for people who deep littler - what do you use?

feisty_filly

feisty_filly

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im moveing onto a new yard and we will have to suply our own bedding, i want to deep litter but im not sure whats best to use (there are sooo many choices!). any help would be greatly aprechiated :D
 
Straw... It`s cheaper and if you find the good stuff a little goes a long way. Am currently using less than a bale a week for each of mine. and it rots down hell of a lot quicker than shavings.
 
aubioses are good if they pee a lot because it is ultra absorbent
i find straw really smelly and if they are messy it becomes really hard to manage
shavings are good although cheap shavings can be dusty and you can get some people really ripping you off with more expensive ones. but if you can find a good deal they are my favourite :D
 
Shavings.

I used to use straw but is smelly, hard work and takes an age to skip out.

My girls are only stabled at night from Nov - March. Rest of the time they are out.

I skip out daily and use approx 1 bale of shavings per bed every 3 weeks.

On straw I was using 2 bales a week.

I've used Aubiose in the past but found its no good if you've got a horse that likes to dig the bed like mine. Absorbancy wise though it is fab.
 
I use hemp/hemcore/flax or aubiose, any of the flax/hemp bedding. I semi deep litter which means all week i pick the poo off the top with a fork and at the weekend I scrape back the dry bedding and remove the wet stuff. It works MUCH better than shavings, because the wet bedding sticks together to form an easy to remove clump. It is more expensive to buy, but you really do use less than shavings.
 
i use ossi-bed iv found i only need 1 bale a week for my very wet gelding,i did have shavings but the price rocketed to a stupid amount and ossi-bed is loads cheaper
 
i have aubiose base & a paper top, pick out poo/soggy paper bits mornings & throw the paper to front for the day to let the base air, then nights toss the paper back on top & top up.
i go through about 1 bin bags worth of shredded paper a week (shred our own) & only do the base once every 6 months or so depending on the weather (in/out time) & best of all it only takes me a couple of mins to do each end of the day.
 
I find it odd that people find straw smelly; I've deep littered on it for years and never had a problem. It's only smelly when you start lifting the top layer to reveal the one beneath and as long as you don't potch with it, it rots down and compresses well.
 
I've only ever used straw, for years and years and years, although have never deep littered with it. However I have recently started using Lay-Soft which is a woodchip bedding, and I am deep littering for the first time. I LOVE it!!! So easy to use, and so much quicker to muck out. I just poo pick, then have a clearout of the wet every 6 weeks or so. I'm using the equivalent of half a bag a week, and so its actually costing me less than straw was!
 
thanks guys, dont think ill be useing straw as im a bit anal about keeping it clean (i too find it pritty smelly when wet).
its a toss up between megazorb and shavings at the moment lol.
any more advice would be awasome! thank you all muchly
 
Having been with horses for more years than I care to divulge! Straw looks lovely but found it had to be mucked out daily to stop the smell. Now use Bedmax dust free shavings. they are big flakes and seem much the best of the rest. We tried Miscanthus for a season and if you live in a dry county would be good, but here in Cornwall where it's always wet, it tended to go soggy quickly. Summer was great with it, but winter not so good. Good luck with your horse!
 
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