Flax/hemp bending Q's-dusty? More economical than shavings?

[Prince33Sp4rkle]

Pondering.....we have two very clean horses ( fig is an actual hamster) and then Bruce, who is minging

All on mats with 3/4 depth beds of shavings but fig/CS are SO clean that the beds get horrendously dry and dusty even leaving some wet in and mixing it through.

Bruce is the opposite and churns it all in to poo soup daily!

Would either hemp or flax work better? Would it break down less and thus be less dusty? Would it be more stable for Bruce and reduce churning? Would it work ok taking the worst wet out every day or alternate days?

Eta I clearly mean BEDDING argh, iPad!

 

[Lolo]

Have you tried wood pellets? Aside from Smokey and Reg showing how clever they are every time more is put down by trying to eat some (looks like their pony nuts...) it's amazing. The clean ponies' beds look immaculate, and then the trashers' beds are so much easier to keep clean. And you water it (lightly, or it becomes mulch) so it doesn't get dusty. Ever so easy, saves Al so much money.

 

[nikkimariet]

That's what worries me - too much water turns the pellets to mulch. Would be fine for Hamster Boy and Shark Face (you can guess which is which!), but Bruce is SO wet and an eternal box walker. He's rancid and gets through 2 bales of shavings a week already

 

[Lolo]

Yeah, Reg and Splash are trashers in the stable (although Reg is getting better!) and wood pellets hold out well for them. Way better than shavings or straw did, for way less money each week. Think it's a new bag a week in their stables, and less in the clean boys!

 

[Jesstickle]

I didn't find wood pellets worked for my very wet box walker. Was just diabolical!

What I actually found best was deep litter straw if you want a bed OR just a sprinkling of shavings on mats and totally swept out every day (which I didn't much like to do as I felt mean)

 

[Myloubylou]

Have tried all sorts of bedding in my quest to find the perfect one. I have eva mats with half bed as big stable. Bed is skipped out daily and once a week bed is lifted, all wet taken out and most weeks a new bale of bedding is put over old, dry bed. I have finally settled on miscanthus which is similar to flax but much cheaper per bale. Isn't as dusty as flax and heavy enough not to be stirred up so droppings stay on surface so easy to skip especially with speed skip. Have mare who wees loads and it does a good job of soaking the wet up and not smelling. Set up initially with 5 bales and then 3-4 a month. In winter deeper bed but tend to go 2 weeks between taking wet out as seems to work better that way.

 

[dancingkris]

I use hemp and find it incredibly absorbent - much more so than shavings as the wet part seems to clump together. However I do semi deep litter (only take the wet out a few times a week, droppings daily) and have extremely deep beds which seems to help. I love hemp and would highly recommend!

 

[galaxy]

I used Flaxcore all last winter and its bit remotely dusty. Much more absorbent than shavings and cheaper too. On shavings no matter how deep the bed she would have stable stains, but on flax where each granule is heavier she was so much cleaner. Would never go back to shavings.

 

[Auslander]

Another miscanthus fan here. I've tried loads of different bedding, and miscanthus always comes out tops for me. Alf is big and heavy, and inclined to drag his bed around - and miscanthus moves the least. It's very absorbent, stays nice and pale, and isn't dusty at all. Also love Equibright - very similar spec, but I can't justify the cost of buying a pallet for one horse, when he lives out most of the time

 

[ClobellsandBaubles]

I find wood pellets seem more economical but for a messy horse, although being quicker to muck out, you end up with a very stained horse/rugs.