How much straw do you use?

[Benefice1]

Hi there, just curious how much people spend on straw per month and what their routine is? i.e do you deep litter or take the wet everyday etc? x

 

[cobwithattitude]

take wet out every other day and 3 bales per week between 2 horses, who are in for 12-14 hours

 

[Mince Pie]

I deep litter with shavings on the bottom and straw on the top. A large hesston bale of straw will last me about 6 weeks with 2 horses at £25 each.

 

[CBFan]

two bales a week. Really thick bed, mucked out fully, daily and re-laid. Horse in 12 hours per day.

 

[forestfantasy]

We have 3 on straw - all mucked out fully everyday.

17.1hh ID xTB uses about 3 bales a week (messy mare!)

11.1hh Sec A 1/2 bale a week (clean boy!)

16.1hh AAxWb 1 bale a week (clean girl!)

All in 13 hours overnight

And my beds are BIG! lol

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[Mlini]

Mines on deep litter, he recently moved out of his stable into a large barn and I made a bed at the back with 3/4 of a large bale. He's been in there a week and I haven't had to top it up yet He seems to do his business in front of the bed instead of on it so I just shovel it out - 16.3/17hh TB
When he was in 12x12 stable he was mucked out daily. And I used less than 1/4 of a large bale a week. He uses more haylage than straw...

Regarding cost - I get it free with my livery (Which is also free - Lucky me!)

 

[whizzer]

In overnight,deep bed with wet dug out 1-2 times weekly(depends how busy I am as to how often it's dug out!) Use 1- 1 1/2 bales a week @ £2.40 a bale.

 

[jennifer83]

I use 2 small bales a week. So that's £16 a month. I put it all in on Saturday and muck out thoughly every day.

 

[JenTaz]

Straw is included in my livery bill but I can use up to half a large bale a week myself! Taz is really clean but he gets a huge bed with banks and fully mucked out every day

 

[monkeybum13]

Take the wet out once a week, have big banks and a deep bed.
Use just over a bale a week so say 6 bales in a month= £12 a month for a big, thick bed

 

[contestdancer]

Full muck out daily. Usually add half a bale a day during the week or more if needed and a bale at the weekends. Beds are huge and deep. So i guess thats 3-4 bales a week.

 

[Tim's Girl]

I've just started using straw as a cost cutting measure as shavings getting too expensive. in the last week i've used 2 bales for my tb and 2 bales for my welsh d so that £4 a week compared to £28 when on shavings. welsh d used most as a messy boy.

 

[Toffee44]

I still cant decide on deep litter or daily muck out

On Daily muck out (although for 2 days out of 9 I leave wet in due to my work shift pattern) I prob put in about 1/2 a bale a week in.

Or if I deep litter I go through about about 2 slices of straw a week just to scatter on top but then its that monthly muck out jobby.

 

[Cluck]

For those that deep litter; how do you keep your horses' feet dry?

 

[Toffee44]

For those that deep litter; how do you keep your horses' feet dry?

The layer on top should be dry its only the basle layer that gets wet. If you get rising wet dig it out and fill the hole in.

I always sprinkle more on top every few days. I regulary dig down the basle layer which stays firm so it never really gets deeper than 6-8" and then new straw on top, does that make sense?

I have wheat straw again as of today so back to deep litter

 

[Cluck]

The layer on top should be dry its only the basle layer that gets wet. If you get rising wet dig it out and fill the hole in.

I always sprinkle more on top every few days. I regulary dig down the basle layer which stays firm so it never really gets deeper than 6-8" and then new straw on top, does that make sense?

I have wheat straw again as of today so back to deep litter

Yes it makes sense, thanks for explaining.

Yuck though.

 

[NooNoo59]

I muck out every day on a straw bed, use about three bales a week,in from about four pm to seven am. Wondering if it might be good idea to swap to shavings and deep litter thru the week, know it would be more expensive, what to do??

 

[horsesatemymoney]

oo, VR, I tried that- disaster- back on straw we go!

 

[Elsbells]

Full bed. I leave the banks and pull out the wet from underneath. I use at least and on adverage, 1 large bale per month. She has a good deep bed on thick rubber matting.

 

[NooNoo59]

why disaster? too expensive or just too much work?

 

[Honey08]

I use 3/4 of a small bale a day (£2.50/bale, sometimes £3) for two big ISHs - one clean, one warthog, with decent beds on top of rubber mats mucket out daily.

 

[Heidi1]

Have two really large bales a month with four on and have huge beds, mucked out daily and in for approx 12-14 hrs, all are really clean.....

 

[horsesatemymoney]

why disaster? too expensive or just too much work?

No expensive and depsite the cost of using double or triple compared to my other horse it did not look nice at all

 

[Orangehorse]

I aim to muck out every day, but it doesn't aways get done for various reasons. Then I remove droppings and just add more straw on top. I have access to free straw so just grab a whole bale about every three days, it seems easier the more straw there is.

My stables are quite large.

I can remember having a discussion about different sorts of bedding and someone pointed out that if a horse is on mats is needs mucking out every day, but if you use straw and you are asking someone else to look after the horses it is a lot easier for them to just add extra straw and sort it all out when you get back, which is a valid point.

I once tried shavings and hated it, the whole bed seemed to get damp and nasty. There is nothing nicer than a lovely deep bed of golden straw.