Hemp Bedding

[WelshJumper]

HI!

What do you all think of Hemp bedding?

I have been on it since Jun 2001 and love it i have 4 horses and it saves so much time etc.. my muck heap is 1/2 the size os what it was!

Some pepole i know eather love it or hate it what are your vews?

Kathy XxX :p

[Pixie]

I've been using hemp for just over a year now and I had never used it before, but I am a big fan as it is so time saving and as you say takes up much less room on the muck heap!
I skip out my mare daily and dig out the wet once a week and add 1 bale then which lasts all week. I would say though that it probably works better for clean horses who don't trash their beds, I am lucky because my mare is really clean and tidy.

[Mossy]

I hate to be a dissenting voice but I have only used it with a confirmed box walker and would not have it as a gift. Probably if the horse is clean it works but if reduced to a daily mash it is very expensive.

[KarlR]

We're using Flax on fitted rubber matting, which I guess is very similar.

We've only been using it for a week or so (not deep littered), and have some concerns, but are going to persevere and see how we get on.

It's certainly faster than straw by a long way and there's much less to remove. It's also very comfortable to walk on, so I would expect horses to like it.

It seems okayish with Charlie who is fairly dry. However, with Zak, who is quite a wet horse, and slightly box walks it does seem to leave a lot of mess. I took a LOT of completely soaked bedding out of his stable tonight.

I think that our main concerns are:

The urine seems to go through to the underside which keeps them dry, but is difficult to remove unless you turn the whole bed over. This means that the bed smells slightly.

It's seems that a lot of the smaller droppings get mixed in and you can't shake it to remove them like you can with straw.

If anyone has any advice, then I'd be very interested to hear it. We currently have it over the back 2/3 of the stable about 5-6 inches thick (about 4 bales worth). We're topping up at the rate of half a bale or so per stable per week. They are turned out about 12 hours per day.

Mossy - What do you use now?? Straw, Shavings, ... ?

[Mossy]

Hi Karl
The horse I knew on hemp was not mine. Mine are both on shavings as both eat straw in preference to hay or feed! I am more than happy with shavings and I am sur Connie could win the messiest stable award. She does her business in the middle of the box, walks around a bit and then lies down and squashes the lot to a mess! Her rugs get wonderful.

[KarlR]

Thanks Mossy.

Can I ask those who use Hemp/Flax how they handle the bed? It seems to me that the underside gets very wet (and is difficult to remove) and that droppping get mixed in easily.

I'm sure this can't just be me!! :)

[Penelope]

What is hemp/flax bedding??? I am familiar with straw,shavings,rubber matting paper and peat but I'd never heard of these! What are they and what are there benefits prices??? Are they dust free? And are they easialy Available???

[KarlR]

They are (claimed to be ;)) low maintenance materials which look like very fine, soft chopped straw. They are nice to look at and very absorbent. Lots of other (claimed!) advantages too.

Used where you would otherwise use shavings, paper or peat...usually on top of rubber mats.

Hemp is readily available, flax less so. We got ours from Belvoir horse products.

[cvb]

This is a personal experience based on a sample of one, so there may be people out there with the opposite experience.

I kept my COPD pony on hemp bedding for a while. It seemed like the ideal solution - dust free but better at rotting down than shavings.

We pretty much have the COPD under control through careful management, so you notice when things don't seem right - a long time before there is a 'real' problem.

And this particular pony was not 'right' on hemp. If you think about it, if its going to be better at rotting down, is got to be better at growing the bugs that rot things down. We didn't do any tests to check what was going on, so I have no proof what the issue was.

The proof I do have is that when we swapped back to shavings, he improved again.

This was NOT deep litter. The beds were kept clean and as per supplier instructions.

By the way, the best improvement yet has been moving from England to Scotland - even living on a farm with crops around him, he's much better. :)

[KarlR]

Thanks for that cvb,

I think that we are beginning to get used to the flax (hemp seems nearly identical).

It definitely seems to suit my wife's neat and tidy cob who rarely urinates in the stable and is quite neat and tidy (as far as horses go).

