straw vs shavings- what do you think?

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horsesatemymoney

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Hi I'm debating swopping over from straw to shavings, as my horse is eating pretty much the whole bed...bit worried about putting jeyes fluid on it or anything so thinking about swopping onto shavings, which I would deep litter. So what do you prefer, shavings or straw? How many bales of shavings to start off your bed, how many do you then use a week and how long do you leave the deep litter in for? Any help much appreciated thank you :)
 
Hi

I am on Straw for cost and because I can get it delivered but I am changing over to wood pellets - have you looked at these ??

Have used shavings before and would do again but they are expensive. The best thing about them is not smelling of weeeeeee

3/4 bales will start you bed off - you will need more at first as they will be soft and fluffy but after the first week it will bed in a little and not move around as much allowing for less top up
 
I just saw an article about wood pellets and thought they looked interesting.... Let us know what they're like? (and how many horses you'll be using them for ;) )
 
I love a really nice golden straw bed, unfortunatly my mare will clear the lot in a night!! For that reason we have tried a variety of different beddings. Shavings were expensive and she is a wet mare and a messy one at that, so they weren't brilliant. At the moment we are using shavings mixed with chopped straw with eucalyptus oil on and this is working really well. Duo bed and sundown red are products that combine straw and shavings http://www.duo-bed.co.uk/ourproducts.asp
http://www.sundownproducts.co.uk/equine_sdRed.html
 
I like both. I actually prefer rape straw if I bed on straw - my horse eats a bit of that but not as much as other types of straw - and it makes a nice 5-day deep litter which I take out at weekends. When I'm on shavings I deep litter properly and don't take the litter out. I level it off weekly and take the dry off daily if I can to let the wet base dry a bit if it's very wet (middle of winter when everything is soggy and damp). I know a lot of people on here will tell you how unhygienic deep litter is but I really like it. If you manage it correctly then it's great - makes a nice, solid base and I think it's warmer too.
 
I changed to shavings from Straw as straw price was increasing I decided might as well be on a nicer bedding to work with. I use megazorb under my shavings best absorbancy I have found and saves loads on bedding I use a bale of shavings a week - 10 days
 
Thanks for your help, everyone :D when straw was dirt cheap, then it was all well and good throwing it in but this week I've used pretty much a bale a day and it still reeks and is half eaten! I've not tried pellets, I was just put off because they looked dark I didn't know how absorbent it would be? The absorbent bedding might be good to mix with the shavings every now and again- 4 bales to start off isn't too bad and then perhaps 2 in the first week to build it up, with the deep litter only one a week hopefully! at least it won't be eaten!!
 
Ladylina83 said:
Hi

I am on Straw for cost and because I can get it delivered but I am changing over to wood pellets - have you looked at these ??

Have used shavings before and would do again but they are expensive. The best thing about them is not smelling of weeeeeee

3/4 bales will start you bed off - you will need more at first as they will be soft and fluffy but after the first week it will bed in a little and not move around as much allowing for less top up
Click to expand...

Used straw for years (freely available as lived on a farm) but moved over to shavings when I got a mare that couldn't be bedded on straw. Never went back to straw.

Shavings (IMO) are much easier to manage, don't smell as much and smaller muck heap. On the down side they are more expensive and last year there was a major shortage of shavings in my area and I had to keep chaning bedding types depending on what was in stock at my feed merchants.

Now on Rapidsorb (chaff mix of wheat / Rape straw). Downside of this is one pony insists on eating it so have moved her onto shavings which I didn't want to do. I can also do a nice semi deep litter system with this bedding and it means less mucking out and saves time. I just taken out more wet stuff at the weekends when I have more time to spare.

Give it a go and see how you get on. I know some people hate using shavings and swear by straw (my farrier being one). Think it comes down to personal preference.
 
Wood pellets arent very comfy, but they're cheap. Staw gets very wet and heavy and smelly. Fluffy deep shavings all the way for me and you can deep litter.
 
I've always hated straw because my mare can wee for Scotland and the straw just wasn't absorbant enough. Even with shavings, I could end up having to remove everything but the bankings. I've just switched to wood pellets. Wow! They're fantastic!

