Help Bedding??

[Alexianthe]

What do you recommend instead of shavings that is cheaper and just as absorbent or more so? Eats her straw bed

 

[PurBee]

Wood pellets are way more absorbent than shavings, though can be dusty, so i use them as a base and have shavings on top.

you might be able to get hold of miscanthus pellets.

Straw pellets also good - but yours may nibble on them as she has a liking for straw.

 

[Alexianthe]

Thanks I did wonder about wood pellets why do you suggest shavings on top and not just the wood pellets and yes she wld eat the straw pellets. ?‍

 

[PurBee]

Thanks I did wonder about wood pellets why do you suggest shavings on top and not just the wood pellets and yes she wld eat the straw pellets. ?‍

i use shaving on top as my horses literally lay down fully and snooze deeply on their bed - my mare got watery eyes from just pellets, she does put her nostrils in the bedding when she’s flaked out deep sleep - so due to the dustiness i have a shaving layer ontop of the pellet crumb layer.

weekly/bi-weekly, i pull the topping aside, and dig out the wet clumps of soaked pellets that go deep orange when soaked.
I refill with a couple of bags - whole pellets mixed in with the drier crumb, and then pull everything back over and add a fresh bag of shavings on top.

The difference was taking out 1 wheelbarrow daily of pee shavings for 2 horses - to taking out 2.5 barrows per week of pee pellets. So its a time saver as well as £ in the end.
Its around 280-300 euro a tonne pellets. Shavings around the same - but pellets way more absorbent.

Its a pain to have to use 2 bedding types, but it works and ultimately saves time and money when I worked it all out. I buy a pallet of each bedding type and it lasts for the 2 horses for most of the year.

 

[PurBee]

Some people sprinkle hose down pellets to reduce the dust if its a dry hot summer - it does help.

 

[Iznurgle]

Chips is a very wet pony who specifically does all of his business (wet and dry) in one corver of the stall. I use a mix of specifically dusty, fine shavings and rapeseed straw chopped like chaff (Mi-Bed is the brand, I believe) - my guy might eat some if I bring the bale into the box while I'm mucking out, but it's more curiosity, he doesn't eat it once it's down, especially not mixed with shavings! I tried a dusty shavings base under rapeseed straw as a deep litter base, but I couldn't cope with how compacted it was and how disgusting it smelt after a week! I don't do big banks, but the bed is probably about 15cm deep, and I go through two bales of Mi-Bed plus a bale of dusty shavings every two weeks. I alternate which one I add in and mix through every few days. The rapeseed straw is quite slippery out of the bag and doesn't make great banks. My biggest complaint is that the dusty shavings make the water feeder disgusting, but a quick wipe down with a cloth into a bucket solves that.

 

[Alexianthe]

i use shaving on top as my horses literally lay down fully and snooze deeply on their bed - my mare got watery eyes from just pellets, she does put her nostrils in the bedding when she’s flaked out deep sleep - so due to the dustiness i have a shaving layer ontop of the pellet crumb layer.

weekly/bi-weekly, i pull the topping aside, and dig out the wet clumps of soaked pellets that go deep orange when soaked.
I refill with a couple of bags - whole pellets mixed in with the drier crumb, and then pull everything back over and add a fresh bag of shavings on top.

The difference was taking out 1 wheelbarrow daily of pee shavings for 2 horses - to taking out 2.5 barrows per week of pee pellets. So its a time saver as well as £ in the end.
Its around 280-300 euro a tonne pellets. Shavings around the same - but pellets way more absorbent.

Its a pain to have to use 2 bedding types, but it works and ultimately saves time and money when I worked it all out. I buy a pallet of each bedding type and it lasts for the 2 horses for most of the year.

 

[Alexianthe]

Thanks that’s a great help ?

 

[TPO]

Wood pellets are the cheapest (absorbent) option in my experience but I found them really dusty. A damp bed didnt sit well with me either.

I use Nedz Pro. It's more expensive than shavings per bale but I have found that I use less bedding. It's much more absorbent IMO and very, very low dust (priority for me). Its coated so that it doesnt taste nice which helps with greedy horses too.

I've only had miscanthus bedding, not pellets, and it was unbelievably and unbearably dusty. I was an eejit and ordered 40 bales of the stuff so had to persevere with it. Any human mucking out got choked with it and had to wait at least 3hrs to let it settle before brining horses in. It may just have been that brand but it was the most awful bedding I've ever used or seen. It was also much less absorbent than nedz pro. That was me trying to be smart and save £1 per bale. It was not value for money!!

 

[Alexianthe]

Ok Thanks wil look into Nedz pro

 

[vmac66]

Ive been using Ethos Miscanthus bedding for a while. It's not dusty and goes through the fork when mucking out so don't use as much. The top layer stays dry, I take the wet patch out twice a, week.

 

[NinjaPony]

I put a large scoop of pellets on my pony’s wet spot and then bed max shavings on top. I take out the wet patch daily as well as droppings, because personally I think deep littering is bad for their lungs (I’m very careful after my last pony’s issues) plus my pony likes to trample his bed around so it would end up filthy if I left it. This works very well for me, nice comfy bed for the pony and much less wasted bedding for me.

 

[asmp]

Laysoft is a good alternative (wood chip), especially if you can order it by the pallet load from the manufacturer. It works out for me at about £6.70 a 25kg bag.

 

[Britestar]

Shredded cardboard. Very absorbant, and imo very easy to muck out.
I have 8 on it.

 

[nikkimariet]

Shredded cardboard. Best bedding ever. So clean and dust free. Takes me 5 mins to do each stable. I use half a bag per horse a week.

 

[CrimsonDivine]

To be honest I was going to suggest wood chips but I like the cardboard idea so I'd probably go with that instead.

 

[viceversa]

Shredded cardboard. Best bedding ever. So clean and dust free. Takes me 5 mins to do each stable. I use half a bag per horse a week.

Where are people getting the cardboard bedding? Online or locally? Do you have a brand name please?
I’ve tried the usual suspects but can’t find any to deliver to me for a reasonable price and I really want to try it!

 

[milliepops]

does the cardboard really rot down as fast as they say on the websites?
Can't use anything weird at the livery yard where 2 of mine are but free to choose at home and anything that keeps the muckheap as small as poss is a good selling point to me!

 

[Britestar]

Yes it rots away far quicker than shavings ever do. I know farmers who say they will still see shavings on the earth, years after spreading.

I can't help with supply as I own an industrial shredder, bought specifically for the purpose.

 

[OrangeAndLemon]

Ive been using Ethos Miscanthus bedding for a while. It's not dusty and goes through the fork when mucking out so don't use as much. The top layer stays dry, I take the wet patch out twice a, week.

I'm using Ethos citronella on top of wood pellets. The smell is a little striking when you open a bale of the ethos but it's fine once spread out. I was surprised how quick and easy it is to muck out. It's not as fluffy as shavings but keeps a good dry layer at the top.