Mucking out straw question

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hollymarsh

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I've always mucked out shavings and recently started loaning a horse on straw, but finding it takes me AGES to muck out. She has a very deep bed with big banks, and atm I'm pretty much turning over the whole bed and banks to remove wet. Nobody else seems to take as long as me, am I just slow OR is it ok not to fully turn over banks every day and just do them once or twice a week and turn over the rest of the bed every day?
 
We don't turn over every bank every day - we sort of track the wet patches into the banks if we have to; if not we leave them alone when we're in a hurry, or turn over one each day in order.
 
I gave up on banks tbh. I can muck straw out quite quickly but getting the fresh to the stables was a trek so I did a flat bed instead.
I think it's one of those things that gets easier the more you do it!
When I did use banks I didn't dig the whole lot daily as I liked them to be big and solid
 
I'm the opposite; straw takes me 10 mins tops and I get EVERYTHING out, shavings drive me nuts and take forever. I don't have huge banks, and it's easy to flip out the dung and isolate the wet to take out, so unless the horse is a filthy, mucky trampler it is pretty easy to identify targets and remove :-)
 
I find mucking out straw much easier than shavings, I take all the droppings out, then gradually go through the bed, tossing dry straw over to one side and picking out the wet.
 
teddypops said:
I find mucking out straw much easier than shavings, I take all the droppings out, then gradually go through the bed, tossing dry straw over to one side and picking out the wet.
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This for me too, although I kep shavings or pellets underneath and just take the wet out 2 or 3 times a week. So much quicker and nicer, and I've found if you keep a really deep straw bed it's even cleaner.
 
Cortez said:
I'm the opposite; straw takes me 10 mins tops and I get EVERYTHING out, shavings drive me nuts and take forever. I don't have huge banks, and it's easy to flip out the dung and isolate the wet to take out, so unless the horse is a filthy, mucky trampler it is pretty easy to identify targets and remove :-)
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me too
 
Until this week-end, when I was VERY short staffed, I hadn't mucked out in years. I missed the long, 3 pronged forks I used to use (staff like shorter 4 pronged.) We don't use banks - I am SURE they are responsible for many horses getting cast when they try to roll on the confortable thick bits! Some of those I did were easy - just huge piles in one place. Some of them were very messy.

Many years ago when I worked in racing stables it was harder (though I was younger then.) HUGE banks and we were meant to move ALL the banks every day - and still do them in 10 minutes.

I confess I am not obsessional about super clean beds - they'll all be dirty again tomorrow.
 
get yourself a proper two or three prong, long handled pitchfork. I can do mine in 15 mins (thats two sharing a byre), including lifting and sweeping out the floor. I really dislike any amount of deep littering with long straw so take out everything-once you know the horse its quite easy.
have never got used to or liked shavings, takes me forever.
 
Tiddlypom said:
But the stink...
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I much preferred straw to shavings, I used to lose the will to live doing the shavings, but the straw the mares were on used to make my eyes water. Gross. I really notice it now I work in a supermarket whent he horsey girls come in.
 
I only lift up banks twice a week, partly as a time thing and partly as I think it helps make them a little more stable.

I take out the wet and dirty bedding every day, sweep & then spray disinfectant & let the floor air during the day, then I just put it down in the evening with new straw if necessary.

I find straw much easier than shavings!
 
Exploding Chestnuts said:
Do you use a shavings fork, they are useless with straw Traditional beds were in large stables, and were left "up" during the day.
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I always use a shavings fork for mucking out a straw bed, I find it much easier!

It takes me about 15mins to do my box, as I have mucky individuals. Pick off all the visible muck from the top, comb back clean straw and chuck up onto one bank; take up the wet, leave bed up to dry.

I rotate the banks once a week.
 
I have Jakki the mini on a straw bed ready fir foaling and I'm loving it. It's like going back in time 30 years. I do put a pellet base underneath the centre but only yo keep the wet in that.
The banks are large but solid, so if any wet does go underneath, I can lift the bank, remove the wet and bang the bank back down again. Each bank gets pulled down and used as bed when the bed needs it and is replaced with new straw. I usually pull down two banks a week but it works for me and importantly given a mini foal is due any time...it is always very clean with no ammonia smell at all. I remove any wet straw daily, but do the pellet base once a week. Being pellet, it absorbs so well that I don't have to worry. X
 
I'm another who prefers straw (apart from the smell!) start from the middle and bank all good straw on 3 sides, lifting one bank daily so they are all turned at least twice a week. I always sweep the floor which helps reduce smell. I'm not that careful about how much I chuck out due to the low cost of it. Shavings takes an age to sift through.
 
I prefer straw, huge bed with big banks. I muck out including wet and turning banks over on days I do, I let my sharer skip out on her days providing it isn't a wreck. I will leave up to dry for the day on weekends as I don't turn out during the week. The smell is awful but I think half of it is that I inherited the mats in the stable when I moved in 3years ago and they're starting to lift. I'm waiting for a hot weekend to pull them out and pressure wash.

ETA; I am notoriously slow to muck out. I'm good and quick when needed, have worked on many a yard where I've had to do straw/ paper/ shavings, but with my own I don't mind how long it takes me. If I'm in a rush I can do a full muck out, turn banks over and add straw in 10mins but if I'm not I definitely take longer than most!
 
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All the vets I know use straw. I asked them, and they said it is cleaner. I agree. Pine shavings simply mask the ammonia smell, they don't remove it, and I believe that shavings beds are much dirtier than straw as the small pieces of dung just break up and mix in with the shavings, which is why most shavings beds are grey/brown. Straw is either clean, or it's not.
 
Another who much prefers straw here. I stopped doing banks years ago, I think they make stables pokey and don't help much with casting. I agree straw does smell,ce specially if you have mats underneath, but they're much nicer for the horse to lie on than shavings (if I had to choose to sleep on shavings or straw I'd choose straw), it doesn't stick to injuries or veterinary creams like shavings does, and it dries the feet/legs while allowing air to circulate.

My husband mucks out straw beds with a shavings for too, it baffles me, but it works for him. I prefer a three pronged fork (back in the day I'd use a pitch fork to throw the beds to the side and a shovel to pick the dirty/wet up with), our part time groom prefers the four prong!

I'm no speed merchant either - if I'm at home I'm not working, so I don't have to rush, I'm fussier than my husband/our groom so I take longer getting the beds the way I like them after a few days of other people mucking out while I've been away!
 
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Two prong pitchfork (for the purists amongst you,saw the prongs down to about 6/8 inches long)With your "race tuned" pitchfork ,pitch the entire clean bedding into one or two corners and then clear out whats left. Wheat straw is the best straw. Straw is relatively cheap so dont mess about sifting through the rubbish. When you put the new straw in ,shake it up properly . I defy anyone to do this well with anything but a two prong fork. The Four prong is too darn heavy .Wheat straw manure is sought after by serious gardeners .I subsidised my point to pointing as a kid by flogging everyones straw muckheaps to an allotment society!!!I dont think i have ever been so rich as then!Insist that your straw supplier only brings you clean straw.SEND IT BACK IF IT IS ALL STUCK TOGETHER WITH MOULD.The bane of every reputable hay and straw merchant ,is the customer that buys from the cowboys and then just accepts their rubbish.
 
I can do a full muck out on straw in 10 mins. First I remove all the poop with a speedi-skip, then I use a rake (flat one not a grass rake) and sort through the straw. Clean and dry in one pile, yuk in another. Then sweep the yuck to ensure I get it all (no nasty smells). Then fresh straw back down and voila. I don't bank my bed either, he has a flat bed - I'm the only one at the yard who doesn't bank.
 
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