Miscanthus bedding? Elephant grass anyone?

[Greylegs]

As the price of shavings goes ever skywards and availability becomes more difficult I have been looking at Miscanthus bedding, a type of shredded elephant grass as an alternative. Looks and sounds like a possibility for someone whose horse looks upon a straw bed as dessert!

Any experiences good or bad to share please before I order a truck load? I'm especially keen on any allergic issues, skin or respiratory, ( or human come to that!) and whether it works well enough to switch from a wood based product.

Many thanks.

 

[jrp204]

We have used it, quite good but have now moved on to wood pellets which are even better.

 

[WandaMare]

Hi I've usually use wood fibre or shavings but have used elephant grass a few times.

I've found it to be quite good, easy to muck out, good absorbancy, light weight compared to the wood fibre and makes a fairly firm, comfortable bed. Only thing I found was that it takes quite a few bales to make the bed and top up as not much volume to it, so maybe not as good value as some other bedding. Because of this I mixed it with shavings, putting the elephant grass on the bottom layer to absorb the wet, and then a layer of shavings above.

 

[mynutmeg]

Have never used elephant grass but have recently started using flax and love the stuff. My mare who will eat anything has shown no sign of eating it, it's totally dust free and is lasting so well. We've gone from 3-4 bales a week of shavings to 1 bale a week of flax.

 

[dotty1]

I use elephant grass from Fennington fibres and its great, very quick and easy to muck out.
Mine are on rubber mats and have a 2m square corner of bedding. they are in from around 5.30pm - 7.30am and I use half a bale in each stable per week. It usually works out that I start taking out the wet after 4-5 days, but is not lots like it would be with shavings.