What is the trick to cleaning med-large flake shavings?

[Alterration]

I can clean a straw stall easily. I can clean a pellet-bedding stall easily. But shavings stalls take me forever. This must be because I’m doing something wrong. It has to be, no one would choose this if they didn’t have to. They’d pay too much in labor.

I’m switching over to shavings because the dust from the pellets breaking down is too much for two of my horses that have breathing issues. I have another with DSLD that really needs a nice fluffy bed. I can’t use my preferred bedding (straw) because my clay floors do not drain properly and disposal was difficult here. I do know that some people have found pellets that don’t do that but they are not available here.

3-4 bags of shavings in each large stall made a really beautiful bed (my stalls are 10.5 x 21), they all laid down, and I could deal with the pee spots easily, but the manure took me forever to get out.

I was trying the throw it against the wall method which worked, but I seemed to have a really hard time getting all the balls. I have one gelding that has really tiny poops, and they were really hard to sift through, and then another that poops all in one spot, which took forever to clean because it was buried below a layer of shavings instead of sitting all on top like he did with the pellets. Of course, he’s the one with the worst breathing issues so it’s his stall that MUST have something less dusty.

There wasn’t much waste, so I was really doing a decent job sifting, but it was just so slow. I’m wondering if the plastic glove method would be better. Or maybe the basket instead of the regular tined fork?

They are spending a lot of time in their stalls right now because of the weather, so I have to find a solution lest I spend all day cleaning stalls and none of the day working horses.

Please, oh COTHers who use shavings, what do you do?

[JB]

I use the Fine Shavings from TSC. They’re still big enough to look like shavings, but small enough that shimmying the fork gets most to drop through. I shimmy as close to ground level as possible, which keeps most of the manure in the fork from breaking apart.

I hate the large shavings for the reason you listed.

For deeper bedding that has the horse covering up piles, I start by picking all the obvious piles, and then I start by turning the fork over and pulling lightly through the rest of the shavings. This uncovers hidden piles. That uncovers hidden pee spots too.

[Shagyas_Rock]

I hate the large flake shavings too…for exactly the reasons you described. I try to stick with small or medium flake shavings…they fall through the fork so much easier. The time it take for me to Ean a stall depends on the housekeeping habits of its occupant…

[endlessclimb]

Add me to the large flake shavings hater list.

[Obsidian_Fire]

I pretty much do what JB describes also. Key is finding smaller flake shavings. They are not dusty if they have been dried and sifted before bagging. They also don’t pulverize into powder like pellets do.
I’ve worked in barns with clay floors too, not my favorite, but here is something that has worked for me: find bagged sawdust. Use that as your base layer. It soaks up pee much better than shavings. I put mine down about 2" thick or so. Then I top with a good layer of shavings. When I clean, I take the obvious stuff first. Then I rake thru the top layer of shavings, when you know your horses’ bathroom habits this is pretty easy, I rake the shavings aside, gathering whatever is hidden as I go, until I get to my sawdust layer. I find the pee spot, remove it, put sawdust back over it, put the shavings back into place, all done.
Sounds like a lot, but doesn’t take me all that long even with a messier horse.

[cnd8]

Large shavings suck! The only place I use those is for the floor of my horse trailer because they don’t blow around. I prefer finer shavings for all other scenarios. No problems sorting through them to clean.

[LCDR]

I use a Shake’n Fork. When I spent $200 for it I was skeptical, I use TSC shavings in the white bags and the vibrating fork makes short and easy work of mucking. The vibrating action seems to agitate the shavings flakes enough so they flip sideways and drop through the tines.

Here is a link to a CotH thread about them.

Shake n Fork -- anybody try this?

I’m considering this Shake n Fork (https://shakenfork.com/) … but it’s pretty spendy. I bed with wood pellets over mats, three horses. I’m also 63 years old and still working full-time … so if it’s a true labor-saver, would be worth the $$. My concerns are 1.) is it a wasteful gimmick? and 2.) even if it works great, is it too heavy for me? I imagine that if it’s too heavy, it will not be any better than manually shaking my $40 manure fork. Anybody use this? Hate it? Love it? Meh?

[luvmyhackney]

I use a combo of the medium/ large and finer flakes. For the bigger shavings, I just get my pee spots, get any big piles, pull back a section and toss the rest against the wall to separate poop from shavings. Then spread bedding back out.

