Managing a straw bed

[The Trooper]

So i've been mucking out daily for the last few days. Moving all the clean bedding to one wall (different wall each time). I'm lifting out and tipping any wet straw and brushing the stable out and leaving the floor to dry. She seems to be getting dirtier and dirtier the more days she's in! She never used to poo in her stable now its the first thing she does when she comes in!

 

[scrat]

That's

So i've been mucking out daily for the last few days. Moving all the clean bedding to one wall (different wall each time). I'm lifting out and tipping any wet straw and brushing the stable out and leaving the floor to dry. She seems to be getting dirtier and dirtier the more days she's in! She never used to poo in her stable now its the first thing she does when she comes in![/QUOTE
I think you will just have to work out what's the most time and cost effective for you and your horse. The four we have on straw are ok to muck out and we expect two wheelbarrows each day. We have a mare though that was a mess with straw. She was sort of lazy and pivoted her back end around from hay to water to feed trough and dragged all the bedding and muck which made it a pain to muck out. However we are going to put her back on straw as it's costing £80 a month to buy Bliss bedding. I hope you find a solution to suit.

 

[scrat]

Sorry, I've no idea what I did with that last post. My reply seems to have ended up in with yours as a quote. Anyway hope it makes sense, I'm blaming my phone!

 

[The Trooper]

That's alright Scrat, yeah, i'm just find of playing it by ear and trying to find out what works for us.

 

[Cortez]

I've seen deep litter working very well with both straw and shavings but have never had the courage to do it myself, I'm far too OCD about beds . But I absolutely hate hate hate shavings with a passion and keep mine on straw with rubber mats, and shavings underneath where is a regular pee-spot at the back of the stable (like with my mare). I muck out every day and don't use a great deal of straw (half a small bale a day between 3), but I don't have a really dirty horse any more.

 

[ihatework]

I think the only way to do an acceptable deep litter of straw is in a large well ventilated area, that you can access by tractor and keep the bed deep & fresh. My youngster spends some of the winter in a massive modern Crewe barn on deep litter straw (droppings poo picked) and it works very well, certainly not a hint of a whiff or thrushy feet. But those kinds of facilities aren’t so common.

I love straw as a bedding and I generally feel most horses prefer it too. I have to say I think there is more ammonia when lifted daily. Given the choice, in regular stables, I semi deep litter, with a base of wood pellets and deep straw over the top. Lifting the wet out weekly.

 

[NiceNeverNaughty]

i just find i cant stand deep litter long term. Ive currently got 2 in, in a large shared pen in a barn. They are deep littered with straw but they are on a freedraining earth/hardcore floor underneath. It's working now but I know when I come to move them and have to muck it out it will be sheer hell and I will probably get someone with a dumper to come and scrape it out.

My other stables are also on straw but have rubber mats down. I have tried shavings, various bedding types and the pellets and always go back to straw. However my horses get a fairly minimal bed and I clear the stable each day, sweep the floor properly and 2 or 3 times a week i chuck a bucket of water or 2 over it with disinfectant.

 

[only_me]

We have a few deep littered straw and shavings beds here.
Mine is shavings and I love deep littering, it used to be fantastic and I’d just lift the wet that came to the top and add more on each week. Previous Horse also walked round stable a lot so the deep base kept it really stable underneath. Come spring I’d do a full clean out, let it dry and spray then rebed usually with around 8 bales.
Unfortunately I had to lift entire bedding when Billy got attacked by Shetland as we didn’t want him lying down on shavings (he had mats instead) which could cause potential infection as we also couldn’t bandage the wound.
Since then the bed hasn’t been the same, I can’t get it stable again as he doesn’t live in/stabled overnight consistently so the bed moves (plus he digs to lie down).

The deep littered straw bed is in a well ventilated large stable, it’s on top of hardstanding and works very well. Droppings and wet that rises gets taken out but otherwise it gets a full clear in spring as well, but using a digger to scrape it out! Horse on that would be in all the time (it’s attached to a turn out area) in really bad weather and works very well. It is very deep!