best deep litter bedding
- Thread starter linz20
- Start date
I used to deep litter with Aubuise / Hemp it worked really well with my old pony but Funky is soo dirty and wet I have him on mats. x
wally
lol i know but unfortunately the new stables i've moved to the floors can not have rubber matting due to floors not be right. i was planning on doing a full muck out weekly with OH. any ideas would be great
lol i know but unfortunately the new stables i've moved to the floors can not have rubber matting due to floors not be right. i was planning on doing a full muck out weekly with OH. any ideas would be great
we use flax cos of COPD (didn't want to come off straw but vet recomended we do the change - and its been better than we expected) and we just poo pick every day and then remvoe worst of wet each week and then a full out every 3 months
takes hubby about 1/2 hour to dig the whole lot out so not a biggie for him
those that are on mats do it different
they put down a small sprinkling of the flax to soak up wee
remove poo daily and then take out all flax each week and replace with fresh
we don't have mats - we deep litter straight on to the stable floor so we have a deep bed
takes hubby about 1/2 hour to dig the whole lot out so not a biggie for him
those that are on mats do it different
they put down a small sprinkling of the flax to soak up wee
remove poo daily and then take out all flax each week and replace with fresh
we don't have mats - we deep litter straight on to the stable floor so we have a deep bed
Why do you have to deep litter if you can't have mats 
If you plan on skipping out daily and doing a full muck out once a week, any bed will do the trick.
I personally prefer to use straw and muck out every day, leaving the bed up in a morning and putting it down before the horses come back in. With straw more is definitely less, and a good thick deep bed will only take a few minutes to muck out and its easier (and cheaper!) to keep clean than shavings and the likes which goes a rather attractive brown colour in a week! You could always put something like chopped rolled straw down under the straw to soak up all the wet.
Straw is also alot warm, drier and comfortable if maintained well.
If you plan on skipping out daily and doing a full muck out once a week, any bed will do the trick.I personally prefer to use straw and muck out every day, leaving the bed up in a morning and putting it down before the horses come back in. With straw more is definitely less, and a good thick deep bed will only take a few minutes to muck out and its easier (and cheaper!) to keep clean than shavings and the likes which goes a rather attractive brown colour in a week! You could always put something like chopped rolled straw down under the straw to soak up all the wet.
Straw is also alot warm, drier and comfortable if maintained well.
Wood pellets are good - they are very absorbent. You can go quite a few days just taking the droppings out and leaving the wet in. It doesn't smell either!
Funny how everybody's experiences are different - I find deep litter easiest and less time consuming on average...Some of our stables are just gated barns though and they are EASY to completely muck out when needed as the tracter just goes on in...The other stables we do by hand though and still don't have huge issues provided maintained with particularly wet patches dug out more regularly...
I really like Hemp to deep litter on - it dries out really well, and is cushioning whilst still being dust free (for COPS) horses. Very easy to much out as bedding doesn't tend to glue itself to muck so easily...
Have a few straw deep litters. They're okay but much wetter and more time consuming.
I weekly deep litter on wood pellets (if you're planning on doing a full muck out at the weekends it's not really a purist deep litter, more of a working week litter!) Take out droppings daily and bring down banks through the week then fully muck out at the weekend leaving the bedding up to let the floor dry out although it normally isnt actually wet...
Dont know about delivery but I pick up 250kg approx every 5-6 weeks for £50-55 (they sometimes have a sale on, random!)
It doesnt always 'look' the most glamarous bedding and does go a funny grey colour during the week but it's still dry and quite frankly the horses dont care what colour their bed is!
Dont know about delivery but I pick up 250kg approx every 5-6 weeks for £50-55 (they sometimes have a sale on, random!)
It doesnt always 'look' the most glamarous bedding and does go a funny grey colour during the week but it's still dry and quite frankly the horses dont care what colour their bed is!
Last edited:
newrider.com