=om a local wood yard for the base (they are free), I use them in the same way as wood pellets (I cannot use these for current mare as she eats them!), so I pour a bucket of water in the bag of pellets and let it soak in before tipping them out (this reduces the dust), I put a 8-10inch layer of these down right up to the door, I lay it around the hay box and water buckets, I put a layer of either shavings or easibed over the top and my mare eats straw so I pop a couple of sections in for her to much at if she gets through her hay.
I remove droppings daily and scrape a layer of wet from the top if it comes through the bed and then add a couple more bags of shavings (free or bought), I have found with my mare the bed is best if disturbed as little as possible.
It does not smell if undisturbed, the horse lays down on it as much if not more than a bed that moves about more,as long as the bedding that comes into contact with the horse is dry the rest that is underneath does not matter, casting depends on the size of the stable and the individual horse-I don't put banks in for my mare unless I have excess bedding and I put banks in to store it.
 
I deep litter on shavings. I put down four bales of shavings/sawdust mix and just poo picked by hand until it firmed up then just added bales of shavings to the top when needed. I have 4 inches of solid base with 3/4 inches of dry on top so the wet isn't ever touching his feet or rugs etc.

Bed is always clean and dry looking and after set up in lucky if I'm 2bales a month in shavings.
 
I deep litter on miscanthus, but I add a top layer of nice clean straw. The straw is easy to lift with the droppings and tip into a barrow, and doesn't get wet and smelly like a whole straw bed. Works well even with my very wet IR old mare - the difference for her is I take back the straw and put a heat lamp over the base layer to dry it out, otherwise I would be replacing most of it every day.
 
I deep litter on bedwells, it's like the nedz pro but only £6.50 a bale. It is really absorbent and when well bashed down doesn't move around much so i pick poos out by hand, wet when it comes to the surface and each week add another bale. the bed is 8-10 in deep and not smelly or wet at all( infact looks like an immaculate fresh bed at all times). the bedding also has a eucalyptys smell. Every 3 months i will start to run it down and then lift out all the wet and use the dry as the new base and start all over again.Personally i don't see the need for using the straw and think it makes it harder to keep the bed clean and pong free!
 
Thanks everyone for all your comments and ideas!

booandellie said:
Personally i don't see the need for using the straw and think it makes it harder to keep the bed clean and pong free!
Click to expand...

Thanks booandellie!

I am a bit old fashioned and just love to see the horses on deep straw beds! But I will see if I can get bedwells in my local feed merchants

ETA: just researched Bedwells, and it is a chopped straw, so not what I was expecting! That sounds interesting, and better to dispose of for the Farmer at the end of the season compared with if i used a base of shavings.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top