Has anyone changed from shavings to straw?

I originally put mine on shavings from straw as he was eating too much of it, now he is back on straw, he occasionally eats some of it but nothing to worry me, as long as he has enough food he leave it alone! :)
 
I did from shavings to oat straw. Its a lot less dusty than the shavings (meant to be dust extracted), cheaper shavings were £9.15 a bale, straw is £2 delivered even in small amounts and oat straw is softer than wheat so not that bothered that he eats it. Obviously still aware of the obvious COPD from the straw but its not dusty at all so not that worried as well as colic and stomach ulcers but I changed back in April and havnt had a problem, plus its cheaper as he doesnt feel starving when hes run out of hay he just eats the bed (hay £5 a bale) which I shouldnt say but every little helps! :)
 
Shavings are not always dust extracted, so can be a problem I always put extra in when he is out of stable and mix it in with the old so it is not so dry, but would rather have the best shavings, not always possible if one has to buy from the yard, who may of course buy the cheapest.
Straw, in Ye Olden Days we would use long wheat straw, which was great, most straw nowadays is short barley straw, but often has been treated with chemicals of one sort or another, straw can be dirt/dusty or shiny clean, which is nice but may tempt him to eat some. Also there may be a bit of grass through it [undersown crop] so this can encourage him to sift through the straw, which is bad news re dust. In general straw is cheap and makes a nice bed, you need a proper fork not a shavings fork. If the horse has COPD then straw is probably a no no unless it is clean and shiny.
Some people fed a bit of straw to ponies, others would never do so.
 
I changed my yard over from shavings to straw last week. Supposed to be a cold winter again this year and spent so much money on shavings last winter that I decided to change. The horses think they have gone to heaven with their nice deep beds. I sprayed diluted Jays fluid over it so they wouldn't eat it. Must say I'm very happy with the straw at the moment, it's lovely straw and thee is actually much less dust in it than the top of the range shavings that they used to be on.
 
I have changed many the other way as a way of managing fatties but I did change my old boy back many years ago when he was struggling to hold weight a little, he always had ad-lib hay but liked to pick at his bed as well. He had a deeper bed and I could have it right to the door which helped with draughts for his creaky old bones. He never gorged on the straw so I didn't worry about the amount he was eating, he just liked to pick over it.
 
Yes - and it's sooo much cheaper (and much less dusty). Kal does eat it when it first goes down/is clean, but he doesn't eat that much of it, it doesn't do him any harm (he was on straw when we bought him), and sifting through his bed to find any hay gives him something to do (he gets bored easily).

P
 
Interesting that most people think its cheaper. I'm in Aberdeenshire and was speaking to 2 farmers planning to deep litter shavings their cattle this winter due to the price of straw and the fact that because of the weather it will be in short supply. I changed my mare to straw to foal and although it looks lovely, she ate loads of it and my yard is hardcore (can't sweep) and now a complete mess. I'm actually just sat here getting up the ooomph to go and muck it out to shavings!

Interestingly I thought it would be dreadful with rubber mats (removed for foaling as too slippy) but it seemed to work fine.
 
Yes. i did last year as the straw on our yard is £30 for a huge heston bale which lasts me a month, so works out allot cheaper than the 2 bales of shavings i was using twice a week at £7.50 a bale!!
However at first i hated it...took me longer to muck out, seemed harder work, sometimes if the cutter was too close to the ground i would find slices were just mud and stones.
But, after a couple of weeks and getting in to a routine with it i found it easier, quicker, cheaper and it made a lovely deep bed.
I used a deep litter system and only took the wet out at the weekends. As long as your bed is deep enough my horse didn't once come out with a wet hoof!!
However, wear a peg on your nose as the smell is terrible...but you only have to face it once a week!!!
 
Well going from paying £195 per month shavings for 4 horses down to roughtly £90 per month straw, no contest and I think it's makes a lovely thick bed and I don't have so many dirty stable rugs, like I did with the shavings, also it doesn't break down as fast as straw.
 
I hated having mine on straw, I hated mucking out as wet was so hard to completely remove and bits of poo would hide in it - I'm abit ocd about removing every bit of poo! Love having shavings!
 
I use barley in the shelter. I sprayed jeyes fluid once, cob ate whole bed! Got slatted on here for doing so when i asked what to expect. Although nothing happened. I feed mine oat straw and barley anyway so I wouldn't worry about mine eating a bed. Also agree nothibg like a straw bed, banked up ...... can't wait for a stable this winter.
 
Depends on the horse a bit...have to say mine have always been disgusting on straw, particularly my mare.
But I use straw for the youngster when we are away at shows (included in the price of the stabling) as with regular skipping out it's great. He did eat a bit of it, but soon lost interest.

My mare has COPD so straw hasn't been an option while she was in work...altho if she's confirmed in foal we're going to try her in an open yard on very clean straw so watch this space.
 
We tried one of ours on Straw, the bed looked wonderful when we put it down but the next day it was a complete mess. We kept him on straw for around a month & it was a nightmare. It was difficult to muck out, it didn't soak up wee. He ate the bed no matter what we tried spraying on it. The muck heap trebled in size quickly. We went back to shavings & have been on them ever since.

One horse uses around a bale a week, the other uses two. I buy them by the pallet load & works out about 6.60 per bale delivered. They are dust extracted & there is very little dust at all when we use them. I would not go back to straw.
 
I have gone back to shavings from straw, I have gone onto the larger shavings, far less dust and little ben can get leg mites but tends not to on the straw. I love a shavings bed and ebony seems to keep it far cleaner than she ever kept her straw one. I shall probably semi deep litter with her in the winter but even though I can get all my straw free I opt for shavings.
 
I switched from shavings to straw two winters ago and saved so much money. Straw all the way! It also rots faster on the muck heap and makes muck heap removal cheaper.

In summer my mare lives out 24/7 anyway. She only comes in during the winter overnight.
 
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