Who deep-litters?

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Offthewall

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As in title. I'm looking to deep litter my horse. I've had enough over the years of a permanently disgusting stable, taking out atleast two barrows of manky bedding a day and it costing me a fortune. I have just resold half a pallet of pellets, I've tried straw, shavings, paper and all of the above on expensive horsemats and it is just defeating me :( I have gone back to straw as cheap and easily available but I've gone through r bales in the last week and YO is moaning about the smell and the amount I'm filling the midden :o

Friend told me to try deep litter, I'm not a fan, I have thought it an inherantly lazy method of bedmaking in the past but willing to try anything to not have a horse permanently smelling of its own wee and even the turnout rugs and soaking and smelly. At wits end so please help!
 
I do and works well, but only for some horses -a box walker or stress head would disturb the base too much.

I have found shavings are the best for deep litter, straw is more tricky as doesn't absorb the wet so well.

Also clearing out the bed is a back breaking task - nothing 'lazy' about that!

Just another thought - have your tied rubber mats with just a small amount of bedding to soak up the wee, which you could clean out each day? The mats are expensive but long term do save money.
 
Yes I do. My boy has a lovely deep straw bed and I just take the poo and the wet out each day then top it up with a new fresh layer of straw. He'll lie down on it and it offers him much more protection from the concrete than his old 1 day bed, and he doesn't come up smelling of wee. Infact he never used to lay down in his old routine. It's the only way I get by in winter.
 
I have the thick mats, paid a fortune for them and still disgusting :( honestly spent a fortune on this horse for bedding!

So better off with shavings? I have been told that its better to put down a layer of sawdust then pop other bedding on top but wondering as to the efficiency and dust levels? Horse was out 24/7 but due to wet ground they are in overnight from 7pm to 6am and people are just amazed at how disgusting my stable and horse smells :o I tried the ammonia powder when I used paper and woodpellets but didn't make a difference really.
 
I deep litter the whole yard on Laysoft, which is woodchip.
There is nothing lazy about proper deep litter bed, it takes quite a bit of maintenance, but never smells badly and offers good protection to legs etc.
To start a bed I put down 2 bags of Megazorb and 6-8 bags of Laysoft, you need to bear with it for the first few weeks as the base establishes and DO NOT take any bedding out unless squelching and dripping wet. Try to disturb the base as little as possible and initially top up at least twice a week until it is well established.
 
It's not even like he's in for a long time overnight. Sure you are, but are you making sure your bed is deep enough with whatever bedding you choose? One of mine is a bit messy - I don't deep litter but his bed is very deep so stays lovely and clean :-)
 
theres another post about this do a search, there pictures and discussion about how best to lay the bed too.
If you're taking out the wet how is that deep litter???

Does your stable drain well? If so straw may be best, I've never been successful deep littering shavings, just ended up with 10 barrows of wet manky shavings after a few days.
Key with the straw bed is to layer it deeply and when you think you have enough, add more. It may not work for a manky one that mashes up the bed though, you are trying to leave the base undisturbed.
with a dirty horse I think a thin bed of anything is sufficient if your mats are good and thick.
 
I am not a fan of deep litter beds. I do deep litter mon-Friday and then take out the wet at the weekend. It seems to work well and I have save money and time:D:D:D
 
Ok so in a 12x14 stable would 6bales of shavings ontop of the mats get me started? Then top up a bale a week? Or more? Would the sawdust down first be a good idea?

I put in two quite large square bales when I mucked out all the wood pellets and bed was thick and fluffy when he went in and the next morning looked like a brown wet mess on one half and actually quite nice in the other. He lies where he pees and poos which I think might be the problem :o
 
Depending on what floor you have in your stables, I personally would not put mats under deep litter bed, I find even a concrete floor works better for a bit of drainage support and holds the bed better, Put the mats at the front if you like him to have something to stand on :)
I would probably go for 8 bales in a 12 x 14 foot sable and then top up 2 bales a week for first 3-4 weeks and then reduce to a bale a week.
Hope that helps.
 
My boy is the most disgusting horse I've had bedding wise a fresh bed looks a week old the morning after! I put sawdust down first and shavings on top it really helps soak up all the wet! I don't deep litter as I worry about skin conditions that could come with. He's also on rubber matting which can get smelly if not swept out underneath
 
I deep litter on both shavings and straw!

Base layer is shavings about 4 inches deep then loads of straw on top (around 2-3 bales).

I only remove the shavings once a week but take out the wet and replace with new straw, like for like.

For very messy horses I don't think it would work as it'll disrupt the base
 
Gosh how can anybody be bothered taking a weeks worth of wet out in one day :eek:

A friend of mine has two manky horses she keeps the box walker on thick mats and minimal bedding and the other on a huge deep litter bed on shavings
 
i just take out poo and only remove wet if it raises to the surface and then i only take the top off and leave the underneath and cover with old shavings and/or woodpellets.

is very easy to do even with a messy horse. i can sweep my base with a brush as it is so established. i NEVER totally clear out the bed i just bank the loose shavings at the end of winter, brush the base and it drys out over the summer ready for the next winter. my base is on its 3rd year!!
 
I'm currently deep littering a pony on box rest and it is working really well. It did take a few weeks to establish a base layer, so bear with it. I don't take out any wet and just sift through the top layer to take out the poo. Pony lies down happily on it, it doesn't smell and mucking out is incredibly easy, although I am slightly dreading when the time comes to take it all up!
 
