Looking for an out of the box type of bedding for stalls

The bedding my friend used didn’t look much like this - it was more similar to shredded paper - so not really comparable to this product, which might work much better.

I use hemp - no dust.

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from Brown Derby quote link

http://www.randranimalbedding.com/

  • A University of Florida Horse Research Center study comparing paper bedding material against straw and wood shavings stated, "The horses on straw required an average of 17.9 lbs. per day. [B]Those on wood shavings required 39.5 lbs. per day[/B], while those on paper required only 12.2 lbs. per day."
I believe the study's test horses must have been beavers as we use no where near 39.5 pounds per day.... well I guess if the shaving were soaked in water they might be

I get about 4 days out of one of the shredded paper bags. There is a small learning curve in how you clean the stalls, but they have cut my bedding bill in half, offer no dust, are wat more absorbant, and break down very quickly and the PH is not harmful to your fields.

Interesting that peat moss was brought up. I bed on peat and chuckled at the thought of “no dust” because peat is about as dusty as dust can get. Heavy, thick dust that coats everything.

However… peat has been phenomenally successful for me and my aged, extreme respiratory-challenged gelding. I don’t know if its the peat – or maybe he’s just oddly allergic to everything else but – but his quality of life has dramatically improved since using peat.

I personally manage the dust by covering the peat “bed” (which is thoroughly wetted) in a layer of uneaten hay. Finer than straw, hay “knits” after being walked on and creates a quilt that floats over the peat. There is zero dust. Poo picking is a PITA, but my herd lives out most of the time so it’s relatively infrequent for me.

They do however delight in peeing in their bedded shed. Peat sucks up moisture and kills odor on contact. And it will do it for months. I pick piles daily (if any), pluck out wet spots maybe once a month, and strip the shed and rebed twice a year. Its a huge labor on stall stripping day, but for just two days a year? I’ll take it. Oh, and it costs about $40 to bed the stall again. For 3 horses.

While peat ticks all of my boxes in spades (heaves-horse friendly, makes a good spongy soft bed, healthy for feet, ultra low maintenance, extremely cheap, chuck it on the fields and watch the grass grow), it probably doesn’t tick yours.

This 2015 study is interesting however
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4693198/

https://equimed.com/news/general/the-pros-and-cons-of-peat-moss-bedding-for-your-horse

I just farm sat at a boarding barn that uses hemp. It is absolutely no dust, small particles, edible safe. When horses pee, it forms a “clump” almost like cat litter (until they walk through it). I found that if I only pulled out clumps and pooplets, the stalls would get stinky. But if I removed anything remotely wet (just like I do with shavings), then the stalls were smell-free. I quite liked it as an alternative to shavings. Seemed to have more cushion for horses that might have soundness issues or need to be stalled a long time. They buy in bags. Each bag was $12. A 12x12 took 3 bags. 4 if you want it quite deep. It continues to fluff up over the first day or so. It’s definitely not cheap, but as long as you don’t have a stall spinner, it’s can be stretched out to not be super cost prohibitive.

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I considered using Streufex for my allergic horse, but pine pellets have worked just fine: https://www.southernstates.com/catalog/p-5840-streufex-horse-bedding-pellets-30lb.aspx

Peat moss, shredded paper, straw

Peat moss is very dusty, something the OP said was to be avoided, as someone already mentioned above.
Even watering it down is not enough to keep the dust down.

We used peat moss in one stable and it worked great, easy to clean, horses loved it to take naps, but we had a brown dust on everything in there.

Flax doesn’t have to be slippery. If you give it a heavy spray of water in a 1’-18" grid pattern it will not move. Works even better if you have hot water. However, I hated it. I soldiered on for my allergy ridden beast for a while, but I hated getting it in my shoes - not just annoying like straw or shavings, the stuff is actually almost thorny according to my feet, and it’s not that easy to pick. It didn’t fall through a shavings fork like shavings do. I also found it inconsistent and got 2 batches that were actually dusty. Putting the water grid on it reduced the dust, but that was pretty much the flaxen hair that broke this stall picker’s back :smiley:

I was around a barn that was using flax over rubber matts in a semi deep bed situation, pick the poop but leave the pee underneath, strip once a week. The flax stayed quite stable, not that slippery once it piled up and clumped down.

I use hemp also. Best shavings EVER. Less waste. NO dust. Flies don’t like it as much. Absorbs GREAT. I am located in VA and more and more places here are starting to carry it.

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Looks like hemp is the clear winner! I’ll be getting some shortly and will let you guys know how it goes!

I had a friend who used hemp for a while and hated it because it was so dusty, so ymmv :confused:

You may already have found a solution, but just in case - here are the options I have seen around here. Maybe one of them may work for you: http://www.cherokeefeedandseed.com/equine/stall-shavings/