Urgent Help on bedding please..?

A

ariano15

Member
Joined
16 November 2007
Messages
12
Visit site
Hi all,

I am moving my 15.1hh (slightly overweight) Haflinger to a new yard in January. She is a chronic bed eater but I have maintained her straw thus far for 2 reasons:

1- It appears to do her no harm
2- I have unlimited straw included in my current livery

However - where I am moving her too charges for straw by the bale therefore, clearl, its a good time to move her off it which i've been wanting to do for ages. I'm hoping the fact that she will be out a lot more at the new yard will also help.

MY PROBLEM - the new yard doesn't allow shavings. So what can I use that:

1 - she won't eat
2 - will work as a good bed
3 - won't break the bank

I'm moving just after Christmas so could do to get a bulk order in for economy.

Help please!!!!!!
 
Mine are on shredded newspaper bales which I love as it's dust free (I'm allergic to most wood shavings etc etc), makes a deep cosy bed and clean to handle, it is like marmite though- you'll either love it or hate it!

You could also try chopped straw - Bliss or Bedrap are 2 brands I can think of, very economical, makes a deep cosy bed-

There is also something called Ecocomfybed that I've tried that is wood based but not wood shavings, no dust and the bed doesn't move at all- I was really pleased with it when I mixed it in with their paper as a one off- if I couldn't get paper, I would consider using it.

Cardboard?- again- you'll either love it or hate it!.....

Or wood pellets of course, if you like them!

Good luck with your move!
 
Pellets arn't expensive but they arn't very nice imo..... other wise how about aubiose? Your other option is to buy rubber matting so you won't need much bedding and will save money in the long run and it's much easier to clean.
 
I moved onto cardboard for my lad a couple of months or so ago and love it...I use this coupled with shredded paper that I get from work and it is dust free and fairly easy to muck out with.
 
TBH if the horse is a bit overweight it could be a good thing shes eating the straw,its less calorific than hay or haylage so if shes having something like hi-fi lite and straw instead of haylage then shes filled and wont feel hungry but should loose a bit of weight.
 
I assume that if the yard doesn't allow shavings, it won't allow any other wood based product either, so pellets are out. My guess would be paper or cardboard will be a no-no.
So you are left with either straw or flax based bedding; Aubiose is good, so is NedzBedz.
 
Star ate her bed every time I put a new bale in...... hay would be untouched :S No colic.

(Plus, I've changed to Laysoft (Wood chip type bedding) to save some mucking out time and ££££s, and also found her winter cough (comes on when the weather means no turn out) practically disappeared.... YAY :D)
 
I suspect that a yard that won;t allow shavings will actually be fine with wood pellects. I don;t allow straw, shavings, newspaper or cardboard as we rot the muck heap down and spread it on the fields every 3 months, non of the above beddings rot down quick enough to spread. The best and quickest to rot is actually wood pellets, as they are so fine when used and so little is thrown away the ration of poo to bedding is far far higher in poo.
 
Bosworth said:
I suspect that a yard that won;t allow shavings will actually be fine with wood pellects. I don;t allow straw, shavings, newspaper or cardboard as we rot the muck heap down and spread it on the fields every 3 months, non of the above beddings rot down quick enough to spread. The best and quickest to rot is actually wood pellets, as they are so fine when used and so little is thrown away the ration of poo to bedding is far far higher in poo.
Click to expand...

Not wishing to upset the applecart here, but our muck heap which is mainly paper bedding rots and breaks down really quickly- and that gets spread over fields!
 
having tried both paper and cardboard as well as wood pellets i can assure you that wood pellets breaks down the quickest of all as you actually throw away so little, and it doesn;t clump together like paper. when I used paper I found I had to turn the muck heap regularly to break down teh paper, and it took about 12 months to become the black peaty compost I get in 2 - 3 months from wood pellets. Also the trouble with paper is that it blows around and looks dreadful on the yard as well. I found that cardboard didn't give me a secure bed for my big horse, at 17'2 he would simply go through it when he lay down as it moved around all over the place.
 
I use Miscanthus (Elephant Grass)

http://www.miscanthuspure.co.uk/product.htm

It's cheaper than Shavings and have used it for deep litter bed and mucking out fully everyday. I love it! Have always used straw but don't think i'd go back now!

I buy 10 bales for £57 (or there abouts) at a time and it lasts me over 2 months! Granted she only has a small square bed as she's on rubber matting but it's still enough.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top