Do you use straw in your field shelters/mobile stables?

[Kezza]

Do any of you use straw in your field shelters or stables, those without proper concrete floors e.g. straight on mud or on hardcore or on rubber mats on mud etc? If so does your horse wee and p*o in it every day and do you muck it out every day? If you don’t how often do you muck it out and do you clear it out completely and renew?

Does it stink and get very wet???

I am only interested in those who use straw please.

Thanks

 

[Faithkat]

The fields I used over November, December and January had field shelters and, yes, I used straw in them. All mine are youngsters ( 2 x rising 2 year olds and 2 x rising yearlings) and I wanted them to have somewhere dry to lie down. I mucked out the poo once a week and just put clean straw on top. I then mucked out completely when I moved them out the fields at the beginning of February. One of the shelters has a concrete floor and the other in just earth/normal ground. Neither got stinky because of the addition of clean straw but the whole "bed" did stay nice and warm and was steaming nicely when I mucked out completely!!!

 

[charlyan]

Last winter we used straw on rubber mats in our field shelter/ stable. We used to make up a straw bed as you would in an ordinary stable and mucked out morning and night.

Our shelter was more of a stable design though (in the background of my sig) and had two stable doors (could be partitioned into 2 stalls if need be) so we didn't have to worry about wind and rain getting in. It was permanently open for the horses to come and go as they pleased.

The mats were laid on a layer of straw to stop them subsiding as there was no solid base to the shelter. We found that worked really well as it also stopped any mud/ wet seeping up from the ground between the mats.

 

[pottamus]

I use rubber mats straight on the ground and then a fairly thick layer of shavings. My horse is in there a fair bit and wees in it. But I tend to leave it and have a clear out every few months.

 

[madmuppet]

We have 4 x mobile field stables.. Well they are ment to be mobile.. lol. they are on a hard core/shale mix base and i use straw in them.. I leave the doors open in my two stables my guys to come and go as they please however my mother uses her two as proper stables and shuts her two horese in at night. I muck out morning and night.. Lifting the poo out in the morning and then doing a proper muck out at night. its really easy with the straw.

 

[Kezza]

does the floor get very wet? My boy always chooses to pee in his stable rather than the field and I have the same set up as you except I have put rubber mats on top of the hard core.

 

[nuffield]

I would do if one of my neds didnt have COPD .
Its good stuff ,is straw.
Some years ago when i had an earth floor field shelter and ponies without issues i used it. I took out the droppings daily and topped up with more straw as and when neccessary. I did start out with a good deep bed. once every 2 or 3 months i would turn the whole bed, taking out the worse stuff, putting the dirty-but-not-too-bad stuff on the bottom and adding enough new clean straw to make a deep bed again. how often this needs to be done depends on how many animals are using the shed and if the go in there to pee [like my 4 do at the moment-"What, wee in the field? I dont think so". LOL, no, mum can buy some more expensive and scarse shavings.]
The straw bed didnt get smelly as I remember, I guess not disturbing all every day helped in this respect. I was ok on earth but I think even better on scalpings [crushed stone]as that provided a hard layer that the wee didnt make soggy.

 

[madmuppet]

Hi Kezza.. No strangly enough the floor always seems quite dry.. I was really worried about this set up we have now as i was always used to normal stables and shavings beds, however now that i have this set up my guy loves..Hes fully clipped and well rugged, competed and ridden most days and loves the fact he can come and go when he wants. He uses his stable a fair bit during the day which is strange as he used to hate being in and cause such a scene when i had him in a normal stable. His bed is really dry as i am a clean freak when it comes to my babies beds.. lol.. I dont use that much straw tho and its not smelly.. I wouldnt deep litter him tho only cause that dont suit me.

 

[Kezza]

yes my boy has been living out for 6 months now and he loves it! I am using hemcore at the moment but it is quite expensive. My friend has put hers on straw and he has a concrete base with rubber mats on top and she takes out the wet every day and puts clean on top but the wee still seeps out under the mats under the doorway which is no major problem for her. What worries me is that my boys wee will just sink down between the mats and into the hardcore and I worry it will stink. I realise some of it gets through the hemcore now as when I gut it once a month the mats are wet but the hemcore does soak a lot of it up. Straw is nowhere near as absorbant so that worries me. I don't want the floor to sink or stink lol!

 

[henryhorn]

We have two big barns that we feed ad lib haylage inside, and the first year or two I put dozens of bales of straw down, only to see it turn into a minging heap mixed with the haylage and poo.
I had the barn scraped out to an earth floor and now just do this every few months, yes it gets a build up of muck and haylage but they don't poo where they eat and all lie down happily.
When the temps were so cold there were horses in there 24/7 as the heat generated from the floor warmed them and they preferred that to outside.
If I just had a couple of horses perhaps I would put a rubber floor inside, but with at least 25 using the barns, mucking out daily isn't practicable..

 

[madmuppet]

We had thought about rubber matting but couldnt afford it after paying for the stables.. lol.. my guys love their stables and i think tho if you didnt take the pee out everyday then the floor might get smelly.. there is the powder stuff you could use too tho to help with that? I find my stables are fine tho.. I dont think i could go back to normal stables and i am certain my guys wouldnt be happy either if they couldnt do as they pleased. its raining here today and know for sure when i go to the farm when i finish work my guys will be in their stables eating hay lol.. More pop and pee to shovel.. lol