5 Issues to Think about When Selecting Stall Bedding

1. What are you going to make use of it for? The commonest use of bedding for stalls is to soak up urine and make cleansing manure simpler in your horse’s stalls. On this case, shavings or wooden pellets and even newspaper are your greatest guess. Most will take up the urine and a few will even assist with odor management. Nevertheless, watch out when you choose your shavings – black walnut shavings may be harmful to your horse.

Nevertheless, in case you plan to make use of bedding to assist shield your horse’s legs and provides him a delicate spot to face, you’ll most likely need to use shavings. But in addition take into account placing stall mats (like these supplied by Traditional Equine Tools) down first. This will help cut back the quantity of shavings you employ and provides your horse one other layer of cushioning. 2. What’s out there in your space and in your price range? Not all merchandise can be found all over the place. For instance, I noticed a number of ads in nationwide magazines for a pelleted product referred to as “Woody Pet.” It sounded excellent, however it was not out there in my space. In the event you reside close to a woodworker or lumber mill, you may have the ability to get a deal on shavings or sawdust – should be sure you ask what kind they’re. 3. The place are you going to retailer it? Bedding constituted of shavings or sawdust requires a big, lined space to maintain them from flying round and/or getting moist. When you have a big horse operation, shopping for bulk shavings could also be economical. However when you’ve got a smaller farm with Four or so horses, chances are you’ll discover that wooden pellets that are available in baggage are the simplest to retailer and use. 4. How lengthy will it final? You need a bedding that does the job of cushioning your horse and absorbing urine, however doesn’t change into so saturated that it’s arduous to take away or causes irritation to your horse. It is higher to scrub extra typically than to attend till bedding turns into completely saturated. Damp or moist bedding softens the horse’s hooves and gives a bacterial breeding floor. Bedding that doesn’t take up nicely additionally permits extra ammonia to be launched and may irritate your horse’s respiratory system. Dusty or moldy bedding will also be a respiratory irritant. It is essential to develop mucking routine when cleansing the stalls. By instructing staff to solely choose up manure and dirty bedding, you may make all merchandise last more. As well as, take into account the place you place your shavings. In the event you unfold them all around the stall, even beneath the water and feed buckets, you might be most likely losing your bedding. Some horses have favourite spots the place they urinate – mattress extra closely there and skip areas the place your horse does not go.

5. What are you going to do with it after it has been used? As soon as the bedding has been dirty, you’ll, in fact, must eliminate it. Composting is a technique, however sure beddings do not break down as shortly as others. Straw and wooden pellets break down fairly shortly within the compost pile. Wooden shavings and sawdust don’t. I’ve a small farm with Four horses and have discovered that wooden pellets made particularly for horse bedding work greatest for me. They’re straightforward to retailer, straightforward to scrub and simple to eliminate. I sometimes mattress a brand new stall with 6-7 baggage of pellets. I clear stalls 1-2 instances/day, eradicating any solids. I attempt to scrape the moist areas right down to the ground, and let the air get into it to dry. Some pelleted bedding comes with an anti-ammonia additive, or I will add slightly stall freshener like PDZ. Bedding sometimes lasts 3-5 weeks and I simply add extra when wanted.