Looking for bedding that doesn't smell bad/keeps them clean?!

tobiano1984

tobiano1984

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I'm thinking about changing from straw this winter as my boys are all filthy little creatures!


My main horse, who I definitely want to get off straw, is a coloured so gets dirty lying in his poo, and also although he doesn't have a real issue does suffer a bit with dust. I've used shavings for their day beds through the summer but it just smells awful (like a hamster!) so wondering if there's a better option on the smell front, perhaps wood pellets? He doesn't mess the bed up apart from rolling around in it, I don't have rubber matting, and don't really want it as the stables that have matting at my yard STINK.

The others are all youngsters and typical - messy and move around quite a bit. Not sure if a non-straw bedding will be economical, or will I just end up taking loads of it out as I do with straw? (currently 1-2 barrows per stable).

So what do you recommend? And if it is wood pellets, where best to get them from?

Thanks!!
 
Semi deep litter with a wood pellet base and straw over the top. Skip daily and once a week dig out the wet.
 
I really rate Miscanthus, have tried just about everything else but still come back to it. Sometimes use straw over the top in winter.

I semi deep litter, take out the wet bedding every fortnight, never smells, really absorbent. I use a decent thickness of bed straight onto concrete floor.
 
I switched to wood pellets last winter and I'm so glad I did. No smell all winter especially on rugs. When I lifted my rubber matting last week I was very pleasantly surprised. Normally I spend about 3 hours power hosing the mats and another hour doing my stable. The mats were so clean - particularly underneath - that they were done in an hour and I didn't even bother power hosing the stable as the floor was so clean (I used to have to have a mask as the ammonia was so bad and there were horrible pools of stale squelchy urine all over) I did the walls and roof to get rid of cobwebs and just put some Jeyes Fluid down on the floor and rinsed it off.

ETA: I just bought next year's supply from White Horse Energy. I bought the premium at £220 for a full pallet. People have said the pellets are great but the bags are weak so as long as you don't have to manhandle them too much and you have somewhere dry to keep them you should be fine. We had to transfer them from one pallet to another as they couldn't put the pallet straight into the storage shed. We were very careful and only damaged one bag, but I can see how they could split easily had we not known to be gentle with them.
 
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annagain said:
I switched to wood pellets last winter and I'm so glad I did. No smell all winter especially on rugs. When I lifted my rubber matting last week I was very pleasantly surprised. Normally I spend about 3 hours power hosing the mats and another hour doing my stable. The mats were so clean - particularly underneath - that they were done in an hour and I didn't even bother power hosing the stable as the floor was so clean (I used to have to have a mask as the ammonia was so bad and there were horrible pools of stale squelchy urine all over) I did the walls and roof to get rid of cobwebs and just put some Jeyes Fluid down on the floor and rinsed it off.
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This is interesting - I guess the rubber mats other people use at my yard stink because the wee all runs under them straight through the straw. Where do you get your pellets from?

And smell-free rugs would be very welcome!
 
Just edited my post above! And yes the wee ran underneath with shavings but all got soaked up by the pellets.
 
I use wood pellets, the horse does get poo on her as they sit on top of the pellets but I always put a thin fleece rug on if she's in. She lives out in summer though so by the time they come in they're usually straight into stable rugs and they get washed regularly. Pellets only smell if there isn't enough bed to absorb the wee.
 
I find straw and rubber mats is not a good combination unless you have a sloped floor to an outlet hole for the wee to run away.

I used to use miscanthus which I really liked but now use pellets - either Aquamax or Professional 5 Star - as it works out cheaper.

I use a full depth semi deep littered bed on rubber mats. When a new bed is first put down it does tend to move around a bit but once the horse had peed on it a few times it becomes much more stable. Try to ignore the temptation to take the wet out on a daily basis. I just take out any wet that comes to the surface and then a couple of times a year I dig most of the wet out.
 
Aubiose, aubiose, aubiose. Even when you dig out the wet patch there is no smell from it. Its light to handle, even when sodden, banks well, forms a nice warm, secure base, reduces the size of the muckheap because you use so little and is super speedy to skip and muck out. Makes nice garden compost too.
 
I had really good results with Wood pellets with a very wet dirty gelding. He was so bad he was going through 4 bales of Hunters a week and the bed still didn't look clean.

I used Aquamax which I like, I tried another brand which was much cheaper and not only did they not last as long but they were really dusty and a horse with RAO had problems.

Unfortunately he turned out to be allergic to all wood based bedding so had to switch back to straw.

