For people on shavings...

Casey76

Casey76

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How many bales do you use per week/month?

I've switched my horses onto shavings, but I seem to be using loads, and i don't know if it is "normal" or my management, or if it is something I'm going to have to put up with due to my boxes.

My boxes are small compared to English sized stables, though they are very reasonable in comparison to many yards I see in France. They are are just under 10x9 feet, barn style arrangement, and I have 1 13.3 pony and a 16.0 horse. The boxes have concrete floors with no drainage.

My mare is fairly neat and if I take out all of the wet every day, I normally end up with one normal sized barrow, and can get away with using 1 bale of shavings per week, with an extra top up of another bale once a month.

My gelding has only been on shavings a week, and has been a bit of a nightmare. I started him off with 6 bales, which made a bed about 6ins deep and nice big banks (for storing extra bedding). He managed to dig in a lot of his manure and cover it with new shavings for the first two days, which made mucking out a bit of a chore. Then I didn't get to the yard quick enough on 2 days and when I arrived my boxes had already been attended to (I'm on full livery, and I do my own boxes for "pleasure" but if I'm not there they are automatically done), however the beds had been completely messed up. Nearly half of the bedding had been removed with manure and new shavings being mixed together, and none of the wet had been taken out. One week after starting a brand new bed I'm needing to "top up" with at least 4 bales. After a week, my boy is now much better and no longer digs his manure in, and has stopped dropping manure at the front and sides of the box. I normally take out 1-1.5 barrows per day (he's a big boy and produces a lot of manure ;) ) consequently I'm wondering if I need to budget for 2 bales per week for him - would this be considered excessive?

I should also mention that they have hay in nets, and I keep the front 1m of the box swept clear, so that there is (theoretically) minimal hay/shavings mixed. Both boxes are swept back each evening for at least 30 mins to let the concrete dry.

Sorry if this seems like such a daft question lol!
 
Sounds a reasonable amount to me.

For my messy mare what helps, is that even though the stable is more than big enough for her not to mush the poo, (on the yard we have noticed the larger horses can have a messier bed as they can't really avoid the poo's), is for us to be the first ones there so she doesn't get agitated by the others being fed first etc. With this routine I can keep to one bale a week, if I'm late up it can easily go to two a week even though she's only 14.3hh and dainty lol. We also have her on mats and bank most of the bed up during the day to let the floor dry and avoid too much waste if she is in, wood pellets under the banks also work at reducing the amount of wet!
Some horses are just messy, fingers crossed our other two seem comparitively clean though very wet still, we love wood pellets underneath their beds for all now :D.
 
Thanks! phew, seems not too bad then.

I had my mare on wood pellets for about 8 months and had to give up as she was a nighmare on them, where as she is quite tidy on shavings... bizzare, but I suppose that's horses :)
 
You can try pellets on floor and shaving on banks, but to be honest, if the yard person in mixing poo and stuff, it will not help, can you give horse more work and keep him eating at a hay bar, which is kept free of bedding. He then has a smaller area to sleep on.
Stabled full time I would expect to use 1 and a half bales of shavings per week for a big horse, or two of pellets, I keep the bed immaculate, and have clean horses.
Turnout is the best thing, as much as possible.
 
My horses are out overnight from 5pm until 8am. I muck out once they have been turned out, as this then allows me to sweep back the bed properly.

This was my mares bed, new, with 4 bales down last weekend:
Tartine%20bed.jpg
 
It depends how messy your horse is and how long they are in the stable for...my lad is in during the day at the mo and we go through 1 bale every 10 days, he is clean, pees in the same place considerately :) and he is on rubber matting ( he Never lies down in his stable in all the 10 yrs i've had him, preferring the field for crash outs)...However in winter it will be a bale every week/5 days :)
 
I use one bale about every five - six days in the summer and 2 bales every third day (with him in for 22 hours a day but mucked out by YO and skipped out by me every day) in the winter. This is for a 17.1hh WB weighing about 680KG and the stable being about 12 x 14 with about 7/8ths of the floor used with shavings. This has banks about three foot high from the floor level and the bed itself is about five inches deep.

