Paper v cardboard bedding

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hairycob

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HP has developed RAO so am spending the summer researching bedding options ready for next winter - how sad am I! It looks like either bedding or cardboard is the way to go for mimimum dust but I have no experience of using either or how best to source them.
Any comments on the pros & cons of using either?
Any suggestions on good/bad suppliers & cost. I intend to buy 1 or 2 pallet loads at a time as I will need to keep his neighbour, my other cob, on the same as they only have a half wall between them. Stables are large (16x18) so cost is a big factor, although I looking at using matting & just having bedding on an area about 6x8 feet. I'm in Beds close ro Northants & Cambs borders if that helps re supplier suggestions.
Once I've sorted that I can get on to the practicalities of soaking/steaming vast quantities of hay. Jason needs his soaked for hours for weight control & HP will need his steamed soaked for a shorter period, then there's the hay for the field they share - aagh! With the 29yo who can't chew hay properly anymore I don't have a single horse I can just chuck hay at.
 
I would def look at rubber matting the front half of your stables at least...I'm not sure how absorbent paper is, but could you put a matted front, wood pellt base at the back and have the paper/cardboard on top of that? I would imagine that would be the cheapest, easiest to muck out option in this situation.
 
I use cardboard and it takes a bit of getting used to, but would never go back. Try ecobed as a supplier. The bonus over paper is that it doesn't blow about. I have tried it with pellets underneath, but actually prefer it on it's own. I have mats and normally just use a small bed. However my mare has been colicky so I've made her bed much bigger, and actually find it easier. More expensive to set up, but no more expensive to maintain. Skip out with gloves, and remove wet daily. Takes me 5 minutes a horse.
 
Thanks. I tried Wood pellets this winter & I would use again for Jason but I found when the weather was very dry as it was this March they did get too dusty for HP.
Now_Loves_Mares - how big is your bigger bed?
Because the stables are large I'm looking at mats fron & sides of back so the is an area about the size of 2 mats in the centre at the back that I will put bedding on.
 
We use shredded paper at work for the few horses who find Bedmax too dusty and its great- at first i found it difficult but now i love it. The paper beds are the easiest to muck out, completely dust free and fairly cheap! I did try home/office cross shredded paper and that was awful- really hard work i found.
I also tried card and i thought it gave a better base than paper- it felt comfier under foot but was harder to muck out.
 
The original bed was just one bale, so was about 5ft*3ft in the corner and about 2" deep on rubber matting. My stables are 14ft by 12 ft. The bed now goes all the way across the width, so 14ft wide; and about 8ft from the back. I found with this particular horse, each time she pees it's a torrent :o. When the bed was small, she would always use the same place, which was right against the wall and seeped under mats. Now she pees in different places, more in the middle, so it's easier to remove the wet. I think it took 4bales to make it this size.

I have left my other horse with just the small bed, as she isn't so wet. Although the colicky horse is on boxrest just now, I'm still not using heaps of bedding. It was about a bale a week each when on normal routine of turned out all day.

Re the cardboard being difficult to muck out - I honestly don't find this at all. I use gloves first, and skip out all poos and obvious wet. That takes moments. If the bed then looks fairly dry, I use a pitch fork to rake it smooth again. If there are big wet patches, I use my shavings fork to rake back the top layer then quickly scoop up the wet. Then sweep the mats. If they've dragged hay into their bed, I find it a hundred times easier to remove (again using the pitchfork) than I did with shavings. I also find the clean and dirty don't mix up like shavings. I think, like everything, you just need to find a method that works for you.

And if this is of any interest, the muckheap makes amazing garden compost!
 
Sorry to hi-jack :D - I am thinking of switching to cardboard (or maybe paper but havent got on with it in the past) for my rather special and highly demanding (!) laminitic and now 'COPD' suffering pony!

I am liking the sound of trying cardboard... but what are the average prices paid per bale?!
 
I have used both paper and carboard. Paper makes a nice bed but you need quite a bit and I found it did break down and go a bit dusty, plus it can be very messy. I prefer cardboard because it doesn't break down so much and is easier to manage plus it makes a great bed.

I currently use Ecobed. The cardboard is cut into one centimeter squares and comes in 20kg bales. The people are very helpful and I think the price is fair. I think I pay about £5.50 per bale which includes VAT an delivery to the Midlands. (They are baed in St Albans I think.)
 
I use a combination of paper and cardboard, cardboard is definitely the most absorbent! which I was told helps with RAO as the urine is absorbed and the ammonia smell is controlled better than just with paper, ammonia can affect RAO.

(I think I got that right.... :o )
 
Happihorse and Becca_N - both very interesting! :D

I am liking the price (guessing thats based on a pallet delivery which is fine) and I also think that the cardboard would provide more support than paper, in laminitic terms!?

Certainly might give this a try - what 'tools' to people use for card? I found paper really hard to keep clean, so do people hand skip?
 
I have four pallets (of 28 bales) at a time. (I think I did get 10% extra discount last time though so it might be a little higher now!)

I use a shavings fork to muck out. If I am in a hurry I just scoop out all the dirty bedding and muck but ideally I will hand pick the droppings off the top first and them remove the wet because there is less wastage that way.
 
We get ours from a local feed shop- Its about £5.50 per bale but varies slightly. However another local place started doing it - funnily not for long as it didnt sell??? for £9.85 per bale!!!! wonder why they couldnt sell it ;-)
 
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