I agree straw and rubber mats is not a good combination, the wee drains through and collects. They do work well with absorbent bedding though.
 
fatpiggy said:
Aubiose, aubiose, aubiose. Even when you dig out the wet patch there is no smell from it. Its light to handle, even when sodden, banks well, forms a nice warm, secure base, reduces the size of the muckheap because you use so little and is super speedy to skip and muck out. Makes nice garden compost too.
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Ditto this, its fabulous stuff and doesn't dry out bare feet. I use it over mats (stable has good drainage) and have no smell. I don't deep litter just remove the poo and wet bits then top up as needed. Cheap if order by pallet too. I use it for all three of my boys, sheep, chickens and the turkeys too so order big pallets!
 
gnubee said:
Where do you get your aubiose pallets from? I've really struggled to find a supplier.
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I buy direct from Hemcore (same stuff just different name). A pallet is 40 bags and I buy mine along with farmers pallets so its cheap delivery.
 
kez81 said:
I buy direct from Hemcore (same stuff just different name). A pallet is 40 bags and I buy mine along with farmers pallets so its cheap delivery.
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Hmm slightly worrying, tried to find a link for you and says company not trading since early last year but its definitely says hemcore on bags we ordered last July! Will check with farmer where we have ordered from this year as our lot is due to be delivered in two weeks time so I really hope it turns up!
 
fatpiggy said:
Aubiose, aubiose, aubiose. Even when you dig out the wet patch there is no smell from it. Its light to handle, even when sodden, banks well, forms a nice warm, secure base, reduces the size of the muckheap because you use so little and is super speedy to skip and muck out. Makes nice garden compost too.
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Love Aubiose, but too expensive :-(

It is not the wee- it is ecnomical with that, but Jay poos all over and so a lot gets wasted. I now use Rape straw (chopped). Not as good (wet can come to the top) but much cheaper so I don't have to poo pick by hand!
 
Wood pellets are great, depth of bed depends on how wet the horse is and how much it moves around. I prefer white horse pellets and would recommend that you stay clear of Verdo as they're useless.
I've tried pretty much everything on the market and this is my preferred choice. The only thing I haven't tried is Miscanthus.
 
I have stuck with straw - mainly for cost as I've got 4 horses - and what I've found best is to only take out the poos on a daily basis and put more clean on top. I then take out wet at weekends.

Doesn't smell and horses are reasonably clean - I do have one who is extra dirty but doing this I'm only going through a large square bale of straw a fortnight.
 
I love Bliss, its fab but it is a bit spendy. I tend to use a mix of Bliss and Caviera depending on what I can get hold of up here (I can't get pallets delivered of either). I have two very clean ponies and one nightmare youngster of a horse who is bogging and find the chopped straws more economic than wood/straw pellets or shavings.
 
I have mats, then a layer of newspaper (sheets, one copy of The times thickness should do it) where he wees and shavings bed on the top. I save up papers during the summer, and get them from anyone who will give me them. A perfect way of recycling. It saves me a fortune on shavings and gives a nice dry bed for my very wet horse. I change the newspaper and remove any wet shavings daily. Its very economical as well, as the newspaper is free.
 
Miscanthus pellets (pellet beds) - my eyes used to water doing a full muck out (straw) of my very wet gelding on a daily basis. With the miscanthus I just remove the poo, dig out the wet and top up. And best of all there is no smell, and the miscanthus is so absorbent none of the wet runs under the rubber mats :)
 
Flax (which I think is miscanthus?) is amazing and I'll never use anything else. I just take out the poo every day and the wet patch every 3-4 days. Super quick and easy, a full muck out only takes me 15 minutes now.
 
I used to have a very messy youngster on Aubiose and recently switched to wood pellets and it has been so much better! Mucking out is so much easier and I found the aubiose bed would stink by the end of the week. I deep littered and found for me, when I dug out the wet, the stable did stink of wee! So far the wood pellet bedding has been so easy to muck out and the bed is much more solid than aubiose. My youngster box walks so he used to churn up the aubiose bedding. I use five star wood pellet bedding :)
 
I use Allbed extra and it's pretty good, very absorbant & keeps bill (a coloured) pretty clean :)

It's also cheap so no complaints from me lol
 
SpottyMare said:
Miscanthus pellets (pellet beds) - my eyes used to water doing a full muck out (straw) of my very wet gelding on a daily basis. With the miscanthus I just remove the poo, dig out the wet and top up. And best of all there is no smell, and the miscanthus is so absorbent none of the wet runs under the rubber mats :)
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I've just moved one of our old boys onto this. He's ridiculously wet - used to flood the stable - had to lift the mats daily and rinse underneath as the smell was so bed. He was on Caviera which works well for our other horses.

On the pellets there is no smell, they absorb the pee straight away and the mats are dry underneath. It's quick to muck out and is really easy. I'm strongly considering moving the other two over onto it.
 
I use shredded cardboard. Super absorbant and smell free. My incredibly wet horse now has a nice dry bed which is thick and comfy for him to lie on.
 
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