You shouldn`t have sold the pellets!!

They work amazingly well as a deep litter base :D Either as a full bed or with practically any other bedding.
 
Milkmaid said:
You shouldn`t have sold the pellets!!

They work amazingly well as a deep litter base :D Either as a full bed or with practically any other bedding.
Click to expand...

Now they tell me lol, well I'll order the shavings tomorrow and they should come within two days max according to the supplier.
 
I 'deep litter' my horses as works out much more cost effective and labour saving all year round.

My broodmares get deeplittered and thier beds are clean,dry and do not smell! It is sooo important when foaling to have clean and deep beds as the risk of infection is so high. I have had some truely DISGUSTING mares to foal down and deep bedding has always worked the best :)

I tend to have a 2/3 inch layer of wood pellet type bedding - not shavings as they do smell and I never found the base to be as stable. Then straw over the top, pretty deep to start off and banked up high. I fork top layer of straw to the side to remove poo and if for any reason the base is disturbed then I will take out the 'risen' bit of wet but dont get carried away! Like a normal bed, during the week you can use the banks to keep the bed nice and deep and then replace straw at weekend.

When fully mucking out, which I do after every mare has foaled and gone out with baby, so I can throughly disinfect and allow stable to dry. Best thing is to have machinery! You can hire very small Bobcats, we have a tiny one which will fit through a standard stable door. Hire is about £50 a day and well worth it to save your back!

I have a VERY smelly mare and even deep bedding her means more effort but she never smells and her bed never smells. I have never had any airway problems or infections from my stables. Many vulnerable foals and not one with infection afterwards.

Hope this helps!
 
mole said:
i just take out poo and only remove wet if it raises to the surface and then i only take the top off and leave the underneath and cover with old shavings and/or woodpellets.

is very easy to do even with a messy horse. i can sweep my base with a brush as it is so established. i NEVER totally clear out the bed i just bank the loose shavings at the end of winter, brush the base and it drys out over the summer ready for the next winter. my base is on its 3rd year!!
Click to expand...

I might try your method this year, I deep litter because of the hours I work, 2 very messy horses, but because our stables/barn flood in heavy rain, this year I started with a sawdust base, then straw on top. It took a while to establish the base this year, but now it's a quick skip out, fresh straw down and it's done, i would normally totally clean stables out come spring, but I like your idea and have nothing to lose
 
I deep bed on straw. It's brilliant. It's been down since nov. no leaking... It's about 6inches deep now. Very soft. I add two fresh bales a week.

My filly WAS very messy but now very neat. I take out a barrow ful of just poo... I used to take out two, maybe three of everything.

Works for us :)

Not looking forward to digging it out in the spring... Will clear my airways for sure... :D
 
Not deep litter as such I go in remove the droppings find the pee spot use the snow shovel to scoop it out and fill the hole in, thus not disturbing the bed .
 
I do - Mine has a lovely bed!! It's not a lazy way to bed at all - especially when it comes to a dig out!! The trick is the compaction of the base and keeping the top dry - I top up one bale bliss or shavings per week and take out any wee patches that appear at the surface - never disturb the whole base. His bed is very firm and supportive, does not move or smell and is easy to maintain day to day.
 
I find shavings not very absorbent and use bliss. Also bliss breaks down quicker on the muck heap.

My boy is on box rest and though I started with a half bed now has the whole stable bedded down. He is dry, doesn't smell and even when digging out bi annually doesn't stink like shavings or straw.
 
I've been deep litering for about 6 weeks now since getting my mare. Itsa big stable though with a 2ft concrete 'edge' across the front and up one side where her haynets go to minimize hay in the bed and maximize the effectivness of cleaning up the hay. It's working well although being in 24/7 is taking its toll on the wallet.

Thankfully my mare is very clean. It takes me ten minutes either side of the day to skip out the poo by hand and i generally only use a broom to make the bed rather than a shavings fork.

The only issue I have is she pee's in the same spot religiously in the far back corner so the bed is kind of starting to go uphill into that corner.

I 'may' take out the bulk of the wet in that spot to even the bed out again, not sure ... depends of the weather this weekend, lol
 
I've moved to a new yard and have no mats so wanted something that would give a good base and that I could semi-deep litter, ie take poo out in the week and wet at the weekend. I'm using "egg box" bedding - made out of the cardboard that egg boxes are made from - which is proving great. It took a week to establish a base but that base is now firm and dry, the poo stays on top and I'm using one bale a week at £5.90/bale. I am now only taking out the very wettest stuff as I don't want to disturb the base.
I used five bales to start it off in quite a large box - probably 12' x 14'.
Pros - it gives a good base with plenty of "give"; doesn't smell; I take less than a barrow out every morning; it's a reasonable price.
Cons - it does "walk" a bit until the base is established; it might be a problem to keep the yard tidy if it's windy when I'm mucking out; my boy is currently the only horse on the yard with a blue and grey bed so everyone knows if it's my mess!
 
I don't clean my bed out daily either, just the poos and the really wet bits and chuck a third of a bale of straw in every few days. The bed's about 4" deep with a piece of rubber mat in 2/3 of it. For time saving, I sometimes put 2/3 of a bale in and bank it high where she doesn't disturb it much, then when necessary I can just spread it out. If any hay's left on the floor I brush it into the 'wee corner' to save wasting it. :D
 
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