Those of you who fully muck out once a week.......

[eatonbraynat]

I use aubiose and skip out daily, remove wet twice weekly and put a new bale in once a week.

My question is, those of you who do similar, do you ever let the bed run down and remove the entire bed once a year for example and replace with an entirely new bed?

I've never done it but my boy has been at this yard for a year now and I feel the bedding is just generally a bit pongy and looks quite brown. I'm not saying it's badly mucked out more that the remaining 'clean' bedding obviously gets a bit tainted as time goes by.

Should I remove it all or carry on?

Opinions please

Many thanks

 

[hollyandivy123]

once a year i have a full clear out and start again, maybe keep the "best" for the normal wee patch but new year new start.

 

[Echo24]

I do as mine lives out in the summer do a good opportunity to run it down and replace it with new bedding. Just switched to wood pellet though and it's much cheaper and easier to muck out!

 

[Redders]

I do once a year but keep the good stuff back for base of new bed after I have given the box a deep clean

 

[Myloubylou]

When semi deep littering, once a week I lift the bed to remove wet patches. I then pull the remaining bed in the middle leaving a channel of no bedding & put the fresh bale in the gap. The following week the fresh goes on the left and then the right. That way the bed stays cleaner but is stable as not too slippery in the middle. I tend to run it down in the summer & put a full new bed in the autumn time

 

[miss_c]

Yes I run beds down in the summer, then bung a load of new in at the start of winter.

 

[Nativelover]

You shouldn't need to if you rotate your bedding correctly, was taught this technique at horsey college and it's stuck but really works. Whenever I muck out (once a week usually) I take a bank down and replace the bank with fresh bedding. This way there's never any room for mould to grow under banks and the bedding is always clean.

 

[Holzdweaver]

I semi deep litter on straw and dig out the wet every week and a half to two weeks, skip out as usual then throw clean top layer onto banks out of the way, remove the wet bedding and pull out the bottom of the banks, disinfect the floor and throw a bucket of water down to rinse, then sweep out the middle. Pull the banks down and thoroughly beat down with the fork to form a thick but dense base layer, then add another layer of fresh straw over the top and also build the banks back up. This way the bed is always refreshed and i dont get manky mouldy banks or missed spots.
I also add fresh straw daily to maintain it, either a few sections from a small bale or roughly half a Heston section just to replace what i take out when im skipping out, the bed i get is huge, thick, clean and doesnt smell even a little (well until i dig out lol! but once a fortnight is better than everyday!)

 

[marmalade88]

once a year i have a full clear out and start again, maybe keep the "best" for the normal wee patch but new year new start.

I am on shaving as do as you OP, take the wet out twice a week. I normally start running the bed down about now and don't put my weekly bag of shavings in. Instead storing them up for a new bed. I will keep the best bits of the old bed for the normal wee patch too.

 

[Hawks27]

I don't deep litter but my lad needs a bale of shavings a week. I have big banks in the stable and pull the fresh bedding down from these each day as required after mucking out so by the weekend theres hardly any banks left I then lift the whole bed on a weekend scrub out the floor pull all the old bedding into the middle put new bale on the banks and make a good bed with the old. this way theres rarely any bedding older than 2 weeks in there and it stays nice and fresh. He goes out 24x7 in summer so I take it all out then and fully disinfect and re paint the stable ready for the next winter.

 

[fatpiggy]

You shouldn't need to if you rotate your bedding correctly, was taught this technique at horsey college and it's stuck but really works. Whenever I muck out (once a week usually) I take a bank down and replace the bank with fresh bedding. This way there's never any room for mould to grow under banks and the bedding is always clean.

Aubiose is a bit different though. The bottom layer turns into something like cork if it isn't dug up and removed because it is wet - hence it is so good for horses who need good footing and/or underfloor heating. The OP is doing exactly like I did. When I moved yards I actually took the bed and transported it to her new stable. Partly that was to make it smell familiar of course, but I wasn't going to chuck out perfectly good bedding. I would agree with using a bank at a time to refill the bit in the middle and then have a clean bank, plus some clean on top of the topped-up area. I never had any mould anywhere in my stable.

 

[SuperH]

I bed on straw and my beds will be changed (probably) next week, everything out and new straw in. This will be the first bed change since it was done this time last year. I take poo out every day (and add in fresh straw three times a week), the wet will be taken out about every 5/6 weeks once they are stabled at night, then once they go out at night in the late spring/early summer I only take out poo and run the bed down all summer. I never have a problem with mould, wet or smell.

 

[EQUIDAE]

l skip out daily and take the wee out once a week. Any that is dry but looking a bit stained l put to the bottom where the horse normal weeks so next week it is take out. l then level the rest around it. l then dig out a bank and put this {clean} on the top. Each week l dig out a different side in rotation. My beds always look like they are made with nothing but clean bedding doing it this way.

 

[gnubee]

I do it with straw occasionally, but wouldn't redo my aubiose because of the £100+ cost of it. Mine has the cork type bottom layer in a lot of places that I try not to move, but I do try to take a fork or 2 out of the bottom each week just to stop any of it getting too old/mouldy. This is usually her favourite wee patch, but I do try to get other bits sometimes as well.