Hemcore V's Shavings

[Palomino Mare]

Hi, some of you may have seen my thread about considering putting jerry on DIY.

YO got some hemcore samples last week and a few dirty horses were selected...jerry:o ....to test them out on.

One bag went in his stable and he hasn't needed another bag in 7days. tonight his bed was still clean and the hemcore still looked like it had just been put down. YO has decided not to buy it in however as it is double the price of our normal shavings at £8/bag (the argument that you would use less didnt seem to be valid!:rolleyes: ).

My friends mum who's horse is next door to mine used hemcore for a year when her horse was at home. she said she initially liked it but once the bed was 100% hemcore she found it scratchy and uncomfortable for her horse (i can see her point).

So does anyone have any experience with hemcore? i am considering buying it since he is doing so well on it but i obviously would like to hear some other points of view. Would i be better off sticking with normal shavings??

thanks!

amz x

[Sarah1710]

Never used Hemcore, but have had Flyer on Flax bedding (thoroughbed - have been told it is very similar to Hemcore?) all winter and have been pleased with it. I payed £6.40 per 120l bale from the local feed store, roughly the same price as an equally sized bale of shavings. I semi deep littered, so mucked out fully once a week and on average used 1-1.5 bales per week depending on how long he had been in for, which saved both time and money.

[helenc]

We used to use it at the racing yard I worked at. I'd never heard of it before that although it was about 10 years ago :o

I really liked it. However, you must realise that the stables it was used in had the most perfect floor & drainage EVER - any bedding was easy to use in them but I did prefer the hemcore, seemed more springy than shavings. Horses seemed to like it too, considering the amount of times I used to have to brush it out of their tails, I really don't think they found it scratchy! We had to use a watering can to spary some disenfectant over the bedding of one particularly greedy, chubby racehorse who absolutely loved scoffing it! Apart from that I'd say it's one of the best beddings I've ever used :)

[janette carter]

I did try hemcore but also found it very scratchy and lots of sharp pieces...to the extent that I blamed it for a laceration on my fillys shoulder. I swopped to aubiouse same thing made from hemp but a much softer product. This is my second year with it and I still think it is great.
Cost wise mmm. it has got to be more expensive than one bale of shavings per week but if you usually have to use two bales of shavings and can get away with one aubiouse you should see a difference.

[Bronya]

Loved it, but I found I'm allergic to it so changed to flax (equisorb) - £6.65 per bale and works in a similar way.

It is only scratchy if the initial bed isn't dampened as it's supposed to be.

The equisorb starts out silky and slippery in contrast, but both are better once mixed in to the existing bed. Softer, yet not wet at all to touch.

[Jessey]

I prefer Aubiose to Hemcore, though the horses never seemed to mind :D Aubiose just seemed to be a finer softer product.
I have a pretty dirty gelding and when he was on box rest swapped to Aubiose, I found the bad was more stable and didn't move so much which meant poo wasn't burried everywhere, it also seemed very absorbant. I paid about £7 a bale, compare to about £6 for a bale of shavings - I didn't find I used much less but it was alot quicker/easier to muck out and the bed stayed cleaner and drier than shavings :D

[gl1]

These are two different beddings for two different styles of care. One cannot 'swap' for the other.

Shavings: a good deep bed, easy to keep clean, requires full muckout every day

Hempcore: used with matting & deep littered topped up every week.

I groomed at a yard that used hempcore and we took 10 mins per stable every morning - but I personally dont like it, I prefer a deep shavings bed although it's more work.

[Wally]

Rubber mats and a shake of anything the geldings will pee on! Horses are not nest builders and don't need deep beds.

They need enough bedding to keep them off concrete floors, that' all. I rubber matted everything, the cows, the horses and the transport. My bedding costs are low. Never seen Hemcore on sale here.

[cazrider]

Wally, out of interest, how do you make that work for a really wet gelding in Winter? Sennie pees for England. Its fine in Summer as he's not in much, but in Winter when he's in at night, whatever I do he lies in his wee and gets covered in it. So I have had to resort to a thick bed on the mats in Winter, and even that isn't always enough.

[eventerbabe]

Palamino mare, what did you decide in the end? we were on hemcore for 2 years. I LOVE that bedding! Skip out during the week and 1 dig out of wet bits on a saturday. It's so much more economical both on bedding and on time. Our supplier then sotpped getting it and we moved onto Aubiose. It makes a much prettier bed, stays looking much whiter and is a lot softer. You couldn't pay me to go back to shavings after almost 3 years on hemp bedding.

[Palomino Mare]

that really encouraging to hear a positive reponse EB!

well....we are moving!

i will still be on DIY as i feel more comfortable with it but i have also orderd(sp) rubber mats! the new yard will have rubber matting and normal shavings in all beds as standard for full liveries so i took the opportunity to get some good priced mats from YO.

wally - good way of looking at the bedding situ, think i will definately save on bedding costs now!