shavings or straw

imo straw is heavier, and you tend to take half the bedding out with the muck, and most of time the poo falls through the fork! Shavings on the other had is much easier, lighter work, you just take out the wet and or muck without taking any of the bedding. My horses seem to be much more cleaner on shavings. They tend to bury there poo with straw
 
Straw all the way for me, the bed is thicker and is always cosy. Bale of straw £1.50. Shavings, doesn't look inviting and never looks clean unless you use loads of them and at £6.50 plus per bale so unless my horse couldn't have straw for some reason then shavings to me have more cons than pros.
Anita
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If my mare wasn't so wet, I'd have her on woodchips all day long as there is definitely less wastage. Woodchips are alot cleaner than straw, and the wet doesn't spread across the floor as the woodchips tend to absorb it more. Straw is so much cheaper, and does give a more thick cosy bed.
 
i have a very wet horse so was spending way to much on shavings. spending about £7.80 a week!. i get one bale of straw for £3 and get a much bigger bed. and i like to cosyness of it. as he likes to lie down. much nicer but i hate mucking it out lol. so straw for me
but i spose it depends on how dirty/ clean your horse is
 
Shavings with matting, you hardly need any that way!
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with shavings now at nearly £9 per bale and i pay £7 for a large round bale that lasts me about 3-4 weeks, i think i will choose straw any day of the week.
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You will absolutely stink of pee on straw. Straw is a 'draining' bedding, so the wet drains through the straw and tends to sit on the floor. It is damn cheap though.

Shavings are expensive, can be dusty, but are far more absorbent than straw. Less stinky than straw.
 
Prefer shavings for pure fact that they don't stink so bad - but am just about this weekend to go back on straw as cannnot keep up with the cost of bedding at the moment - straw is so much cheaper so i'm going back to it.
 
Straw every time unless horse has a wind problem or eats the straw. Straw beds always look better even when deep littered and so much cheaper too.
 
i use shavings easier to muck out but dont always look clean. straw always looks nice and cosy but does not soak any wetness up and cheapier!
 

I've just switched back to straw after 15 years on shavings.

It was a purely economic decision - I refuse to pay the rip-off prices for shavings!

Shavings are quicker/easier to muck out, and you don't smell so bad after doing the stables but..........

Straw makes a lovely cosy bed, my horses are happy with it and I'm saving a lot of money!
 
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Straw - once you've got the knack of mucking it out it's great. I take about 1/2 barrow out of the pony and foals stable and 3/4 barrow out of the bigger horses every day.

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Are you deep littering or semi-deep littering it? If not, how do you manage to get away with taking out so little. My horse's poops alone almost fill the barrow!

When I started back on straw I started by doing a full-muckout each morning but found I was going through 1/2 a giant rectangular bale per week, per horse and at £20 a bale it wasn't working out all that cheap. I am now semi-deep littering and getting through a lot less straw and it's proving a lot quicker to get the beds done. But I hate having all that wee-sodden straw under the bed, and it stinks of ammonia when I am mucking out - even after I lay the clean straw over the top.

I'd rather use shavings but who can afford it these days!!!! They are charging £7.50 per bale at our yard ATM.
 
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