Any tips for cleaning straw stalls? I’ve always been a shavings person and the new barn I’m working at has straw. The stalls are soft stall mats. I’m finding so much urine left that the straw doesn’t soak up 
and it stinks lol I don’t know if it’s the particular straw this barn has or the way I’m bedding stalls but there must be a way to get cleaner stalls?? We have some stall dry but the amount of urine left behind in the dips and crevices of the soft stall mats is more than what would be helped with that. Maybe those mats are just meant for shavings and not straw. Thanks in advance for any tips!
It’s not you - straw stinks and won’t soak up the urine:(
I wish I had an answer for you but “you-know-where” would freeze over before I’d bed horses with straw:)
5 Likes
In Europe, we bedded with straw.
Straw is not very absorbent, but if you leave the good straw down, horses walk it into tiny pieces and then those are absorbent.
You bed a stall heavily, bank it some, then keep cleaning it of just dirty straw, keep leaving the fines behind and picking them up once wet.
If you have strictly straw stems, those won’t absorb urine and pooled urine will smell.
If you bed lightly, then you have to pick up most of the straw every time you clean, as it all is getting dirty.
Then you never have enough straw breaking down into fines enough underneath to absorb that urine.
Used to shavings, you bed lighter with those, you clean more with them, it is hard to get it at first with straw., but I bet you will catch on quickly.
4 Likes
John Madden Sales had a video on how they do their straw bedding routine - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSjR2zHnzgo
But the heavy pee horses probably do need a bit of shavings (including paper or cardboard) or pellets down first in the pee spots since you are bedding over the soft stall mats.
2 Likes
I’m that weird person who loves straw.
A few strategies for dealing with urine:
-Bed deeply. Not enough bedding is the biggest reason the floor gets soaked.
-Clean the stall by working your way around the stall, sorting the clean straw against the wall and manure and wetness into the biggest urine spot (usually the center). After you get the clean separated from the dirty, fork all the dirty into the wheel barrow. Then take the floor well, even with mats. Rake all the fines into where the wet spot was. They will help absorb.
-If possible, leave the stall to dry while the horses are out by leaving the bedding up against the wall until it’s time to bring horses in.
6 Likes
I’m with Texarkana, I love straw, too. I put pellets underneath and never have an issue with urine. My horses lay down a lot more in their deep, comfy straw beds. We have a local farmer that bales beautiful, bright and non-dusty straw, so my horses never cough any more! There’s a reason they bed broodmares and racehorses in straw.
I use a regular shavings fork and have gotten quite adept at picking poops out of straw. I scrape any clean bedding to the side, then take a shovel and scrape out the wet pellets underneath.
1 Like
[QUOTE=downen;n10721845]
I’m with Texarkana, I love straw, too. I put pellets underneath and never have an issue with urine. My horses lay down a lot more in their deep, comfy straw beds. We have a local farmer that bales beautiful, bright and non-dusty straw, so my horses never cough any more! There’s a reason they bed broodmares and racehorses in straw.
Quote
The reason broodmares get straw bedding after foaling is so foal burying his nose to stand or lay down, does not breathe on sawdust or shavings dust to get pneumonia. Straw does not stick to wet baby. Not because straw is cushy. Straw does not get breathed with foals wet nose or cover his wet navel cord lIke wood products stick to damp things. This is straight from our old Vet. He does not see pneumonia with straw bedding. He foals out a lot of mares each year, visits new foals after they get born to give shots.
We bed our broodmares on heavy straw bedding (couple bales) with a bag of pellets below. There is no pee on the mats, stall cleaned 2-3 times a day if she is inside. We do the straw bedding for about 10 days until navel cord dries and falls off, foal has better control getting up and down, not poking his nose deeply into the bedding.
I hate straw bedding. Much more work to clean stalls, straw is not the least absorbent. Does not do much spread on my fields as mulch or fertilizer. Dries quickly and blows away. I do not have a manure pile, do not compost bedding either. I only get straw when we have a foal due.
1 Like
I used to work at a barn that used straw. I really do like straw bedding, but you have to bed deep and it really isn’t absorbent like shavings/sawdust. We would bed deeply, but we still (for the most part) stripped the stalls every day, especially the mare and foal stalls.
We didn’t have mats in those stalls, so maybe that would’ve helped. Straw has its positives, but it’s definitely a little trickier to clean/maintain. If I had my own barn I would have a layer of pellets/sawdust underneath with straw on top.
1 Like
I love straw too! But hate soft stalls. The dips and crevices are irritating as all get out even with shavings. And certainly not a great fit for straw, which is meant to draw the moisture down. But since you can’t rip them out 
you just gotta do your best. As others mentioned, make sure you are leaving the “fines” on the pee spot (sweep or rake them over there before you replace the bedding) then put your oldest, slightly beat up, but salvageable straw on that spot. Then rebed with all the clean fluff ontop and throughout the stall.
Oh, and for heavens’ sake I hope you are using a proper metal straw fork. Most people I hear say they “hate straw” are mucking it with a shavings fork.
2 Likes
I am not a fan of straw, but when I have had to use it, these options helped:
-
Layer some shavings or pellets beneath the straw. Even a thin layer will help with absorbency.
-
Use a modified “deep litter” method of bedding, where you bed the stall very heavy, muck out the poop/top layer daily, and then strip the stall once or twice per week. The compacted, mashed up straw on the bottom is more absorbent, and the thick bed keeps the horse off the wet bottom layer. The biggest downside to this is that it smells, and uses a lot of bedding.
-
Strip the stall daily and use a drying powder to dry the floor while the stall is empty. Re-bed before the horse goes back in. This is my go-to method if I can’t use some shavings or pellets on the bottom.
-
Absolutely agree with Pally- make sure you are using a metal fork designed for straw! Plastic muck rakes designed for sawdust are no good for straw.
I also love straw.
-chopped straw is the best. It’s easier to pick and seems to be more absorbing.
- if you’ve got a horse who pees a lot, put down a few handfuls of sawdust under the straw where they pee. The straw on top will stay pretty dry.
horses love straw. There have been studies on it. I regularly would go into the barn at night and find all the horses flat out, asleep. At one point, I would monitor them and found several were sleeping laying down for an average of 6 hours a night!
I live over my barn, and straw, well, it STINKS! The only way I’ve found to do it is with shavings or pellets underneath.
I like the idea of being able to just pick up the piles with your fork in a nice, deeply bedded straw stall. When I had a big boarding barn, we had to do it, because you can’t dispose of the shavings as easily, and back then, the mushroom guys would pay you for your straw manure pile.
Oh, and I LOVE barley straw- it is more absorbent, and brighter in color, than wheat straw- but not as easy to find!
