Hello,
How much bedding (approx inches deep) should I put in my geldings stall? I plan to use shavings. He’ll be in over night. The barn is old with wooden floors (no mats). Approx number of bags for initial bedding of an approx 10x12 stall?
TIA
There are a ton of factors to answer your question. Horse sizes and habits, activity levels, ambient temperatures, exact type of shavings (big vs small flake) etc.
Here’s the technical answer: It depends. I know this because I have recently become a bedding-consumption detective. While many barns charge an upcharge for extra feed needed above some baseline, I decided to track shavings use because we spend more each month on bedding (and disposal) than we spend on feed. I am learning that there are a few horses that use so much more bedding than an average, they may need to pay for their overage when it far (far!) exceeds the average.
We’ve been tracking shavings use at our 60-horse barn for about 6 months by having our barn helpers record every full or half wheelbarrow load of shavings they add to each stall, every month, on a spreadsheet, The average shavings use at our barn is 168 cubic feet per month. That’s 14 of our giant wheelbarrow loads, or 14- 12 cubic foot bags of shavings- 12 cubic feet is usually the largest bags you can buy out here. The shavings are nice: big fluffy pine with relatively little dust, compared to sawdust, mini-flake, or pelleted bedding. We clean stalls 7 days a week, re-bed on Mondays and Thursdays, and add bedding other days as needed.
The bedding material you can get will make a big difference: fluffy shavings are not as absorbent as mini-flake, but they look pretty and are less dusty. Shavings bag sizes can vary from about 6 to 12 cubic feet per bag, and different vendors compress their material differently too-
We’re in southern California where turnout is a scarcity so our horses are only out for a few hours a day. (Very strange to most folks, but that’s the boarding situation when land can sell for $500,000 an acre!) Included in my bedding census are everything from a couple minis to a draft horse or two- it’s a bit of a Noah’s Ark of horses here. Mostly good-sized Warmbloods, TB’s, QH, and a few Arabians.
While the average consumption is 14 wheelbarrow loads, use varies from 8 loads (mini’s) up to more than 30. (The couple of super-heavy users are going through 360 cubic feed of bedding a month- that’s 30 huge bales of shavings!) Initial bedding of the stall is not included in the calculations. All stalls are matted with thick mats custom-fit to the stalls made by Linear Rubber.
What I have discovered with the Great Bedding Study is: the size, breed, age, and gender of the horses is not a predictor of bedding use. Surprisingly, some of the very heavy users are small, and some of the larger horses do great with just one giant wheelbarrow load added to their stalls twice a week. There doesn’t seem to be any absolute correlation or predictability of bedding use.
Some of the horses that go through tons of bedding are older, or get bored and drink water/pee for fun, it seems. One horse really used a lot of bedding but the owner experimented by not keeping a salt lick in his feeder which he gnawed through quickly (he gets supplemental salt in feed) and his bedding needs went way down.
Another interesting thing is although we have mostly 12 x 12’ box stalls, we also have some that are 12 x 16’ and a number of 12 x 12’ stalls that are open to a little paddock on the back, what we call Mare Motels out here… but our ‘stall’ portion of the mare motels is matted and bedded exactly like a stall.
Even with this variety of accommodations, it still averages 14 wheelbarrow loads per month, with no predictable difference whether or not there’s an attached paddock. I used a multiplier on the big stalls to determine bedding use based on 144 square feet.
So there you go: our average (and your bedding mileage will certainly vary) is 168 cubic feet per month, which is equal to 14- 12 cubic foot bags of our best local shavings.That means 42 cubic feet of shavings per week, so presume 3.5 - 12 cubic feet bags per week and as a base.
The practical answer to your question is: start by bedding your stall with about 4" of shavings all over and see what happens. His potty habits, and many other factors will quickly tell you if you can use more or less bedding to keep him comfortable. Try what looks good to start and adjust as needed.
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I’d bed at least 6 inches deep with wood floors. You want to keep the urine off the floors - it rots the floors (wet things rot wood) AND it makes them very slippery. I’d also muck right away when he goes out, and if the floors get wet, leave the bedding pulled back to dry.
It’s really ugly when the floors rot to the point the horse puts a foot through…
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Hmm I have never seen wood floors in a stall! My stalls have a clay base. I keep it 2-3" deep.
I’d get some mats down asap to save the wood floor. Much cheaper than a vet bill when the horse steps through the rotted wood.
I have a whole thread on this if you search. I prefer a minimal of 6" of shavings, currently I board where they put down a light 1" layer in the back half of the stall that really doesn’t soak up the pee and awaiting to chat with the BO again regarding it.
Hmmm it’s not my barn and I will only be keeping him there a few months so not likely to buy any mats. Will try to keep floor as dry as possible and keep him out as much as possible though.
Thanks for your responses so far. I’ll do about 6 inches and see how that goes.
[QUOTE=Palm Beach;n10044035]
I’d bed at least 6 inches deep with wood floors. You want to keep the urine off the floors - it rots the floors (wet things rot wood) AND it makes them very slippery. I’d also muck right away when he goes out, and if the floors get wet, leave the bedding pulled back to dry.
It’s really ugly when the floors rot to the point the horse puts a foot through…[/QUOTE
I had the same thought about the rot. OP check the floors well before you move the horse in. I know of a horse that went through a wooden floor in an older barn.
It was stabled on the second floor and the only thing left holding the horse up from completely falling through to the bottom was that the horse luckily straddled a rafter when the floor let go. It took the fire dept and vet all afternoon to extricate the animal. Amazingly the horse was 100% fine after its ordeal. Not my horse BTW 
