Never say never . . . bedding decisions - sigh

PolarSkye

PolarSkye

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So . . . having said I was in love with straw as a bedding and the GreyDonk would be on it until he popped his gorgeous little clogs . . . I'm having an epiphany. Straw on rubber matting stinks. I'm not sure why it's any smellier than on concrete . . . is it because the concrete absorbs a little of the wee while the matting absorbs approximately zilch? Plus, the matting is really slippy so clean straw moves around alot and when the GD walks (which he is doing a rather a lot b/c he's still settling in) he moves most of the straw to the banks leaving a thin layer on the centre of the floor where he wees and poos. This morning his bed was the worst I've seen it . . . ever . . . his little white tootsies and ankles were yellow from wading through all that wee-soaked straw.

So.

I'm switching to Bedmax tomorrow. Sigh. I love fluffy straw beds.

P
 
You could always use a base of pellets under straw and have the nice fluffy bed minus the stink??
I wouldn`t use anything other than pellets on mats, they absorb soooooooooo well there is no leakage of pee to get under the mats and cause that disgusting smell!
 
Thanks both . . . the mats are sealed so there's no wee under the mats . . . it's just what's on top. I have a thing about deep beds . . . yes, yes, I know I can get away with a small, absorbent bed on the rubber mats, but it's not how I roll . . . and I didn't take the stable b/c it had rubber mats, I took it b/c it's on main yard.

I need to find a way to make a deep, comfy bed with the rubber mats that doesn't stink . . . with a horse who moves a lot (at the moment he's cantering round his box in the mornings (evenings he's fine), but he's only been in it since Saturday so he'll calm down). Really deep straw beds are heaven . . . and I can probably make that happen once YO has gotten the harvest in (we have a deal of £20/month, all you can use) but I'm putting two small bales of straw a day into his bed and at £2.50 each it's not cost effective.

I seriously can't continue with what we had . . . moderately deep straw bed . . . it smelled like a neglected zoo in there this morning . . . also going to invest in some Stable Zone to absorb wee/remove smell.

P
 
i have become a big fan of bed soft-it does not smell its soft it does not move too much and you can put a big bed down-my daughter uses it and only uses one bag a fortnight instead of 2-3 bags of shavings per week:eek:
 
Milkmaid said:
You could always use a base of pellets under straw and have the nice fluffy bed minus the stink??
I wouldn`t use anything other than pellets on mats, they absorb soooooooooo well there is no leakage of pee to get under the mats and cause that disgusting smell!
Click to expand...

Does that work? I'm seriously considering it, I need straw with the poo (chap takes our 'solids' away fortnightly, will accept a little straw with the poo but not wood in any shape or form) but favour the pellets as a base. I currently have them strategically placed around the edges of two stables where the mats don't meet the walls, it does stop the pee from seeping under the mats, and the two mares always back up to roughly the same area to pee.

Interesting!
 
I used Megazorb under straw and it worked brilliantly. You need about a bucket full spread in the centre (or edge if its a mare!) and a normal straw bed on top.

Then I became asthmatic and swopped to Ecobed and Aubiose.
 
Thanks for all the replies/anecdotes - I will store them all away for future consideration - have come up with a plan but there's no guarantee it will work so having other ideas up my sleeve is always good :).

Having put two whole bales of straw in his bed last night, it was better this morning . . . but at £2.50/bale, it's hardly cost effective. So dug out the wet/dirty (two wheelbarrows), banked the straw high around the edge/left the floor to dry and then put down five bales of Bedmax in the middle. Lovely and deep and once it's packed down quite stable (pardon the pun). Smells gorgeous too :). I know it will take a while to form a nice stable base, but I want to see how we go. I only left the straw in b/c I didn't have the heart to discard all that clean straw - and I was relying on a fellow livery to do the bedding run in her lorry so had to go today. The plan is to run down the straw over time so he's just on Bedmax. YO's straw will be cut in a month or so (weather permitting) and it's much heavier and coarser than the stuff I've been buying in, so it may work better with the mats - plus at a fixed fee of £20/month (all I can use) I can make the bed as deep as I like without worrying about the cost.

So . . . Bedmax for now until harvest. Try YO's straw once it's cut - if it doesn't work, back to Bedmax.

And if the Bedmax doesn't work - I've got some lovely suggestions from you clever, helpful people :). Seeemples.

P
 
I usually have deep straw bed on rubber mats - no more smell than usual? I do have the floor very deep though. She never gets through to the mats. Usually requires 2-3 bales a week to maintain it.

On shavings atm as Molly on box rest post surgery and have to deep litter, hating it. Want straw back!
 
Hi

Couple of weeks ago I reluctantly switched my messy mare to Bedmax after 14/15 months of straw (she ate the lot :eek:), comfy bed (nice but my supplier stopped supplying :rolleyes:), straw/shaving mix (yuk :rolleyes:)

Once looked after a horse on shavings and HATED it

But I have to confess I LOVE the bedmax!!! :eek: It is by far the cleanest (and quickest to muck out!!) her bed has ever been, the poo stays together :eek: and doesn't bobble all over the bed!! It's also big and fluffy! A revelation :)

Others have recommend Megazorb, never made a bed from this but have used as a base under straw. It is mega absorbent and holds the wee smell too :)

Good luck with whatever you choose :)
 
Hope it works out for you PS :)

I'm a HUGE fan of comfybed, having gone from straw (I love straw, I does :D ) and then used shavings (top qual), I found that the Comfybed worked best over the last 2 winters. (no, I dont work for them! :D )

I find that even when I had BF in on box-rest earlier this year for 7 - 8 weeks that it held up as deep litter on her heavy duty wall-to-wall rubber mats :cool:
 
A while ago i chucked a bale of shavings in my daughters straw bed just to soak up some pee as we had the same issue but she loved straw....now she insists 50/50 is the way to go!
she puts in half a bale of shavings alternated with a few chunks of straw and loves it.
 
Very curious to see what I find in the morning . . . will report back. All I can say is that his bed was lurvely when I left him . . . deep, didn't move about too much, smelled nice and didn't seem at all palatable to the Greedy GreyDonk. We'll see. New to this rubber mats lark, me.

P
 
Well, it was amazing! Yes, he had largely obliterated the poo, but b/c the flakes are large and robust the bits were big enough to pick up rather than microscopic and the bed wasn't uniformly brown and still smelled nice. He had actual wee spots (which were where they used to be in the other stable) rather than just a lake of wet bedding and they were easy to find/dig up. I only took about 2/3rds of a wheelbarrow out and only added back in another quarter of a bale. So far I like very much . . . but that was just Day 1 - am curious to see how it holds up over time - and how much I end up using.

P
 
I hope it stays that way, personally I hate Bedmax, never found it particularly absorbant and if you don't put in atleast two bales a week for a half bed on full rubber sealed matting then it goes a disgusting colour. Agree with the straw/rubber matting thing though not sure why it stinks so much on rubber but it certainly does!
I use Bliss and whilst I go to straw for cheapness in winter time, I would love to be on Bliss full time. I have a 3/4 bed and would normally use a bale a week when in at night and out during the day.
 
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