Tell me about deep littering.....

[georgiegirl]

Ive just switched over bedding for the first time in years from shavings to cavianthus (elephant grass) and my word from a wee point of view it seems to be absolutely fantastic stuff so far! Normally with shavings the bedding got trampled round so the wee was always churned in but with this stuff as its a lot denser it just seems to be going straight down to the bottom

My Mare in particular was very wet so when on shavings I was removing wet every single day, used an absolute fortune in bedding and to be honest doing it this way perhaps made it all worse in terms of wetness and bedding moving around.

Because of this im half tempted to try deep littering for the first time so would like to know all about it! Im a bit of an obsessive clean freak with mucking out so not sure I could go for months on end without bottoming the stable out as some do though, so perhaps semi deep littering?.... or does it defy the point of it if I say bottom the stable out once a fortnight?

your hints/tips and experiences please!

 

[Clodagh]

When I had mine on sawdust I took the wet out weekly, if that is any help. I took poo out every time I walked past and just before I went to bed so it didn't get stirred in and then did a proper muck out once a week.
Mine live out now so no mucking out all for me!

 

[chestnut cob]

I like deep litter - at my last yard I used rubber mats at the front and deep littered shavings (for the bed) in the back half. I use shavings so can't comment on your bedding.

It takes me a while to get the base how I like and you will have to resist the urge to dig it all out for a few weeks, but IME once it has settled, it's great. Put plenty of bedding in to begin with, only remove the droppings and any wet that is on the surface. I usually remove shavings from the top to sift through, until I get to the wet base. Then I bang down the base with my shavings fork to help compact it, and pull the clean shavings over the top. With my big (17hh) very wet horse, once the base was settled, I only needed one bale a week. You need to get a decent base and compact it down, so that it stays put. If you look after a deep litter bed properly, there is no reason why it should end up dirty, wet or smelly. People always tell me how disgusting it is then are amazed at my deep litter bed being cleaner than their bed which is mucked out fully each day.

I have a fully rubber matted stable now so when my horse is in at night for winter, I will leave the wet down during the week and remove it at the weekends. Saves on bedding and my time, but I don't see the point of fully deep littering on top of mats.

 

[Megibo]

I semi-deep litter.. Mine are on wood pellets so I take poo out daily and then once a week scrape away the clean stuff from the top and take away the wet before putting fresh bedding in

 

[yaffsimone1]

I used to deep litter my very clean gelding on shavings and it worked really well. I've recently started my mare on a straw deep litter, it was going really well until she went through it like a tornado and ripped most of it up!. So i'm back to poo pick during the week, bringing banks down and one big muck out at the weekend.