Paper Bedding

[NoviceNic]

Can anyone share their experiences of shredded paper bedding please.

Just considering it when I move to my own place. I spoke to the sellers and they keep greys and palominos on it and dont get any ink stains on the horses. They advised me that it is more absorbent with less waste because it soaks up from the floor. Also apprently more eco friendly to get rid of. I will be looking at burning it as I wont have any neighbours to upset.;)

[connieD]

i did not get on with it. i would imagine you would have to have a very clean dry horse. i ended up with it turning to paper mache as my girl was so wet. you also need to muck out by hand as the poos are hard to find and get covered up. it takes quite a while.

i changed and would not go back but if your horse is clean it may be better x

[MrDCBags]

Paper is ok if you can muck out 2-3 times a day.

Also sorry to be a party pooper but burning it is not v. eco friendly!!!!!!!

[mu0ljk]

I didn't like it. We had Otto on it and it just took forever to muck out. It is quite heavy and echo the comment about it turning into paper mache!

Otto, also started coughing on it too - that was the main clincher that made us put him back on shavings.

Oh, and it came in huge bags (like haylage bags) it is so messy and such a fuss when it comes to putting new paper in, scooping it up into the wheelbarrow, leaving a trail everywhere!

On the plus side the YO's little girl loves sitting in the bag throwing paper all over herself! :p

[S_F_S]

Nothing constructive - I only met it at Pony Club camp years and years ago. They had to change to shavings after a day as we discovered it was shredded literature of a rather dubious kind......

[Casper]

oh no don't do it........................I tryed it a few years ago and the dam stuff went everywhere and oh when it got wet.............ah the memories!!!!!:eek:

[NoviceNic]

Thankfully Captain is a very clean horse.......Stands looking out of the door all night. Poo's to the left and wee's to the right.....:rolleyes: :D

[Wally]

You don't need to burn it, that's not eco friendly. Just let it rot down, make fantastic compost and it squashyes down into a small muck heap.

Great on a windy day as you get to the muckheap with a half empty barrow and confetti blown to the 4 winds. But it rots so quuickly there's never any bits littering.

I love the stuff.

[x-jenni-x]

a horse on my old yard was on paper, i used to help muck out, and her bed was always my favourite! but she wasnt that messy!

[Cupcake]

I hate hate hate paper!! My pony is white, and very messy. Not a nice sight to see her covered heat to toe in soggy paper marks.

If your horse is clean there may be no problems at all. Also Skye liked the taste of it.

[fatponee]

I used to use finely shredded paper by the name of Supabed. I loved it and only stopped using it because it became difficult to get hold of. Only used a bale a week and it was really easy to muck out. Not sure about the long strands of paper that's also available though :rolleyes:

[NoviceNic]

They sell it in fine strands or long strands. The longer strands are more for dogs and cats. They said that a lot of owners got fed up with the little fiddly bits hanging onto their dog and cat coats so shred tehm longer and they tend not to stick to the coat as much.

[iccle_me]

i used to use ecobed (http://www.ecobed.co.uk i know its cardbord not paper but i thought it was great socks from the bottom up so the top of ** bed is always dry and the poo doesnt get coverd up as easy as with paper. only stopped using it coz my dad used to work for them for free and he left there. it has the downside of being a bit of expensive and you have to buy in bulk witch isnt always possible on a livery yard

[marsden]

at my old yard two of the boxes were on paper! I actually liked it! :o

Don't think i would use it on my horse, as it doesn't look cosy :rolleyes:

[gl1]

Paper does not work as a viable bedding.

[Wally]

Does for me as it's free and I can go and fill a 7.5 tone lorry with the stuff!

Rots down well, if it blows in the wind it's dissapeared by the next rain fall.

Non dusty, great in the lorry for soaking up pee, Sweeps up cleanly, so you can put a Z -bed up afterwads in the horse compartment of the lorry when the living is over full!

Horses don't nees "cozy" they need a dry place to lie down, geldings need something to pee on. Old horses need a bit of cushioning!

[NoviceNic]

Wally - Does it leave black ink marks on any of your greys???? And also does it go all hard when it is pee'd on??? Just something someone said to me...:confused:

[Wally]

Got Pie balds and Skewbald that never seem to get inky, yes the peed on bits go like a big biscuit and you can lift it on a onner into the wheelbarrow.

It's a bit like that clumping cat litter, the wet bits stick leaving the dry to be fluffed up.

[chunky monkey]

I saw some one use it in there trailer a few weeks ago. They said they used it as they had a free and enless supply. But I must admit it looked like you needed a lot in there otherwise it got a bit wet and messy.

Mine is normally out 24/7 but when he had his injury and was on box rest, I started with straw but I found I was taking two-three wheelbarrow fulls to the muck heap in the morning and again at night. Half a bale each time used in the stable.

I found a free supply of shaving and it cut the mucking out down immensily. Only one barrow load in the morning and one at night, peice of cake. You can easily see the wet patches and the poo piles are easier to skip out than in straw. Shaving don't rot down as well, but I burn't all mine and it does stink if you do it right.
If you have a small pile burning 24/7 (not good for the enviro I know). Get some initial heat in the bonfire, ie burn some garden rubbish, dead tree trunks on there. Really get some initially heat in the base then when you muck out just lightly scrap the bits that havent burnt over onto the bits that have and then add the fresh mucking out on the top. The bits that have't burnt will already have started to get warm and dry out, so if you use that to cover the hot spots rather than the fresh poo, it burns hotter, less smoke and wont then stink. Honestly it doesn't take half a minute to fork over the stuff already on there, its much better than burning 3 wheelbarrowfuls of straw each time. If I did need a little bit of additional heat saw once a fortnight then I used the odd bale of straw in the stable.

If you have a good base with heat underneath light rain doesn't extinguish it. Mine was burning for a month continiously before the heavy rain put it out.

Have you got any window & door manfactures near by. If they are geared up there shaving and planing will automatically go through an extractor system into large bags. Normally in the summer when its dry they have to pay for a skip and it ends up in landfil. So I'm sure they might be glad for you to take it off there hands. You do get a quantity of dust in some of the bags. I do try to avoid those if I can and not good for horses who may suffer from breathing problems. But otherwise goodstuff. Its free as well, so beggers can't be choosers.