bedding cement floor help

[SquishTheBunny]

My barn has cement floors. I do have stall mats. I used flax and loved it but it’s no linger avail. I’m doing two stalls with fine shavings and one with pellets. Ive found them to get wet very quickly. So I need more bedding? Or less bedding and take it all out daily?

Right now I have medium amount of bedding…but by morning the bedding is around the walls and the middle (where they pee) is scarse of bedding and therefore wet!

I’m thinking I need to do a modified deep bed?

Has anyone used a powder product to help absorb? I’ve seen something like this before but unsure what it Ian called or actually does?

[Appsolute]

Sounds like you need more bedding - how much are you using?

Right now I am using a combo of bedding pellets and super fine shavings. I like this mix at the pellets are VERY absorbent, and almost clump together when wet.

The supper fine shavings add bulk, cushion, and are easy to pick piles from.

I put a layer of pellets down first (3 bags) and then shavings on top (usually around 3 bags).

I add a little throughout the week - and let the bedding get a little low before stripping and replacing with all clean - which I do every week or two.

I do not use powder on mats / concrete. I found it helpful when you have a dirt floor to dry up - but I am not going to try to “dry” soiled, pee’ed on bedding - that get removed daily.

[SquishTheBunny]

I have about 5 bags of fine shavings in the stalls and 4 bags of pellets (watered). It looks enough but obviously is not.

I can’t afford 6 new bags of bedding each week…that would with 3 horses cost me close to $500 per month in bedding. I do take as much wet out as possible…just trying to figure out a way for the wet to not spread along the entire stall

I could try pellets with shavings on top for sure…just don’t think I could strip the entire stall and redo every week!

Do you leave the pellets dry or wet them down at all?

[Jealoushe]

If you use fine shavings you shouldn’t need that many new bags. You need more bedding, a good 2-3 inches at least, and I like to bank the walls.

When you clean the stalls just take out the wet spots and the poop balls, you should only have to add a bag a week.

[K_2]

Squishthebunny, we were fortunate enough to buy the last 69 bags of flax bedding at our feed mill.

The owner said that there is a group trying to get together the funding to buy the flax milling operation. He also said that group was also talking about making the bag size smaller, plastic, and more $$ :grr: I really liked the flax bedding as well, hoping it will make a comeback.

[paulosey]

I use stall dry and I have cement floor with no mats. I bed deeply, but maximize my use of shavings by using stall dry. It both dries and eliminates ammonia. I use a deep bedding system. it gets too strong with the ammonia without a product like stall dry.

I prefer this product to some of the others, as it has a larger particle size and is less of an inhalation hazard for the person using it.

[SquishTheBunny]

Thanks for the tips. There’s about 4-5 inches of bedding but by morning mostof it is up on the walls and the middle is all the stuff that needs to come out. I just added 4 more bags of shavings to one stall to see if that helps! It’s about 8" deep now…we shall see what the morning brings!

I hope the flax does make a comeback I loved how the pee just clumped together rather than spreading it out over the entire middle of the stall!

[clanter]

Or less bedding and take it all out daily?

Our horses when stalled are on concrete with mats, been this way for nearly 25 years… never had the problem you are referring to. The difference may be we clean stalls daily and twice a day if they are up the complete day due to weather (which may be because of excessive heat here as well as windy/cold rainy)

Have always used pine shavings. Stalls are 12 by 12. Bagged shaving 5.5 cubic feet compressed; normally use 3 per stall if stall has been stripped completely. We are in the city so buy shavings either at a pallet or half pallet at time (20 to 40 bags) … cost is about $5.25/bag … 20 bags normally will last us 4 to 6 weeks

[SquishTheBunny]

I pick my stalls daily too. One horse particular tosses all his bedding to the sides and pees in the middle where there is less bedding.

I had 6 bags in there yesterday…this morning was definitely better but I had to throw out at leasthlf a stall worth of bedding. Maybe I’m taking too much dry but discolored stuff out?

The horse with the pellets definitely was the best stall…the pee spot was only about a foot in diameter rather than 5 feet! Will probably switch the wet guy over to pellets too.

[Appsolute]

Hi squish!

I put the pellets down where they are most likely to pee, and wet them very little, if at all. With the shavings on top they aren’t as slippery / rolly as they would be if you bedded a whole stall with unwatered pellets.

And I hear you on the cost! I board - the barn provides 3 bags of pellets a week, and I buy an additional 3-4 bags of shavings a week ($18-$24 a week).

