Which bedding do you think is best and why?

Laura-Maybe-IV

Laura-Maybe-IV

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Hi all, I think were all feeling the pinch at the moment so...

Which bedding are you all using and why do you think that it is the best?

I have three at the moment one horse two ponies and i'm trying to work out which one could be best for my three as well a keeping the costs down and having the muck away man come less...

I've tried:-

- Shavings - Pricey at £8.50 a bag here :( no wood yards we can get them from
- Straw - Cheap, but they all eat it.
- Chopped Straw - Expensive, £9.95 per bag! but it is good, but again they tend to eat it

But i've been thinking about giving wood pellets a go, does any one use them? They do seem to work out considerably cheaper if brought in bulk, reduce time mucking out and less on the muck pile.

If not what do you use?

I'm looking for convenience, cost effectiveness and reduced mucking out time.. aren't we all! ;)
 
I'm on straw as personally I find it the cheapest option but my horse doesn't eat it.

My friend however has rubber matting and wood pellets and he only puts in one or two bags a week as a top up. She buys a pallet at a time as its cheaper.

I used to deep litter with Easibed and only used one bag a week after the bed had settled but my lad reacted to the bedding and came out in lumps so had to come off it.
 
I use straw pellets under Safemix or Hippofan shavings. I have all of mine plus 5 Part liveries on this and they all use 1/2 bag of straw pellets and 1/2 bale of the other so works out around £6.00 per horse per week. Just skip out everyday and take the wet out once per week. They are all in for around 20 hours per day atm.
 
Hunters shavings - because they work well on my rubber mats and the horses don't eat them. They are expensive to buy but actually work out cheaper in the long run as I use less than a cheaper brand.

My local supplier ran out of Hunters last time I needed bedding so I ordered 10 bales of Pro(something) shavings which are Dutch - really disliked them as less absorbent and had rather large slivers of wood in them. Made the beds very heavy as I like my beds deep.

Received 20 bales of Hunters yesterday so am happy bunny again!
 
I use rapport or any of the similar rape straw beddings due to cost mainly but also easy to muck out and very absorbant.

That said I tend to raid the 'wet bedding' pile at the feed merchants and get split or 'wet' bales for £4 rather that £6+ so my boy has a bit of a mixed bed as I take any decent bedding I can at that price!!
 
I use Bliss, very absorbant, breaks down on muck heap quickly and good for gardens. Pony doesn't eat it. Best thing I've found.
 
wellsat said:
I use shredded paper free from work. Makes a lovely deep bed, dust free and doesn't smell unlike straw.
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Thanks all for ideas and suggestions :D

I would use paper buy my geldings trash there stables and I had a friend who had her horse on a paper bed and it wasn't nice at all, it was hard to muck out and heavy. That sort of put me off it really. Thanks though :)
 
Another vote for straw. I like to make my boy a nice deep, fluffy bed and I've found straw is the best insulater going - plus it's cheap. YO grows his own and this year's is wonderful quality - golden and clean. GD's bed is about a foot deep, with the banks about two and a half feet - toast warm. Because his bed is so deep, and b/c I'm a tad OCD, his bed is also lovely and clean and I manage to keep the smell to a minimum. Does take up a lot of room on the muckheap though, and isn't the easiest thing to muck out with a messy horse like mine.

If you're prepare to sacrifice a nice deep bed, though, several peeps on my yard use wood pellets and swear by them - they just put down a patch in the corner for the horse to wee on and leave the rest of the stable (on rubber mats) bare . . . very smelly come morning though and all their rugs are minging.

P
 
Thank PE,

I used to have her on a straw bed and she was good on it for a while, but then decided that straw was a lot more tasty than hay... Even after using things like Yucca Bed to stop her eating it, but straw was just too tasty...
We tried her on it again recently and have the same problem and with her age too, she's nearly 22 I don't want to risk her getting colic. But I agree a proper straw bed is lovely and warm and well as being comfortable for the horse if only mine didn't eat it!! :mad:

Yeah If she goes onto wood pellets, I will make a deep bed. I hate nothing more than smelling stables and disgusting rugs as well as no where for the horse to get comfy to sleep, so she will have a bed of atleast 3" if she goes onto it, which I think they recommend that anyway for a good deep bed :)
 
Wood Pellets! I had my first pallet delivered on Monday, made the bed up and I absolutely LOVE it! So easy to muck out, the stable floor is dry and the woody smell that comes from the bed is amazing. Takes me 20 minutes to turn out, muck out, do hay and water, sweep yard and make up evening feed where it used to take me about an hour just to muck out on shavings. Have been on shavings, straw and easibed previously and none of them compare :D
 
I'm clearly a meanie... My horse is on rubber mats and bedmax and I go through two bales a month! Just a sprinkling on the bits were he tends to wee/poo and a deeper bed where he stays dry (back three feet of the stable and roughly all of the left hand side. Bedmax pallet worked out to be £6 a bale, so £12 a month on bedding. When he was on straw (which I preferred to an extent - you can make such a lovely, fluffy bed with straw) I was using a bale a day, which at £2 a bale worked out to be £60 a month, and took me about an hour to muck out as he is so wet, wee spread everywhere and the whole bottom layer of straw was sodden every day. With the mats, whatever isn't absorbed by the shavings runs off the mats and out of the door into the drainage channel.

