Bedding Poll Results
Thursday March 29, 2007
The clear leader in last week's bedding poll is shavings. However, 9% of you are using some other bedding material than straw, shavings, paper or wood pellets. Click the 'comments' link below and let me know what you are using!
Comments
sand - usually septic sand
I have tried many different kinds of bedding but I find the best (for the horse I have now) is older hay..that is not moldy. She likes it, it makes a soft bed, and she is very good about peeing or pooping in the stall..she does it all outside unless the weather is very very cold or wet…then I have to scoop out a pile sometimes. I have her on a thick rubber matt (covered with the hay)
Before I started using hay I used the traditional shavings, and I had a problem with her eating some shavings along with hay she scattered. This gave her diarrhea..now we don’t have that problem…
She is 10 years old and has a metabolic (so I have been told) problem recognized when she was about 8 months old. So seemingly small things could set her off.
Thanks for you column.
Janie
Rice hulls - clean and economical.
I’d rethink using sand for stall bedding. Too many potential problems down the road, an example being impaction colic. I can’t see how over time your horse won’t ingest sand as it eats. Too many potential problems down the road, impaction colic being one of them.
I use wood pellets. Supposed to cut down on odor and reduce stripping the stall to every 4-5 months. i use it on top of a “stall skin” matt over gravel base and I’ll be honest, I’m looking for something else. I use as much of this bedding as I would regular sawdust (and this cost $6/40lb bag - takes about 5 bags for a 10X12 stall). And the smell! My stalls smell so bad that I am constantly stripping them and washing them down. I don’t know what the problem is, a combination of the bedding and the matt? i would like to try rice hulls but don’t know where to get them
I use a combination of peat moss and sawdust. I find this an excellent combination for keeping the stalls dry and odor free. The peat moss neutralizes the ammonia in the urine, and lasts a long time. I prefer damp sawdust to keep dust down, or I mist the stall with water if is too dry.
I use sawdust rather than shavings. The sawdust is much easier when it comes to cleaning the stall. Using a manure fork, the sawdust falls through amd the manure stays in the fork. I find this much easier than scooping out the shavings.
I have a 35 stall boarding barn.WSe use sawdust,and find it to be very effective,and economical.People are also willing to take our manure. We are careful however to never use walnut as it is toxic.Here is a stall tip.Whan doing new floors,allpy bark mulch over your clay/stone base.This forms a mat which keeps the horses from digging up the stone. j
I have a 35 stall boarding barn.WSe use sawdust,and find it to be very effective,and economical.People are also willing to take our manure. We are careful however to never use walnut as it is toxic.Here is a stall tip.Whan doing new floors,apply bark mulch over your clay/stone base.This forms a mat which keeps the horses from digging up the stone. j