However my TB, who box walks (only slightly) makes a real mess of it. He also drinks/urinates a lot which doesn't help. I decided not to top up his bed last week and see what happened. Originally he had 6" bed covering 2/3 of the stable. now it's about 4" covering half. I think that we'll end up with just a think layer over about half of the matting before too long!

I have to say, there's nothing like straw, but it takes so long to muck out! I might try shavings and see what happens!

[Yann]

As someone who regularly mucks out other people's horses, I'm looking forward to seeing this flax of yours:D

My preference from my experience so far is definitely for shavings on rubber mats. Possibly not the cheapest option, but certainly the easiest and the one I'd go for personally.

[KarlR]

Hi Yann,

If you tell me when you are coming then, I'll remember not to muck out that day so that you can form an unbiased opinion! ;)

Now that there's less of it in Zaks stable than there was, it seems somewhat better. He seems to now do most droppings on the rubber bits, which is great since I can just shovel them up, although he urinates on the bedding as you would expect.

[Yann]

Looking forward to it :D ;) (sad or what!!!)

[Pixie]

The way i manage it is to skip out the droppings daily with rubber gloves and a bucket and tidy the bed up with a fork, this takes about 10-15 mins. Once a week I scrape off the dry bedding and put it to one side and dig out the wet, this normally amounts to two small wheelbarrows. I then put the existing bed back down and add one new bale in the banks.
I will add that I do have a generally clean and tidy horse and I certainly would NOT recommend it to anyone who has a dirty and messy horse as it would work out costly and time consuming!!

[WelshJumper]

HI,

I have 5 on the hemp. 2 of mine are dirty!
BUT!!! thay are both gelldings. the outhe 3 are mares and thay are very cleen. Althow my geldings are dirty *** i still find it easer to keep cleen and skip out. i scrape of the top wet once a weak then add 1 bale.

[KarlR]

Yann - Yes! Very sad indeed! I'm sure that horse ownership will cure you though! :)

Pixie/WelshJumper - thanks for the advice. Mine is very messy, but I'll try that for Caroline's cob.

[ponyvet]

I thinkyou're not supposed to try and turn it, but leave the wet underside as it is, and only change it weekly. Daily you should pick out the big bits of droppings, but don't sorry about the tiny bits you can't get, and throw in a fe handfuls of fresh stuff. Then every week remove the whole lot. I know it's smelly but hey!! so's shavings!

I use only a half bale of hemp on rubber mats at home (if they are in which is rarely), pick out the big bits of poo, and removeit all at the end of the week and put more in. I don't hink hemp is good without rubber mats, as you need to use loads to make a good bed.

[KarlR]

Thanks Ponyvet.

We have lately been (trying) to take out the the wet patches too which can be a bit hit and miss, although does seem to reduce smell.

I've only ever tried straw before this, so I don't know what shaving are like.

We do have matting, so if we still have problems with Zak we'll perhaps try the "whole bale at start of week" and "throw it away at end of week" routine.

[WelshJumper]

By the way!

I have not lifted my beds since i put them down in July!
I have had a little look under 2 c what thay r like but thay are bone dry under neath. :)

[KarlR]

WelshJumper - you are VERY lucky!! :) If only ours were so tidy!

[packhorse]

I think that these hemp bedding materials are supposed to be used as deep litter only - well that is what they used to rec. anyway.

The literature I had said it should be laid quite deep initially and then the top sprinkled with water - this then sort of swells and forms a barrier which allows wet to drain through but not to soak back up - a bit like a babies nappy I was told.

The bed should NOT be disturbed they said because then it smells !!

It needs using as a proper deep litter to work properly and then it is very good - havent seen one used with inveterate box walker though - perhaps bed would have to be very deep and somewhat compacted by humans first or something!!??

Wet should be left where it is and not disturped or it stinks.
Much worse than any other bedding if you disturb it.

Makes for very little work on a daily basis and makes miniscule muck heap in quite short time once cleaned out.

It is expensive initially because needs to be so deep - but after that is cheap.

I think an excellent bedding material if used correctly according to manufacturers instructions.