Shavings VS Straw

[CobsCan123]

Do you use shavings or straw? Have you used both and if so which do you prefer? Is one better for the horse than the other? Which lasts longer, cheaper, easier to muck out etc etc! Hit me with it ?

 

[Havital]

I use shavings. Easier to muck out, my horse can’t eat it and feels more clean. Although a big fresh straw bed does look comfy!

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

I have used both but both mine are on mega spread shavings now I don't have mats but they have a very deep bed which I muck out twice a week sometimes every other day in winter.

I really don't like straw I find it messy and I had a terrible mouse problem they love it and I only like it if it's properly mucked out every day and it's hard to get nice decent barley straw here, I hate wheat straw it's just horrible short sticks and doesn't make a nice bed so for now I will stick to shavings.

Plus one of mine will eat a whole bed of straw in one night.

The most I use a week is probably 4 so 2 each and that's if they are in a lot because I like it really clean but in summer I probably only use a bale a week.

 

[milliepops]

i just can't get past the smell of straw beds

I had straw when my mare was due to foal and kept them on it for a couple of months and then was utterly delighted when we couldn't get any more nice straw and i had to swap to shavings. Straw looks so nice but it's not for me.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

i just can't get past the smell of straw beds

I had straw when my mare was due to foal and kept them on it for a couple of months and then was utterly delighted when we couldn't get any more nice straw and i had to swap to shavings. Straw looks so nice but it's not for me.

I know I could muck out 6 shavings beds at work and not stink but I only had to do 1 straw bed and your whole self stinks of it hair clothes the lot ?

 

[rabatsa]

Of the two I prefer shavings. The horses like straw.

Straw is cheaper, smells of horse wee quickly, can be full of fungal spores and dust, if you have old stables with drains the straw allows the wee to flow into the drain.

Cleaned, bagged chopped straw is not as cheap but is less dusty and more absorbent.

Shavings do not smell so much, soaks up the wee, may be dusty but not got the fungal spores.

Saying all this I use cardboard as completely dust free.

 

[meleeka]

Cheapest -straw
Easiest to muck out - straw
Smaller wheelbarrow load - shavings
Better for horse - shavings
Best smell - shavings

I find straw is heavy and smelly when mucking out and for that reason I use shavings.

 

[Carlosmum]

Currently using wood chip, I find the droppings don't get quite so mixed up as in shavings, Mucking the wet out once a week, really easy BUT I m spending £70 a month on bedding which could be spent elsewhere. Particularly annoying when we are farmers who bale our own straw. Last year the was NO straw spare for pony it all went to cattle, this year looks more hopeful and i will probably return to straw over the winter and back to woodchip next spring.

 

[teddypops]

I much prefer straw. I’ve had to use shavings this summer due to a shortage but I have some lovely straw now just waiting to be used! Straw is easier and quicker for me to muck out and my ponies lie down more on a deep straw bed. I personally hate the smell of wet shavings more than the smell of wet straw although the shavings smell lovely when they are new. Normally straw is very readily available and so much cheaper.

 

[Northern Hare]

Currently using wood chip, I find the droppings don't get quite so mixed up as in shavings, Mucking the wet out once a week, really easy BUT I m spending £70 a month on bedding which could be spent elsewhere. Particularly annoying when we are farmers who bale our own straw. Last year the was NO straw spare for pony it all went to cattle, this year looks more hopeful and i will probably return to straw over the winter and back to woodchip next spring.

Just a thought but if you're on a farm, could you get a round bale of either rape straw or barley/wheat straw chopped? My horse was at livery on a farm and the farmer had a great piece of kit that took a round bale of silage and chopped it for the barned cattle. It also worked brilliantly on straw so he just left a huge pile in the corner of the barn for us to use - or he could blow it straight into the stable as long as the horses weren't in! It's much easier to muck out than regular straw.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

We have used both, over the years. Straw was the only real option when we first started keeping horsesand we used it for years at livery, where the YO sourced it and provided dry storage. We experimented with shavings at our own place and went back to straw,because of the expense.Then the Draft horse gotr colicfromeating long straw and around the same time we were storing a Heston of straw under a tarpaulin and it blew off in a storm,so a lot of it was wasted. So we changed back to shavings. However then we realised that many brands of shavings are scented in some way and that can cause problems in itself. Fortunately we have a local tack/feed store that has stocked shavings that do not have added scents. I just hope that they can get them this winter, too. Our horses lived out last winter with shavings in the shelter, I wouldn't want to put straw in there, I think they would bring it out on their feet and it would then be likely to blow away.

Straw rots down faster on the muckheap but shavings make a smaller muckheap to start with.

 

[scats]

Another who can’t cope with the smell of straw. It looks lovely but I find the smell clings to you afterwards.
We have to use probed, I hate the stuff if I’m honest and would prefer shavings.

 

[HappyHollyDays]

Mine are on wood pellets with straw on top. Pellets soak up the wee so it doesn’t stink and I muck it out once a week if it needs it or longer if the pellets are ok. I switched from shavings to save money but I prefer either Aubiose or Thoroughbred shavings.

 

[The Xmas Furry]

Neither.
I use Aubiose for one and miscanthus for the other and in the shelters.

I cope with straw or shavings when away but neither are my 1st choice.

 

[milliepops]

ooh i love a nice aubiose bed.
For economy mine are on pellets now but I do bung a bale of fluffy bedmax in periodically which they seem to like sleeping on. I skip out with a poop scoop and rake so don't find it particularly onerous.

 

[Flowerofthefen]

I always bedded on straw but when I moved to new yard I bedded on wood pellets. They were dusty and expensive to have 2 on over winter as they don't like being out long in winter. I put them back on straw last winter and by god did I notice the cost difference and my straw is less dusty than the wood pellets.