Beds!!

[crazycolt]

Hi guys
Looking for answers. I've porous rubber matting in my stables, and don't like it. It stays wet and stinky. Trouble is, not sure that I can afford to use shavings or similar 'cause of the cost! Does anyone use a shavings or similar bed, can you give me any idea of your routine, and what it costs per week? They would be half in, half out, over winter anyway, as I haven't the grazing to keep them out all the time. But when in stables they have access to concrete yard and bit of paddock. any ideas gratefully considered. Thanks. x

[marychick]

I have a super wet mare and on shavings she cost me a fortune. Last year I tried Aubiose which is very absorbent and you only have to take the wet out once a week and it doesn't smell. They're about £8 a bag where I am so it's expensive to make up the initial bed as you need it thick but then I only used about half a bag a week.

To be honest though my favourite bedding is wood pellets. By far the cheapest and easiest to muck out but a lot of people don't like it because you can't make a deep bed.

[wills]

I use wood pellets on top of rubber mats for my hideously wet, messy mare. A pallet of bedding cost me £257 and lasts a winter with her living in about 12 hours a day. My bed is pretty deep tbh, like any other bedding you can make it as deep as you want.

I take all droppings out every day and dig out once a week. I find it very easy to manage and quick to muck out. During the week I dont have loads of time & this is by far the quickest bedding I've used.

[marychick]

All I meant about the deepness comment is that you cant really make walls and stuff like you can with shavings/straw. I love wood pellets but that's just what people always say to me

Just out of interest Wills what pellets do you use?

[wills]

Sept 17, 2014 9:17:34 GMT 1 marychick said:

All I meant about the deepness comment is that you cant really make walls and stuff like you can with shavings/straw. I love wood pellets but that's just what people always say to me

Yes I suppose that's true, they don't bank very well

I ordered mine from a company called liverpool wood pellets. Last year I used Vedro?? (I think!)

[crazycolt]

Thanks guys, shall look into it. Are they the sort of wood pellets you get in cat litter? x

[Deleted]

Agree with wills re wood pellets, definitely the quickest and easiest for early morning mucking out and hardly produced any muck for the heap. The only downside is my companion who was very sensitive to dust couldn't cope with them, even well damped down. I haven't tried aubiose but did think it seems similar but less dusty. When I swapped to wood pellets from shavings I put all the leftover shavings up as banks

[wills]

ihdg.proboards.com/thread/123896/wood-pellets-thread-2012

This thread has photos on it of what its like

[marychick]

hmmm that's interesting because Mols has COPD and she's absolutely fine on wood pellets- much better than shavings. Maybe she's not quite as sensitive as him but I'll keep an eye on her I think. I don't really find them that dusty but maybe it depends on the brand? We tend not to water them down as much as recommended as they seem to last longer that way.

Aubiose is really great on the dust front- hardly any and you maintain the bed in a similar way it's just takes slightly longer to muck out on the day you're taking the wet out and is a bit pricier.

[antares]

I am going to go against the grain and say I don't really like the wood pellets, I find them dusty as others have said and you need loads to make a nice deep bed and even then I prefer shavings.

I have a semi-deep litter of shavings on top of rubber mats. I put a couple of bales in each stable to start (half bed at the back of the stable) and take out the worst of the wet daily but after about a week there is a good solid base, any loose non compacted and wet shavings get chucked and then the banks are pulled down to give a clean top and new shavings put around the banks. I use probably 3 bales of shavings a week divided between the two stables and then after 5 or 6 weeks I take the wet base out and rebuild the bed.

I would love Aubiose but there are no stockists in Northern Ireland

[marychick]

I definitely think wood pellets are a love 'em or hate 'em thing

I just found shavings far too expensive unless you have a clean horse and that they take much longer to muck out. Around us they're in excess of £8 a bale and my mare can easily go through 2 a week, even semi deep littered

[antares]

Shavings are ridiculous I agree - between £8 & £12 a bale depending on where you get them from and how dusty they are but there are few other options in NI. A local feed supplier brough in 'the best bedding they've ever used' which I hated lol But apart from that shavings are the easiest to come by, even getting straw is virtually impossible

[Hannah]

I use chopped rape straw, it is not dusty and they don't eat it. I currently use Bedrap although there are several other brands around. I find it easier to muck out than shavings and less smelly. I use it over rubber matting and tend to take the wet out every 2-3 days and just skip out the rest of the time. I use less than a bale per week per horse with them in overnight in winter. I buy a pallet at a time and delivered it costs under £7 per bale.

[crazycolt]

Thanks guys, tricky one this! Thanks for the photos wills! Trouble is I only have concrete when I take the mats out, so would need to cover the floor completely.
3 bales of shavings x £8 = £24 a week- too much for me I'm afraid. I'll get my thinking cap back on. If I used any sort of straw based product they'd eat it, they even eat shavings, and woodchip! x

[wills]

Can you not keep the mats & put bedding on top?