My stall also gets cleaned twice a day (once by staff, once by me) which really helps.

My mare is like your horse - come cleaning time the bedding is all along the walls, and a wet spot in the center. I remove the wet spot, and pile ALL of the bedding in the center of the stall - its gets worked back to the edges fairly quickly!

[edited to add - and mine has a 12x16 - and a slow feeder net - but she never likes to stay still for long!]

[Mosey_2003]

Might they be walking/playing in the bedding excessively? Do they have enough hay to entertain them overnight? It sounds like you’re using enough, weird that it all ends up on the edges…

[Plumcreek]

Agree with above - don’t wet the pellets if they have shavings on top. Pellets will absorb more whole. I have one stall walker and he goes in the 12 X 16 stall so he walks around the pee spot, not over it. You could try a small hole hay net over night to minimalize walking.

[SquishTheBunny]

Yes the one culprit is a rescue and not used to being stalled. He must circle lots throughout the night. Ill try a slow feed net (although I do want him to eat as much as possible!) And will do dry pellets in the middle of his stall for now. The other who is on straight shavings is pretty clean…but it’s looking like pellets is the way to go for the other two

[Mosey_2003]

Maybe put out most of his hay ration in the regular manner and just some of it in a slow feed net? Then he’d get to eat his fill and still have something to pick at throughout the night too.

[bdj]

What Mosey said about combining loose hay and slow-feed. My pony gets hay in her slow feeder net when I bring her in at night, and then I toss her a flake on the floor at night check (around 10pm). Best of both worlds, as far as I’m concerned - she has as much hay as she can eat in the slow feeder (though she has to work for it a little), but she’s not hoovering it all up in a half-hour or so. Most mornings the loose hay is all gone, and there’s still a little bit left in the slow feeder.

I feel your pain on the stall walker, though - my old guy (mostly) hated being stalled, and ended up grinding manure throughout his entire stall. Thankfully, the pony tolerates being put up over night with a little more grace (and a lot less mess).

[Simkie]

I have a love/hate relationship with pellets, but don’t have the storage space to use shavings.

I start with ~6 bags pellets in a 12x12 stall and expand them in the bag with a couple gallons of water. Poop and pee is cleaned daily and the stall is totally raked through. I add about a bag–DRY–once a week, in whatever spot in the stall is the “clean” spot (where the horse is unlikely to go.)

My gelding that walks gets a big ol pile of bedding in the middle of his stall. He has a 3-4’ clear path around the edge. By morning, his bedding is pretty well distributed, but piling it in the middle before he’s brought in keeps it from being totally trashed. The mares get an assortment of bedding distribution, generally based on where they like to pee. Dove, for example, is a wall pee-er, so she has to have bedding out the the edges of her stall.

My horses are outside from about 6 am to 6 pm. The girls are pretty consistent about needing a bag of pellets a week, but Pigs sometimes takes two, depending on how much of a party he’s had in there overnight. They’re ALL big wetters. Everyone is fed in small hole hay nets, but I don’t think it slows them down much–just keeps them from peeing all over the hay.

It’s taken me months to have a “system” with the pellets that seems to work well.

[saultgirl]

If you have a bad stall walker, might as well just throw down a few handfulls of pellets/shavings (like just enough to soak up the urine) and strip it completely every day.

Other options include 24/7 turnout or tying him in his stall with a haynet & water within reach.

[Pennywell_Bay]

Try the pellets without wetting them first, bed deep with your fine shavings. It works like a charm for me.

[SquishTheBunny]

Thanks! I’ve come to the conclusion that each horse is very different. One does great on shavings…I take out the really wet stuff and leave in the semi wet then cover with cleaner shavings…then next time around do the same thing. His stall is always dry for him to stand in.

Next guy is on pellets…he isn’t a walker but he is a foot dragger so moves shavings around too much. I take out his wet spot and basically do the same as horse #1.

The stall walker… well this guy is working on a deep bed. The wet bedding (which isn’t really wet because it’s stirred up everywhere!) Goes to the bottom with clean shavings on top. Only day 2 but so far working well. The shavings at the bottom can absorb more urine whIle the shavings on the top keep him dry. I’ll likely have to strip in the spring but that’s no problem. Ugh…all this would have been a non issue if flax was still avail! How I miss it!

[saultgirl]

Let us know how the deep bed works… I’ve always found it to be a smelly disaster for stall walkers or diggers!