Wish I had gone on to straw sooner!

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dreambigpony

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So having tried and tested soooo many different beddings with my very messy mare...I have now gone on to straw and oh gosh do I wish I had gone on to it sooner! It is just so easy to muck out, it makes such a lovely bed and she is actually lying down on it now! It is so cheap, easy and comfortable that I don't know why I didn't go on to it earlier!
 
Our yard insists on shavings and I have the muckiest gelding so I would like to try straw when we get out own place. I can't wait to move so we can experiment with stuff like this!
 
I have one on Aubiose and one on straw, the one on straw is soooo quick to muck out despite being the messier pony, a few minutes and the mucking out is done and the bed looks lovely and inviting
 
I love straw - cheap, can make a great big bed, etc. . . . however, now that he's on shavings takes me 15 minutes to muck out.

I wouldn't say I'm a convert - if he could be on straw at new yard, I'd do it . . . but not spending a ridiculous amount of time lifting his bed every day and stinking of pee is quite the bonus. I am semi deep littering him . . . so wet gets dug out at the weekend. We'll see how that goes . . .

P
 
Our messy gelding is much cleaner on straw too. I use 3 bales a week for my two horses, so well under £10.

I also found straw much easier in the days when they got mud rash or cuts on lower legs - shavings were always sticking to the injury or cream you put on it.
 
Same here! My mare was messy on shavings and always smelt pissy despite being a clean bed and could never keep it deep enough. Now use two small bales a week with huge banks and a deep floor. I generally put 2/3 of the bale Down and keep a couple of slices to freshen the bed between times. Much quicker to muck out and it's such good quality that when she gets bored with her (lovely) haylage she has a munch on her bed. Was worried she would cough but our boxes are well ventilated so no worries yet!
 
When I had just two horses at home with 5 acres, I used shavings. Now in France we use straw and it is easy BUT I have a farmer who clears our muck heap for free every month.

We get through two round bales of straw a week and that is one big muck heap. You need to take that into consideration.
 
Straw all the way! I found that being on straw also keeps them occupied hunting for any seeds but obviously not good if they eat the whole bed!!
 
Tried shavings and I was a total failure. Went back to straw and saved a fortune and always have deep soft beds. A massive bale costs me £20 and lasts two horses five to six weeks!
 
I love making a nice big straw bed but the novelty wears off after a few days in and i stink constantly!
Shavings i don't like either, takes me forever to muck out shavings beds .. Wood pellets are the easiest and cheapest i find :)
 
I swapped from shavings to straw as I have a messy pony and love it. Much easier to muck out, cheap and can make a huge bed! Won't be going back to shavings, I like spending £8 a month not £8 a week!
 
My previous horse was always on shavings which were quick and easy to muck out, but my mare eats whatever bedding she is on so has to have straw as being the least likely to make her ill. I'm a convert now as she always has a big lovely bed and although it takes a bit longer to muck out and I have to do 2 barrows most days, I like the fact fatty mare can snack on it and I give her less hay accordingly.
 
Now all we have to do is convince suppliers to make small bales now and again - I have one humungous bale that can only be moved with the help of a tractor, have to carry it a slice at a time in a muck sheet. Mine have been on straw for a few years now, but with a chopped rape or miscanthus base to absorb the wee. That's how you avoid the stinky element of a straw bed and the base stays put for most of the year.
 
I am asthmatic so straw it not good for me .
Straw gives a lovely bed but a really deep straw bed is a lot of labour if you care for it properly , if you don't carefully muck out along each wall moving all the bedding away each day the stable quickly becomes smelly .
The spores make it a bad choice for horses in proper work.
You stink your self which I hate .
You need space for a huge muckheap .
And a large place to store bales .
You are at the mercy of variable quality and it can be difficult to get any good enough straw in some years.
Modern straw is much shorter than straw used to be which means it does make a less goos bed and is more difficult to work with .
But nothing beats the look do a proper straw bed with the doorway properly rolled or even better plaited although you canot plait modern straw easily .
 
I like straw and spent much of my youth mucking out brood mares on huge deep beds in huge boxes so find it quick to do.

However, our five are on wood pellets and fill our muck trailer every three weeks. I would imagine if they were on straw it would need emptying every week. Storage would also be an issue, where as a single pallet of pellets takes little room and lasts about three months.
 
I find it the other way round straw is quick warmer than anything else and I rarely smelled when they were on it Crawling around on the floor getting rid of all the tiny bits of poo from the frozen shavings bed always made me stink. I hate shavings and rubber matting unless under a big big bed because of the smell. I love a big straw bed takes 5 minutes to much out at the start of the day and another two at the end to put is back down again the floor is aired and usually completely dry after a day open to the air the bed is clean and it is cheap to do It also means they have a very low caloried nibble if the hay is finished so are never without fibre. The only issues are the big muck heap and them eating all the bed which is a problem if they do
 
I always swore i would never use straw, after working on a big yard where all the horses was on it. But since i moved yards straw was inc in my livery so have used it, and love it more than anything i've ever used now they are bedded 'my' way
 
I used to use ecobed which I love, but at a cost of about £90 a month ( for three )it got too expensive. I spend about £25 a month on straw, so a big saving.

I don't care about the smell ( it is more smelly than shavings when you have a gelding who wee's for england ) no one else here apart from OH :)
 
I looooove straw bedding.

I put a layer of shavings down and straw on top, then leave down Monday-Friday, taking out poo and any obvious wet. Lift it on a Friday and Sunday to take out any wet and it's sooooo easy. Add straw when needed so every other day. The shavings keep the wet in one spot.
I put maybe a big slice and a bit in a week (from a big £35 bale), and a bag of shavings at £7 lasts two weeks sometimes more.

So so so much easier than shavings!
 
I've tried all sorts in my 25 years of horse ownership and have finally found the best one for me - wood pellets. So easy, no smell, and miraculously with 2 greys, no (or vastly reduced in both size and vibrancy!) stable stains.
I bought a palletful in the summer when they were much cheaper so I'm saving money too. I get through 2 10kg bags about every 10 days.
 
I agree that straw smells, but I find the pong from shavings far worse!

Mine smells now because of the mats, which aren't sealed. When it was concrete and brushed out an left up to dry daily it was lovely in there. Much as I dislike the mats for many reasons, they mean less straw which means much less time for me mucking out, and as we use our stables for dentist/physios etc its nice to have a safe non-slip floor these days, although my horse is now barefoot!
 
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