Hemcore - how is it if not deep littered?

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IsabelleJ

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I am on Bliss at the moment, which I hate the smell/taste of. I am thinking of changing to Hemcore or Comfy Bed, but I don't like deep littering, and different people will be doing the mucking out so really need something relatively simple to muck out. How does Hemcore work like that? I have a very wet gelding who is on box rest at the moment. He has a large bed, which has actually improved the amount of bedding I have to buy. At the moment he is getting through one bale of Bliss every 5 or 6 days. If he will use more Hemcore, I will probably have to find something else.

I am thinking of trying him back on wood pellets, which I never get on with before. But I remember lots of little things I didn't like about them (like the dust all over boots and clothes!) so thinking of trying something else first. Has anyone got any experience with this?

Thanks,

Isabelle
 
It will do what straw does and drain through. Not ideal if you have a wet horse who is in all the time. Personally I would look at wood pellets or megazorb.
 
Hemp is only meant to be semi-deep littered really. I use it and pick up droppings every day, then dig out the wet patch once a week (1 barrow full). My mare has always been very wet but I only use half a bale a week in the winter when she is out 8am to 6pm. Make the bed good and thick, then leave it untouched for about 10 days before you go looking for the wet, as the damp is supposed to spread along the floor a bit and hold the bed firm. After a few weeks it will be like a layer of cork at the bottom and it is lovely and warm and firm. If you gave me free shavings, I'd give them back and carry on buying hemp bedding - that's how much I love it!! Oh yes, and its lighter to handle when wet, rots down quickly, you only remove a bit and deodorizes so when you expose the wet there is hardly any smell at all.
 
You could also look at Bedsoft. That is similar to hempcore but a bit finer and I find it absorbes better... and it's cheaper! I use it exactly the same way as described above, i.e. only go digging for wet every 10 days or so. Only have half a bed on rubber matting and it works very well.
 
My experience of hemcore that was not deep littered but treated like a normal shavings bed was an expensive failure! Have now got over my dislike of semi/deep littering and find wood pellets to be reasonably priced and easy to look after
 
I use a combination of wood pellets and aubiose (same as hemcore) and find it works really well. its not deep littered. Use 2 or 3 bags wood pellets to 1 bale Aubiose/Hemcore. Each stabilises the other and the wood pellets mean all wet is absorbed. Horses very happy and much neater.
 
Yes, did read the instructions and used in that manner but being used to deep straw or shavings that were mucked out and banks turned daily, hated the mushy mess that resulted from using as suggested. Very quickly returned to using ordinary shavings
 
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