How to deep litter?

[merry mischief]

I'm considering options for winter, Jim (15:1 heavy cob) is a bit of a dirty beasty who churns his bed up no end! I've read a little about deep littering straw and it seems a possible option for keeping a comfortable and warm bed for him, but I have no clue how to do it! How to start/maintain and when to have a clear out? Is straw ok to use? And can I do it with rubber matting down?

 

[miss_molly]

I do a version of deep litter. I take out poo 2x a day and take out wet every weekend. I use shredded paper on the floor, then loads of straw on top. I put lots of straw in and have to walk all over it to squish it down so its solid and compact. I then top up with fresh mid week, just a sprinkle on the top so its clean. This works well for me. I try to remove as little as possible and the walls reamin throughout winter. I remove the worst of the wet, and then top up with a fresh layer of straw when mucked out. I have 1 horse and 1 pony and go through 2 to 3 of the big round bales of straw a winter. Paper is free. I find this a very economical method of bedding both in monetary and time.

 

[Chestnut mare]

I do it with shavings. Have a very clean mare. I poo pick the stable, square up bed and pat it down. Once a month put on a new bale of shavings. At the end of the winter when horses are living out I dig the bed out.

 

[lauraandjack]

I'm a great fan of deep litter but I'd only recommend it for a tidy horse.

You could do it over mats, but not much point really, I'd prob pull up the mats from under the bed and just leave mats to cover the concrete at the front of the stable.

Any bedding seems to work. It's a bit gross for the first couple of weeks as the bottom layer gets established but once you have a good solid base it's dead easy. But you need a tidy horse that won't stir up the bottom damp layer.

Don't be mean with bedding, keep topping up to cover the damp layer and periodically remove a little bit of the wet to stop it getting too high. It works really well for me but I have a very tidy horse!

 

[Merry Crisis]

Dont ever underestemate the art of deep litter! If done correctly it can last years. I have a big stable in my stone barn, I only use shavings, Nedz beds or Equibeds sometimes sawdust. I only ever muck out poo and add a bale of one of the above each week. Mucking out takes 5 minutes and my bed is dry, no smell of amonia because it disperses underneath. Rugs stay clean aswell. My bed has been down for 20 yrs and never grows in height, having said that it only works with a big stable. I am also religious about skipping out.

 

[Tnavas]

Clean stable out thoroughly, wash floor with jeyes fluid and allow to dry.

Cover the floor with a good layer of ordinary garden lime. This helps neutralise the amonia in the early days of building the bed.

When starting from new you need a really deep bed - I use shavings underneath with straw on top.

Shavings only - make at least 12" deep. It will pack down in time.

Straw only - put in several bales, shake up well then build up and then whack flat and compressed with a fork. Start at the back and keep building, overlapping each layer so that the bed is thick and compact.

Shavings under and Straw on top - 10" of shavings and then a good deep bed of straw on top.

While the bed is settling skip out as often as you possibly can as this will keep the bed clean. Eventually the bed will compress so that dung doesn't get buried and it's easy to remove. The bed can stay down for months or years.

Don't dig out the wet - once the wet is exposed to air it will smell. Wee will drain through to the bottom, spread underneath and dry out.

Keep the fresh look by topping up with a slice or two of straw or a bucket of shavings daily.

My horse is currently on a deep litter bed on shavings - it's great - cost me $60 to set it up and is only just about to need a top up after 4 months of night time use.

Sometimes it pays to place a plank about a foot wider than the door and about 6" deep to prevent the shavings from escaping.

 

[xTrooperx]

im of of these people that do a full clean everytime, i have thought about deep litter but im also worried about the smell - is it worse?..

 

[HaffiesRock]

This is an old thread, but thought I would revive it rather than start a new one.

I am on a livery yard now where my pony will be in overnight. He is quite wet, but doesn't trample or churn up his bed. He does like to lie down.

What is going to be the best, time saving option over winter? Full daily muck outs or deep littering?

How do I sent up a deep litter bed? Is straw or shaving best? (Straw is included in livery, shavings are extra). Does it smell or look bad? This will be my first winter with my pony in.

 

[Damnation]

I used Aubiose the year I deep littered.

In the early stages I spread the wet about and walked on it to comact it and form a base layer like a rubber mat. Every day I threw up the "clean" top layer of bedding and anything that squelched in the "base" was taken out and packed with a clean patch of bedding. Every so often I would scrape the top off the base if I thought it got a bit too thick. It was about a an inch and a half to two inches thick with a good 7-8 inches of clean bedding ontop.

I did have a well draining stable and relatively clean horse. I never had a problem and I can't remember any overwhelming smell as anything that was saturated was removed.

I am thinking of doing it this year with current mare as I don't have rubber mats and she does pace about a bit. Going to look at ordering a pallet of wood pellets and going from there.

ETA: When I worked on a yard we used the same deep litter method as above with shavings and it was ok. and the beds did stay nice and fluffy ontop.

 

[lewis2015]

I have always deep littered my gelding - he is very wet and it usually works for him. I have done it on both shavings and straw, as well as a mixture of both.

Last year, I took Tnavas' advice above and put garden lime powder on the floor under the mats to help with odour.

This year, I think I am going to try wood pellets (unwatered) as a base as hopefully they will be very absorbent. I would never just use a wood pellet bed again for my gelding as I tried it once and hated it, but think it would work as a base.

My deep litter wasn't as successful last year as I only did half the stable with bedding and tried to leave bare mats at the front for easily sweeping up hay spillage and for water bucket. However, it just led to too much movement in the bed and it never really 'built up' properly. It didn't help that my gelding took to eating the fresh straw I put on top, so I had to squirt it with vinegar!

Personally, I think straw deep litter looks better as you can build a bigger bed. I never liked how my shavings deep litter looked, but then perhaps I was reluctant to put down enough bags each week! Straw is a bit smellier I guess, but if it's done properly it shouldn't stink as the wet goes to the bottom.

ETA - I find it very quick on work day mornings - I just go in with a skip bucket and rubber gloves and remove all the poo! Then rearrange the dry bedding over the bit where he wees in the middle, and put down 1-2 new wedges of straw. I don't remove any wet until I dig it out in Spring, unless it becomes loose or squelchy.

 

[HaffiesRock]

Thank you for the advice.

So if I do, am I better off doing the whole stable? Ideally I'd like a bit of bare floor, but if this means it will potentially smell more I will give this up! He doesn't (as a rule) trample the bed and it is always where I left it, so I don't think he'd trample the front.

 

[LouisCat]

Does it prevent smelling even with really stinky mares?
The few mares' stables I've mucked out (on daily mucking out) are absolutely eye watering to walk into and they really were kept v clean

 

[Theocat]

Thank you for the advice.

So if I do, am I better off doing the whole stable? Ideally I'd like a bit of bare floor, but if this means it will potentially smell more I will give this up! He doesn't (as a rule) trample the bed and it is always where I left it, so I don't think he'd trample the front.

I leave a bare patch - it tends to be wet buts that get kicked on to the floor by my mare, but it's the wet that makes it stable and helps it compact, so to start the bed I closed my eyes, gritted my teeth, and shovelled it back in with a layer of dry on top. It's much, much more stable now so I just have to brush the edges in.

I love deep littering - I think it's a fabulous surface if you get it right, and not at all smelly.