As long as you start the bed off with enough bags and water them enough to begin with, they soon bed down forming a surface which the horse doesn't break through, unlike shavings. This packed down bedding is very stable so all the poo just sits on the top, making mucking out so easy and quick - I scrape it off with the back of a broom. The packed down bedding still has some "give" in it, so it's softer than rubber matting. You only have to dig out a wet patch when the wetness reaches the surface, then fill in the hole, pack it down and add some pellets if required.

I've also got a box-walking gelding (16.2 so he poos alot). I had trouble wth the pellets for him at first, then realised that if I made the bed much thicker than the bed for my mare, the poo still stays on top and the bottom surface is so packed down that even he can't break through. He's gradually packed it down through the full thickness and I now find bits of poo untrampled!

The only smell I've noticed is when I'm digging out a wet patch. The rest of the bed is so absorbant that there's no water available for bacteria to make things stink.

The one thing to keep in mind is that you have to water the bed thoroughly to activate the pellets. They expand and fluff up and you can wach them return to their dry colour in minutes. We eventually had to use a hose to get them wet enough. Every time we looked through the bed we still had intact pellets just below the surface. If you hear a crunch when walking on it, it needs more water. As long as there are a few intact pellets in the bed, you don't need to add more. My friend did her COPD chap with pellets in June and we've just added a bag last week. The bags work out at £3.30 each and they're small 10kg bags so easy to store and handle.

I'd never go back to shavings now, I was using a bale a week per horse and with 3 horses this is too expensive when shavings are £6.90 a bag.
 
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Oh I do love a good bedding discussion! Sad, I know, but true ;).

At old yard, Kal was out for about 5 hours during the day (max) and in at night - in light work - had a decent-sized box. At 16.2hh and a confirmed boxwalker, he could trash a bed overnight. We went for deep litter (with banks) on a mix of Rapasorb and Hippofan and once we'd managed to form a decent base, that worked a treat. I did have to search through the banks for the poos, but only had to dig the wet patches out once a week and his box NEVER smelled of wee.

At current yard he is out at night (from about 4 p.m. to 8.00 a.m.), is working much harder and is in during the day (when he's not working). He is on straw with no rubber matting and his bed is lifted once a week for the floor to dry. Because he is so much more tired/relaxed, he doesn't disturb the straw much - he does eat it, but not that much - and because he's not in it for huge amounts of time, it doesn't smell that bad (although it's not as clean-smelling as his old bed). Mucking out is dead easy though - unlike his previous bed which could take ages - just sift through the straw with rubber gloves and remove the poo, fluff up the banks/set fair and top up with clean straw. 5 mins max.

To be honest, I think it really depends on how naturally clean/dirty your horse is, how much work he or she is in, whether they box walk or not, etc.

I can see pluses and minuses for both - but if Kal were in more/at night, I'd probably leaning away from straw and back to a nice deep flax/rapasorb bed.

P
 
Trixie64 said:
I've always hated straw because my mare can wee for Scotland and the straw just wasn't absorbant enough. Even with shavings, I could end up having to remove everything but the bankings. I've just switched to wood pellets. Wow! They're fantastic!

As long as you start the bed off with enough bags and water them enough to begin with, they soon bed down forming a surface which the horse doesn't break through, unlike shavings. This packed down bedding is very stable so all the poo just sits on the top, making mucking out so easy and quick - I scrape it off with the back of a broom. The packed down bedding still has some "give" in it, so it's softer than rubber matting. You only have to dig out a wet patch when the wetness reaches the surface, then fill in the hole, pack it down and add some pellets if required.

I've also got a box-walking gelding (16.2 so he poos alot). I had trouble wth the pellets for him at first, then realised that if I made the bed much thicker than the bed for my mare, the poo still stays on top and the bottom surface is so packed down that even he can't break through. He's gradually packed it down through the full thickness and I now find bits of poo untrampled!

The only smell I've noticed is when I'm digging out a wet patch. The rest of the bed is so absorbant that there's no water available for bacteria to make things stink.

The one thing to keep in mind is that you have to water the bed thoroughly to activate the pellets. They expand and fluff up and you can wach them return to their dry colour in minutes. We eventually had to use a hose to get them wet enough. Every time we looked through the bed we still had intact pellets just below the surface. If you hear a crunch when walking on it, it needs more water. As long as there are a few intact pellets in the bed, you don't need to add more. My friend did her COPD chap with pellets in June and we've just added a bag last week. The bags work out at £3.30 each and they're small 10kg bags so easy to store and handle.