I don't use a shavings fork as I find they take too many shavings and my shavings can be quite heavy as I get them free (or was until recently getting them free). I tend to take the poo that lies on the surface out first then start by separating the hay from the shavings in the one corner (this in itself saves a lot of shavings) then I start throwing it up the wall and the lumps roll down. I take up the bed every day down to the floor. I am good at separating the poo from the shavings by throwing the shavings from the snow shovel in the air and managing to catch the lumps with the shavings then falling onto the floor. It takes me about 30 - 40 mins to do my bed so this isn't for those that are in a rush, but it saves me a lot of bed and a lot on money too as they last much longer.

Also I NEVER leave fresh shavings lying on top of the bed. I don't care that my bed never looks white. When its white this not only causes my horse to cough (I can always tell when someone else has done it and hasn't mixed it in well as he will cough) but it has the added benefit of 'drying out' the older stuff, which although not wet is slightly damp. I mix new shavings in with the old stuff and tend to put more fresh in the banks (still mixed) so the next day I can use some of the extra clean stuff on the banks. I sometimes only use half a bale a time too, last night I only needed about a third of a bale, this has just freshened it up a bit, if its too dry and full of new shavings he will cough and it will be too dusty. Never had a problem with my horses coughing since getting shavings from the timber yard free in 1997 but only recently has my boy started coughing since my Dad's been too ill to get them me from the timber yard and I've had to buy a pallet load. They claim they are dust free but they aren't as dust free as my free shavings.

OP you should leave a hole under your horses automatic waterer. There doesn't need to be shavings there and they are just wasted, so leave about a foot or two feet under that and your shavings will go further. I see from your photo that you put your shavings across the length of your stable. Try putting them across the width of your stable as they will go much further and you will have a deeper bed. You don't need to go the whole way across your stable - the pony only needs about half the stable wide of shavings the 16hh about 3/4. Does that make sense?

I'd recommend that if you put your shavings across the width you choose whichever end encompasses the door to put your shavings down, as your horse may be standing a long time by the door looking out. Also if you do put your bed down width ways don't put your nets on top of your shavings as this is very wasteful, put the net the end of the stable that has no bed.
 
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Hi applecart. I'm a bit limited on my stable layout, so this is what it is:
Stable%20layout.jpg


Shavings under the waterer is just about essential in winter, as it provides insulation and helps prevent freezing. Tartine (pony) rarely lies down. The right side of her box is always immaculate and pristine, the left side (in front of the door/in front of hay) is where her mess is. Like you, I use a stable mate scoop to pick up the majority of the manure, and then I use a shavings fork (anyone know where I can get a 6in wide fork lol!) to throw up the bedding against the wall to pick up any missed manure.

Blitz always lies down the the top right corner of his box - judging by the flattened banks. Now more settled with the bed, he now manures relatively tidily in a line at the back of the box, but his staleing patch alternates from left to right.
 
I use no more than a baleof shavings a week on an existing bed. 15hh 'clean' horse. I take the bulk of the droppings out with a poo scoop and then throw the remainder at the wall, as previous poster said, this then makes the rest of the droppings easier to take out. Then remove the wet with shavings fork. My bed is not as deep as yours but I do have rubber matting down for extra insulation.
 
A bale a week with a clean horse who is out all day and in at night.

You could invest in some rubber mats and you wouldn't need to use as much shavings then. Short term outlay, long term investment. I don't use them as my horse is prone to thrush.
 
To make you feel a bit better my very dirty gelding used to get through 4 bales of Hunters a week and the bed never looked clean. Added rubber mats and he wasn't much better.
 
I have a very wet horse so only take the wet out twice a week and skip out the other days. Luckily he's quite tidy on top it's just the weat underneath. If I took that out everyday I'd get through loads. Half a barrow most days and two when I take the wet out. I put in 2 bales a week as he's on concrete with no mats and I like BIG bed.
 
Casey76 said:
Hi applecart. I'm a bit limited on my stable layout, so this is what it is:
Stable%20layout.jpg


Shavings under the waterer is just about essential in winter, as it provides insulation and helps prevent freezing. Tartine (pony) rarely lies down. The right side of her box is always immaculate and pristine, the left side (in front of the door/in front of hay) is where her mess is. Like you, I use a stable mate scoop to pick up the majority of the manure, and then I use a shavings fork (anyone know where I can get a 6in wide fork lol!) to throw up the bedding against the wall to pick up any missed manure.

Blitz always lies down the the top right corner of his box - judging by the flattened banks. Now more settled with the bed, he now manures relatively tidily in a line at the back of the box, but his staleing patch alternates from left to right.
Click to expand...

Love the drawing! I was going to do one for you but you beat me to it! :)
 
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