Shavings versus Easibed.

M

mandy4727

Well-Known Member
Joined
14 November 2005
Messages
1,388
Location
Lancashire
Visit site
Which works out the best and cheapest. My filly is 16hh stabled more or less 24/7 (not much winter turnout) and is quite mucky. I am currently on shavings and put half a bale down every alternate day and therefore get away with 2 bales of shavings per week. No rubber mats. I pay £5.50 per bale for shavings. Does Easibed work out any cheaper than shavings and what is the cost per bale of them.
 
Have not used easibed but work in feed merchants. We sell easibed for £5.90 a bale. Most customers go back to shavings after trying easibed as it is not very absorbant. One of my customers mixes it it with cat litter??? Strange!!
I have found aubiose to be the best and most economical bedding for a mucky horse. It is more expensive to buy initially, £7.30 a bale but only need to top up 1/2 - 1 bale a week. Works really well semi-deep littering my mucky boy. I take wet out once a week.
 
I agree with cashter that Aubiose is nicer to use than easibed, but also, easibed imho is better than shavings. This assumes you are using a semi deep litter system, as neither are any good for just sprinkling on rubber mats - if that's what you prefer then shavings are the best option.

Easibed is designed to absorb slowly so that the wet can filter to the bottom of the bed and get taken up by the bottom layer, which you remove once or twice a week. The top layer will stay dry and you just remove the muck daily.

If you have a horse that seriously trashes its bed this method may not work, but you do have to have the faith to put down a deep bed as this is less inclined to move.

Easibed and Aubiose are great for keeping hooves thrush-free.
 
I tried Easibed but went straight back onto shavings, as lready said, it's not as absorbant, I think it works well if you have a clean horse, which I don't! I have gone back onto good old fashioned straw on my mats, it's working really well and costs less than half the amount of what I paid for shavings.
 
Personally I use shavings although I did use Easibed at previous yard. I don't think Easibed looks as clean but love the smell of it and understand from manufacturer that it performs better on a deep litter bed?
smile.gif
 
Megazorb at the bottom with shavings on top makes a good deep litter for a very wet mucky horse.I tried easibed and didnt get on with it didnt like the smell because it didnt absorb the urine so well.
 
Easibed is very good for deep or semi deep litter. I made my initial bed a lot deeper than the manufacturer suggests & have been really pleased with it.
 
I use a full bed of easibed on top of rubber mats and it works ok, but because the surface of my stable isn't great the urine collects in pools under my mats so I sweep undreneath them every day, it takes time but I'm in the routine of doing it now. I like the look and smell of easibed but after using it for about 4 weeks (horse is stabled at night) it looked really discoloured even though I do a full muck out daily so I sprinkled some shavings over the top and this seemed to make the bed drier and easier to muck out, now I mix easibed and shavings, about 3/4 easibed to 1/4 shavings and it seems to work well.
Shavings are much more expensive than easibed in my area at the moment, I'm thinking of trying megazorb after reading your posts, how much is that for a bale? My horse is messy and I use 1 bale of easibed and about 1/2 a bale of shavings a week.
 
Im another one who says try megazorb if you have a mucky monster. Its brilliant and much better than shavings or easibed or even aubiose (I have tried all three + other bedding before).
 
has anyone tried sundown red bedding - large shavings mixed with chopped straw and scented with ecalyptus - smells great!
 
How much is Sundown red bedding and Megazorb? I'm trying to work out what to change to, if anyone has any suggestions my horse is v messy (treads everything in), stabled at night, has arthritis in 1 pastern so I have rubber mats for comfort and insulation. I like to do a full muck out every day and remove all the wet, but I also like to have a deep-ish bed on top of the matting, I'm not one to just sprinkle a little bit on top of the mats. I also like the bed to look and smell fresh, so no straw, I don't like bedmax either...I'm too fussy really!
 
I used shavings then switched to easibed for about 5 years then discovered Hemcore and this is just so much better and absorbent i think it is about £7.20/50 a bale but i probably use a lot less than i did when using easibed. I'm lucky in that my horse is quite clean and tidy but i'm sticking with hemcore for now.
 
i use saw dust on the bottom of the bed with straw on the top for my girls.
the sawdust collects the wet into really small concentrated areas as it drains slowly through the straw.i have windows at the back of my stables which i keep open to minimize the dust,otherwise i think i would stick to shavings alone.
sawdust is about £4 bale and i use one to two every 3-4 weeks per bed when i take out the tiny bits of wet.
straw is £18 per bale and so far has lasted my two horses about 4 months!
they are out all day which helps alot.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top