I'd recommend bedmax over regular shavings too, it lasts much longer in my opinion and makes a nicer bed.
 
I have a mixture of anything and everything! (get cheapie damaged bales!) So far I have on a semi deep litter system, shavings, Bliss, Aubiose, Bedmax and Comfybed....He has a fantastic bed, warm, supportive and dry! Would highly recommend mixing shavings and bliss as that does seem to be the very best mixture!:D
 
I'm an advocate for cardboard, it's dust free, they don't eat it, it's cheaper than shavings, really absorbent, doesn't smell and muck heap rots down really quick.

I find it works best as a full bed/ semi-deep litter - take poo out every day and wet out twice a week.
 
mine are on EVA matting and shavings on top .im lucky they are both very clean in the stable and so i can take the wet out everyday so the bed is always dry. i do use a bale per stable a week so im in the same position really as most-im very happy but its too expensive! id love to find an alternative (really dont fancy wood pellets) does anyone buy pallets of shavings at a good price ? i could probly take 3 pallets if i found it cheap enough:)
 
My boy has his mats and I deep litter on top with Elite dream bedding. Works for me and he seems to like it. The only downside is I have to buy it in pallets as nowhere near me has it and to get it from the supplier there's a minimum order. Saying that though it lasts for ages. Found it to be the best for a nice fluffy bed and for absorbency. Luckily my boy is pretty clean ...until he drags his hay out of his Haybar, grrrr!!!
 
If I had the storage i would use straw. However have been on shavings, mainly bedmax and have a horse that save up all his wee for when in the stable !!

Yesterday I got 2 bags of megazorb put them down then shavings on top ....... It's amazing soaked up everything only had to empty one wheelbarrow instead of 2 and much easier and quicker. Defo going to keep this combination :-)
 
I've just gone back onto straw after last winter's shavings and rubber mats. I find it so much easier to deep litter and it is supportive and warm for my old boy (plus it's free!) I love it's magic abilities to clean muddy legs over night, no mud fever this year!
 
BWa said:
I've just gone back onto straw after last winter's shavings and rubber mats. I find it so much easier to deep litter and it is supportive and warm for my old boy (plus it's free!) I love it's magic abilities to clean muddy legs over night, no mud fever this year!
Click to expand...

Yes, me too :).

P
 
I have used many different bedding options over the years.
Straw- horses love a straw bed, if they could vote, straw would come out tops. They pee on it quite happily, I have found that, geldings in particular, a lot of horses will not pee in the stable unless the bed is straw. Disadvantages from my pov are- too many trips to the muck heap, rugs soak up the pee and reek, and worst of all, I smell of horse p155 really badly:o
Shavings- used these for many years, prefer the smaller flakes as easier to muck out. I have mats in most boxes and only put down about 3" in the back quarter of the box. On concrete floors, I put down a proper bed, if you have a clean and tidy horse they work well.
Miscanthus- ok, again have used them as a thin bed on mats (just sweep it out each day) and a proper deep bed, absorbant, but looks dirty quickly. Pretty easy to muck out as long as you don't have a very messy horse.
Hemcore- lovely soft and very absorbant bed, only used as a proper bed for a very wet mare, not that easy to muck out.
Wood fibre bedding- very dusty, chunks of sharp wood in the bed. Worst of all, a fair bit of metal debris, including a 1" pallet nail. Sent it back.
Wood pellets- using these for the last few months. During the summer as a day bed on mats, just sweep out. Currently bedding 1/3 of the boxes with 3" using about 1 x 10kg bag per box per day, so not that economical. Not sure the horses are that impressed, but it's SO easy to muck out, really quick. Have not tried them as a proper bed yet.

Happy new year if you've managed to get to the end of this.
 
Both of mine are on 28mm equimats

Then have bankings on the three walls and a light sprinkling just to ‘coat’ the main floor area. Half the time I use the leftover haylage that’s fallen from the nets (which they refuse to eat) – its mainly the really smaller dusty particles so sprinkles on the floor a bit like shavings but free :D
 
Wood pellets:D Im recent convert from shavings,hardly any smell very absorbant the only thing I dont like is colour.Just done month on box rest and it was so much better as my lad is very wet.
 
definitely pellets - cost effective and convenient - but I would try and avoid some of the cheaper wood fuel pellets on the market, as they are very hard and not that absorbent - we use straw pellets
 
Thank you all, your answers have been so helpful.

In the end I decided to stick with my chopped straw as I managed to get a discount for buying in bulk, however I've put my Shetlands back onto shavings as they are deep littered now and this works best :)

Thank you all xxx
 
I have been converted to shavings due to horse eating straw.

Took me a while to find a good supplier though. I found mine on preloved and currently pay £6.60 for dust free shavings.

Have a look around online and tack shop notice boards etc.
 
Thick and heavy rubber mats and straw. I like to make up a good bed and high wide banks because she will roll even if I'm in there with her!

This coming summer though I'm going to try the wood pellets for when she comes in during the day and will only need a day bed. We can get hold of the pellets from a manufacturer and to be honest I like the thought of a clean white smell free stable, even if she doesn't.
 
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