Do Bigger Shavings Beds Generally Stay Cleaner?

[acorn92x]

I'm unsure whether to bite the bullet and make my grotty horses bed of woodchips a bit bigger in a desperate attempt to keep her cleaner. She is quite foul and rather wet so I have been keeping her with quite a small bed but I've heard numerous people saying that their dirty horses stay cleaner on a bigger bed. What are peoples experiences with this? Please don't recommend deep littering as I cannot stand it, oh, and she currently has Hunter woodchips so bedding is decent quality/absorbency and I would rather not change it.

Thoughts?

 

[ihatework]

Definitely cleaner with more bed, but also longer to muck out depending on how much they stir it around!

Try putting a couple of Stubbs scoops of dry wood pellets in the area she wee's every day. Then have your hunters bed over the top. I will lay money you will find this keeps the bed cleaner and also more economical money wise

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

FLF is a dirty mucky soggy moo.
She is on a very deep Laysoft bed, I take out the wet once or twice a week, carefully pulling back all the dry. It works for her as the rest of the bed is now quite solid.
However, she does go out between 9 and 12 hours a day, even at present.
Sorry if not what you wanted to hear tho.....

 

[Branna]

I have my mare on hunters with rubber mats and she is messy, quite wet and walks around churning things up a fair bit. Used to have a small bed and take wet (most of the bed!) out every day.
Now I have a bigger bed - mine is so much cleaner and I get through fewer bales of shavings. But I have left the wet in - it forms a base that she doesn't churn up and is pretty inoffensive compared to when I had a smaller bed! I take a bit out every week but don't disturb the main base.
If you didn't want to deep litter I think bigger beds are still cleaner but you might get through much more bedding!

 

[acorn92x]

Thanks guys!

Reason for not wanting to deep litter is I am paranoid that a soggy bed will make her feet soft and thrushy as is standing in a bog for a field at the moment too and has recently gone barefoot which she seems to be coping well with. How long does it take for the wet in the bed to pack down and how often do you take out the wet? I currently use 1 to 1.5 bales of bedding a week and at £9.20 per bale, it's working out to be rather expensive. I don't have rubber matting as her stable actually drains very well so haven't really felt compelled to buy any plus how heavy the mats are to move puts me off a little.

 

[NiceNeverNaughty]

Ive tried everything with my very wet and mucky mare and the thing that works best for us is a small bed of shavings on mats. Every morning I use a snow shovel and clear the lot out, it takes 5 mins. Then she gets fresh down and I literally only go through maybe a bale and a bit in a week.

 

[ihatework]

In my mind that's not an excessive use of shavings?
My horse would easily go through 3 bales a week if lifting the wet out every day and keeping a nice clean deep bed

 

[Equi]

There is more chance of the bed being drier with more down than less. I know what you mean about it though, and you want to make sure you get all the wet out each day, but a deep bed is defintiely much better. I also agree with putting a bad of woolpellets down, they definitely help. 9.20 a bale is extortionate, is it dyed pink or something? Chopped straw is quite nice and cheap too.

 

[acorn92x]

Lots of people say that wood pellets are meant to be very good, only reason I haven't tried them is having to wet them before use puts me off (Very lazy lol, need to give them a try really). I'm unfortunately in one of the most expensive areas of the country (Surrey and inside the M25...) so £9.20 is about the going rate in places that are local to me. I've tried cheaper alternatives but went through 4.5 bales of BedSoft in a week when I swapped to that. It was like a bomb of horse poo and pee had exploded in her stable as it just didn't absorb anything. Looks like deep litter with a once a week pee removal might be the way forward.

 

[Equi]

You only have to wet the wood pellets if you plan to do an entire wood pellet bed, but just putting it down under shavings or in a wet hole won't require it to be wetted.

 

[bluebellfreddy]

You also only wet wood pellets once, then you just top the bed up with dry pellets. But to be honest you are not going to get though much less bed what every you do with a wet horse.

 

[impresario08]

following, mucking out is quicker with a smaller bed but he doesn't lay down :/

 

[spacefaer]

If you buy a pallet of your bedding, do you get it cheaper? The most expensive way is buying individual bales. Maybe you could find a supplier who is not in Surrey too?

 

[Luci07]

My horse is very wet and looking at the price of your shavings you must be near me. I tried wood pellets under shavings (2 soaked bags in his wet area) and it came through in a couple of days so no savings made. He is big, he is in 24 X 7 recovering from an eye infection and everything I tried didn't work. I went back to a big bed, packed it down and do a full muck out. I get through a bale of hunters every 4 to 5 days which I think is good. I muck out a friends mare who is filthy and she literally treads and churns up half her box. I just keep rotating the used bedding to that side of her box and take it out daily, but she is getting through a bale every 3 to 4 days (and is smaller and going out)

 

[Annagain]

I would definitely try wood pellets. My boy is a bit odd as although he's very wet, he's very easy to muck out. He poos at the front of his stable so I just sweep it up and only wees in one patch in his bed. I used to take the wet out every day but this winter I've left it in and taken it out once a week. It's working far better this way. I put a pretty thick bed down to start and put an extra two bags in every Saturday. I empty them into a wheelbarrow and a bit of water just to start them breaking down but don't soak it as such. Most of the new goes into banks and I then pull the banks down on top of the wee patch bit by bit over the week. It's actually much drier than a smaller bed as it soaks right down to the bottom - which then becomes very firm and doesn't move - and leaves the top nice and dry. He's had several problems with thrush over the years and nothing this winter (even with all this rain). Two bags a week is plenty for my boy but even if you used three it would be cheaper than what you're using at the moment. Storage is also much easier. We get a whole winter's worth for 3 horses on one pallet so it takes up very little space in the tack room.