I'd never go back to shavings now, I was using a bale a week per horse and with 3 horses this is too expensive when shavings are £6.90 a bag.
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oo that sounds good- just as an idea how many would you say started you off and then how many would you say you used in a week/month now? so even though they absorb the damp, you don't end up with a squidgy bed then, does it work like a shavings bed where you'd have a bit of deep litter then a looser bit over the top?
 
thanks for your help everyone- I think that the smell of straw once it's been eaten down to a pathetically small bed is enough to tempt me to try another type! Has anybody maybe mixed wood pellets and then put shavings on top or is that a waste of time? :)
 
Pellets and shavings mixed don't hold together as well as pellets alone so you'd need to treat it like a shavings bed. The pellets do make it more absorbant that shavings alone, but you'd still end up with poo mixed in. A squashed pellet bed with shavings on top would be a bit better, but again would eventually fall apart as the shavings just don't hold together. Also where your horse wees the pellets will swell up and you get what looks like a little volcano in the middle of the bed :D

We started one guy,14.2, on 8 bags, in a 10x12 stabe, but that was too much! The 16.2 was started with 5, but that wasn't enough. Shoulda been the other way around! I'd say I use a bag a fortnight for the 16.2. The 14.2 used 1 bag in 2 months!

The bed isn't squidgy, the amount of liquid these pellets absorb is much much more that even speedy bet manages. Although they break down to fine particles when activated, they don't have a dust problem cos even these little piece are much bigger than the dust you get from shavings. It's helped with the COPD.
 
im the opposite to everyone !!! iv just moved from shavings to straw as the price for shavings now is ridiculous ! my horse is quite clean so he is easy to do, the price difference is un-real and the straw bed looks soo much comfier/warm ! i get a huge bale of barley straw for £20 quid and its lasting ages.....he doesnt eat it either so bonus for me ! i muck out properly every day and his bed stays up during day to air out...hes on rubber matts too !
 
Trixie64 said:
I've always hated straw because my mare can wee for Scotland and the straw just wasn't absorbant enough. Even with shavings, I could end up having to remove everything but the bankings. I've just switched to wood pellets. Wow! They're fantastic!

As long as you start the bed off with enough bags and water them enough to begin with, they soon bed down forming a surface which the horse doesn't break through, unlike shavings. This packed down bedding is very stable so all the poo just sits on the top, making mucking out so easy and quick - I scrape it off with the back of a broom. The packed down bedding still has some "give" in it, so it's softer than rubber matting. You only have to dig out a wet patch when the wetness reaches the surface, then fill in the hole, pack it down and add some pellets if required.

I've also got a box-walking gelding (16.2 so he poos alot). I had trouble wth the pellets for him at first, then realised that if I made the bed much thicker than the bed for my mare, the poo still stays on top and the bottom surface is so packed down that even he can't break through. He's gradually packed it down through the full thickness and I now find bits of poo untrampled!

The only smell I've noticed is when I'm digging out a wet patch. The rest of the bed is so absorbant that there's no water available for bacteria to make things stink.

The one thing to keep in mind is that you have to water the bed thoroughly to activate the pellets. They expand and fluff up and you can wach them return to their dry colour in minutes. We eventually had to use a hose to get them wet enough. Every time we looked through the bed we still had intact pellets just below the surface. If you hear a crunch when walking on it, it needs more water. As long as there are a few intact pellets in the bed, you don't need to add more. My friend did her COPD chap with pellets in June and we've just added a bag last week. The bags work out at £3.30 each and they're small 10kg bags so easy to store and handle.

I'd never go back to shavings now, I was using a bale a week per horse and with 3 horses this is too expensive when shavings are £6.90 a bag.
Click to expand...

There's a thread about this subject in Stable, not sure if you've already commented, I just wondered how many bags you started it off with, I used 8 when I used them before but no banks, they were the woodypet ones and we had nothing but trouble with the delivery of them so stopped having them.

