Shavings bed- help

[Marusenka]

I have just moved my boy back into a stable and he has been put onto a shavings bed as that was what the last occupant used!

I just wondered how different it was to bedding on straw- when i mucked it out today it seemed much cleaner and i was taking less bed out than with straw when each night the wheelbarrow was pretty much full up- do people find this with shavings?

Also how often do you put fresh shavings in- i'm so used to chucking loads more straw in each night and filling up the stable with straw but i guess with shavings you use less and put them in less frequently?

How do people find the price compares with straw as i'm not sure whether to keep him on shavings or convert it back to straw when this lot of shavings has been used!

Anything else i need to know? like how deep the bed has to be or whatever?

[Keket]

We've got shavings on rubber matting and it's really easy to do. Shavings is more absorbent then straw, so any mess stays in one place and you just pick it out. Since we've got the rubber mats, we only make the beds a couple inches deep, with bigger banks around the outside. Pick out the wet shavings once a day, and use some from the banks to fill in the bare spots. Once a week, we do a whole clean out and put all new shavings in.

[Jessey]

Most horses are cleaner on shavings - less waste and easier to muck out :D
Without rubber under it I like a shavings bed to be about 6 inches deep, but if you find there are thin/bare spots in the morning you may need to increase this - some horses just need more.
It depends on what you find best for your horse re putting fresh in, some I found it easier to put a little in each day, others a whole bale once a week worked :D Personally I normally put in a bale once a week either way after a really good muck out, I then used the old bedding to make the base and the new to make banks, then through the week just pull a little of the new down into the bed as you need it :D saves all the messing about ;)
I think normally 1 bale per week per horse is about average, though some use more and some less :p at £6ish for a bale it is more expensive than straw (thats about £1 a bale round here) unless you do use tonnes of straw each week ;) but I found it saved me so much time with 2 of my horses it was worth it, the other one was dead clean on straw and there was no real benifit to putting him on shavings :o

[Portia]

Shavings are just soo much easier than straw...

I tend to go through a bale of shavings every 5 days or so, bed's about a foot deep. poo gets picked up by hand, then I use a shavings fork to dig out the wet.
I've found that you do get what you pay for with shavings - ie a cheaper bale tends to be much dustier than the branded names. Watch the weight of the bale too - a local supplier sells bales cheaply, they look the same size as my more expensive ones but weigh in about 5kg less.

I've seen what might be desribed as a hybrid bale, ie mix of shavings and straw. No idea how the prodcut might compare with bog standard shavings but might be worth a look.

[Ptaty70]

ooo, shavings shavings shavings! I deep litter in the winter (he's very clean and doesn't scuff up the bed, just 'exists' above it!) so just take out the poos which you can sift the shavings through, so i only take about a 1/4 barrow full per night and it takes me 5 mins (again, cos he's clean and poos in the same place... no hidden poos!).

He gets a bale a week - put it all in at once and build up the banks. Like Jessey, I put the old bed onto the wet bits once a week and put the new stuff over the top. During the week, i start pulling bits off the banks.

My bales cost about £5 each, but the saving in time, especially in the winter makes it so worth while!

[mogadoga]

Alex digs shavings, meaning wee is scattered, poo is scattered, and often hidden. So straw for me is easier. Although i prefer it anyway. And its included in livery anyway.
But my friend who uses shavings has two horses (one she uses nedz beds)
She gets a barrow a night combines, takes out wee and poo and puts a bag, sometimes two down a week.

[angelfben]

Shavings are so much easier than straw for me :)

I just take out all the poo each day, dig out the wet (it soaks to the bottom of the bed much more efficiently than with straw and once you find the spot that's usually wet you can just scrape the dry bedding off the top and take out the wet patch) I chuck all the clean stuff into big banks across one or 2 walls as I go along then any poo you've missed just rolls down to the bottom of the banks so you can whip it out :)

I only take 2 skip-fulls out a day and my beds are obsessively clean :D

I'm on rubber matting so my bed isn't as thick but I use about 2 bales for a fresh bed then chuck a fresh bale in once a week, twice a week in winter as they're in more.

I get my shavings at £5 - £5.50 a bale as we buy in bulk on the yard but in smaller amounts expect to pay £6 - £7.

[Casper]

Oh my god one pound a bale!!!
I pay 8 euro per bale, and use 3 bales a fortnight!!!
I got rupper matting last year, I didn't find I was using less sawdust when I got the matting but it was a lot cleaner, I'd roll around in it myself:D
I'll never go back to straw, I haven't see anyone over here use straw for years !!!

[jenmac_85]

I have found the shavings are soooo much better for my Grey. Even without washng his legs seemed whiter over night. As he is slightly overweight, although not enough to be put on a diet, it is better as he cant eat his ebd - which was his habit.

[Ptaty70]

aha yes, knew there was another reason I went for shavings... EATING HIS BED! I was getting through loads of straw per week when he was on it!

[lachlanandmarcu]

Beware, you might have a dirty lad like my 17hh IDxTB - he gets through 3 bales of quality shavings a week - I think he's flogging them on.
Then I got my second horse, nice little Haffie mare, she'll be better - no, she gets through 2 ......
They both put their poo thru a sieve and then dance on it. Both would eat straw beds and IDxTb would also get colic from it :-((

So when we move to our own place shortly, that mare is living out 24/7!

But I prefer it to straw by far - much sweeter and cleaner