 

[acorn92x]

My horse is very wet and looking at the price of your shavings you must be near me. I tried wood pellets under shavings (2 soaked bags in his wet area) and it came through in a couple of days so no savings made. He is big, he is in 24 X 7 recovering from an eye infection and everything I tried didn't work. I went back to a big bed, packed it down and do a full muck out. I get through a bale of hunters every 4 to 5 days which I think is good. I muck out a friends mare who is filthy and she literally treads and churns up half her box. I just keep rotating the used bedding to that side of her box and take it out daily, but she is getting through a bale every 3 to 4 days (and is smaller and going out)

I'm near Epsom so not far at all. I might start with the method of adding an extra 1/2 a bale tonight and see how we get on as I would really rather not deep litter! OH and me are both quite obsessive with mucking out and keeping her bed clean. She is 15hh but her stable isn't overly large so consequently, on the bed that she is currently on, she mashes it all in and it's really quite gross so an extra 1/2-3/4 of a bale initially should help absorbency.

 

[Damnation]

Last winter my mare was in 24/7, on rubber mats. I only put a small amount of bedding down as the corners of her wooden stable were coming apart, and the weather was actually getting into the stable. No point paying for loads of bedding to either fall out the hole or get rained on. It STANK, but until another stable could be sorted (Which it has been now) I wasn't about to put a big bed down. I just sprinkled fresh ones down nightly.

This winter she is out most days, on a decent sized bed. Longer to muck out but nowhere near as smelly.

Tbh in both instances I go through a bale of shavings every 5-6 days. Difference was how clean the bed stayed, the smell and the amount of time it takes to muck out. Its only £6 a bale here though and I can still muck out, water, make haynets, feed and bring in in half an hour with a full muck out so it doesn't take that long. And she is filty in her stable, paces about, wet (Won't wee in the field), buries her poo, and digs banks up for good measure. (She wee's in the banks so then the wet is spread across her bed!)

I am definately interested in wood pellets though, next payday I may order a 1/2 pallet and see how I get on.

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

Thanks guys!

Reason for not wanting to deep litter is I am paranoid that a soggy bed will make her feet soft and thrushy as is standing in a bog for a field at the moment too and has recently gone barefoot which she seems to be coping well with. How long does it take for the wet in the bed to pack down and how often do you take out the wet? I currently use 1 to 1.5 bales of bedding a week and at £9.20 per bale, it's working out to be rather expensive. I don't have rubber matting as her stable actually drains very well so haven't really felt compelled to buy any plus how heavy the mats are to move puts me off a little.

Deep litter beds done properly shouldn,t be soggy on top. The wet should stay at the bottom and the top perfectly dry. Whether you deep litter or not, the deeper the bed the easier it is to keep clean IME because the wet doesn,t get mixed in with the good stuff as they move about the stable. Mucking out a deeper bed fully each day takes longer than a thin bed, but your bed will be cleaner, you,ll use less bedding per week and your horse will be standing on clean shavings with the deep bed, as opposed to the churned up mess of a wet thin bed.

 

[only_me]

I deep litter. Bed is great, wet stays on bottom and bed is dry at top - plus it's nice and solid base so when he decides to roll & dig he only digs the top layer.
It's great! Very easy to much out

 

[only_me]

I deep litter. Bed is great, wet stays on bottom and bed is dry at top - plus it's nice and solid base so when he decides to roll & dig he only digs the top layer.
It's great! Very easy to much out

 

[marmalade88]

I have a very vet gelding. I tried a small bed but he just pooed, peed and lay in the same small patch so it was gross. I give him a huge bed now, it takes up half the stable (12x12) and is at least 4 inches deep. I use 7 bags to start the bed. I tried the same with shavings but the bed moved too much and the wet didn't sink down. He poos in one patch, wees in one patch, and lies at the front. Given the opportunity he will be quite clean. The miscanthus is great as once he's had a lie down as it tends to form a base and not move around. I take the wet out once a week and put three new bales in every 2 weeks. The wet never reaches the top.

 

[Wheels]

I have rubber mats throughout the stables - I have tried all sorts of different ways incl a scattering of shavings on top of the mats to catch the wet = pongy horse when they lay down; deep litter = horrible to dig out at the end of winter

Now I'm using a deep bed but only the back half of the stable - so I put down 3 bags of very absorbant shavings and taking the wet out every day and topping up, some weeks that's as little as 1/2 bag of shavings, sometimes 1 & 1/2 but never more than that

 

[Luci07]

I'm near Epsom so not far at all. I might start with the method of adding an extra 1/2 a bale tonight and see how we get on as I would really rather not deep litter! OH and me are both quite obsessive with mucking out and keeping her bed clean. She is 15hh but her stable isn't overly large so consequently, on the bed that she is currently on, she mashes it all in and it's really quite gross so an extra 1/2-3/4 of a bale initially should help absorbency.

I honestly think most mares are dirtier than geldings. My friend has 2 mares and they mash up the bed so badly you end up picking out bits and flattened poos! Really pressing down the bed with a fork helps stop them kicking out at least half of it but whatever she has tried, nothing really works. Hers are on rubber mats so a compromise is that while the bed is deep, she only beds down 2/3 of the box.