Liverpool pellets do their economy ones in 15kg bags so work out really cheap the more you can order
 
Mine is out as much as possible, but in for at least 4 hours a day to eat and before/after being ridden. Hes on rubber matting and in the last few weeks Ive tried shavings, chopped straw and straw. He is relatively tidy, everything is done in one place but there is a lot of it! Anything he does anywhere else he somehow manages to cover and hide.

For this reason, straw is an absolute nightmare! Trying to uncover a mess inbetween layers of straw isnt easy and he eats it too, meaning he gets through a lot. When he moves livery he will be on straw, but he will be on full livery, meaning I will get the benefits (cheap, he can eat it, warm) without the negatives (nightmare to muck out).

Shavings was good but is expensive. Far easier to much out and absorbant but I feel like I would have to make a really deep bed for him, again meaning costs rocket.

Chopped straw has been my favourite. Because he has thick rubber mats, he only has a thin layer, it absorbs, its cheap, its easy to much out and he seems very comfortable! Also less wastage than normal straw.

Never tried pellets though...can anyone explain them in the most basic of terms?!
 
Ive Used pellets, shavings, easi bed, straw you name it i've used it. Yes the pellets are good to begin with but i found for a 12x12 stable to be deep enough i used up to 12 bag just to make it deep enough, yes they aborsed but i found my horse peed in more places as could see the wee from top of bed. After a couple of days the bed turns brown and then it stays but yes but looks horrible. Easi bed works if you have a clean horse this you deep litter and just pick the poo very effective and very easy just mine is a box waker. Im now back to a mixture of big and small flake shavings with one bag of wood chip bedding on top like easi bed but cheaper. Works a treat my bed still looks like new shavings as all three together help the bed pack down absorb and stay but plus the mixture saves money as the three together go further. its taken me three years to get this set up and come next spring his bed will still look like new.
 
I tried wood pellets last winter with my daughter's very mucky mare! I started with around 10 bags on rubber matting but ended up putting at least 2x 15kg bags in each week so it cost the same as a bale of shavings! The bed looked horrible and the banks froze in the cold weather.
This winter, she will be back on shavings but with cushion bed mixed in. Cushion bed = £3.99 and Shavings = £7.20 so will do bale of one, half a bale of other alternating each week so hoping that will work! I will start with 3 bales of each on rubber matting. Luckily my mare is really clean so I start with 8 bales of shavings and add 1 bale each week. I might mix in a bit of cushion bed too as it is so much cheaper than shavings and I don't bother with rubber matting for her!
 
Mine is on a straw bed.. mainly because that is what is offered in my livery price.

It is quick and easy to muck out (my horse is fairly clean) and I don't have to add more every day!

I get annoyed with shavings because it takes ages to get it looking really clean and it takes more effort to muck out!! :p
 
I find the best bedding is pellets with shavings on top. I put a bag of unsoaked pellets on the bottom every week and then lay a reasonably thick shaving bed on top. Each day i take out the poo on its own and leave the wet which is soaked up by the pellets on the bottom. I then dig the wet up once a week and only get out about 1 wheelbarrow of wet out because the pellets keep the wet in one place. I put in half a bag of shavings in about every 3 days and i find this keeps the top bedding dry and fluffy, and is a much more cosy bed for the night. Another plus is it has also reduced stable stains a lot, and only takes about 10mins to muck out each day.
 
I,ve just moved from shavings to straw... because we have moved and I was unsure which to go with the stables don't have rubber matting so I thought straw would give a deeper bed.
reading here I,ve realised though that there are some plus,s and negatives. On the shavings he Use to always poop in the bank I swear he would dig a hole like a dog. But the plus was it never smelt and other than hunting droppings was easy to get on with.

With straw the droppings are easier to remove but the wet is horrible, I could take out most the bed everyday. The cost is pretty much the same. £7.0 bale of shavings or £2.75 bale of straw and I,m using at least two bales a week.

:-/
 
horsesatemymoney said:
thanks for your help everyone- I think that the smell of straw once it's been eaten down to a pathetically small bed is enough to tempt me to try another type! Has anybody maybe mixed wood pellets and then put shavings on top or is that a waste of time? :)
Click to expand...
Personally I have always preferred straw, however when I was at my old yard (which didn't allow straw) I had a deep litter system of wood pellets on the bottom and shavings on top. I have 2 horses and was using 1 bale of shavings every two weeks split between the beds in 10x12 stables.
 
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