[Libby2563]

Sorry, no advice because I also hate large flake shavings. I have only ever seen them used with appalling waste (just shovel out the poop piles along with massive quantities of clean shavings you can’t sift through) or that leave the stalls pretty dirty (get the big poop balls / easy pee spots and ignore the rest).

[BlueDrifter]

Mini-flakes for me, and a fine tine fork. I bed on mats and use a modified “deep litter” approach, and only clean up the pee spots weekly. I let those sink to the bottom and cover with clean mini-flakes. Weekly, the pee spots have turned into “pee cakes” and are easy to shovel out. I would guess I bed 6-10". Horse is never urine or manure-stained, and only when the bedding gets thinner does his movement churn the pee areas and cause a mess.

I can tell you that none of the basket/mesh forks work - I bought three types and the problem was the same: the shavings are too light to fall through the mesh/holes.

[Alterration]

It appears to be almost $500 now. $200 I could see dropping on it but not $500. Yikes!

[Bonnie2]

Fine shavings.

[LCDR]

Wow! Even adjusting for inflation over the time since I bought it (when Obama was President) it should only cost a bit over $300 today. And basically it is just a vibrator strapped onto a manure fork. Probably $50 worth of parts go into it.

[Libby2563]

@LCDR

And basically it is just a vibrator strapped onto a manure fork.

Sounds like OP’s low-cost alternative right there…

[2DogsFarm]

If you’re anywhere near a furniture mfr/cabinetmaker, ask about getting their shavings (really more like sawdust).
For months, I was getting free bedding this way.
It can be dusty, but an initial spray from a hose took that down < could be problematical in Winter.
Otherwise I’d find a better/cheaper source for fine shavings than TSC. Local branches have downsized their bagged shavings so I can easily lift 2 at a time.
On a roadtrip about an hour from home, a TSC had the same bags, packed tighter & $1 less than their stores near me.
I just went with a friend on a 2h drive to get shavings from an Amish dealer.
60# bags, priced by the pallet (35 bags) $4.25/bag.
We fit 110 bags in my 16’ stock trailer.
I can easily bed my 12X12 stalls with a single bag, lasts a week unless we have very wet weather.
Caveat:
My horses are out 24/7, coming into stalls to get fed & have the occasional nap.
Proven when I have only a pile or 2 to pick from 3 stalls in the mornings.

[candyappy]

@2DogsFarm

If you’re anywhere near a furniture mfr/cabinetmaker, ask about getting their shavings (really more like sawdust).
For months, I was getting free bedding this way.

I got free bedding this way for years.

The only thing is to be sure of what kind of trees those shavings come from and make sure there are no toxic ones in there ( like black walnut , etc…)

[Alterration]

Unfortunately I’m nowhere near a cabinet manufacturer, and I’m stuck with what TSC gives me because I don’t right now have a vehicle (very long story, will be getting my car back soon, but I’m fairly sure I’ll have to rely on deliveries). So changing bedding isn’t going to happen unless I can get the finer flake from TSC, which they were out of last I checked.

Surely someone has luck with these, because they sell so many! Or do they just suck really badly and people put up with it? LOL

[LCDR]

If you need delivery, look into the Tractor Supply Neighbor’s Club. I did not learn until this year when I was on line ordering some compressed hay bales to be picked up. As you spend money they automatically upgrade your level.

At the checkout for my TSC.order there was a “same day free home delivery.” Sure enough, I had been upgraded to that level and didn’t even know. I placed my order at 10:00AM and 24 bales were delivered to the barn shortly after 2:00PM. They even unloaded and helped stack.

I had intended to just order 4 bales but when I saw the free same day delivery I changed the number and bought all the bales the store had in stock.

[sascha]

@Alterration

Surely someone has luck with these, because they sell so many! Or do they just suck really badly and people put up with it? LOL

I used to manage when that was what was provided where my horse was stabled. Honestly, I don’t know how. And I now find myself back in an almost worse predicament and was thinking last night that I should make a post here to see if anyone else has a solution LOL!

Due to allergies, I put my horse on pelleted (crumbled/whatever) straw this summer. Worked great. Picked and mucked exactly like pine pellets. Yay! Then came late fall and shorter turnout hours and a few days inside due to garbage weather. All that has conspired to create a disaster zone. She was down to mats every day no matter how much additional money I threw at her stall in the form of bag$$$$ of pelleted straw.

I recently switched to dust-extracted fine (2") chopped straw. Great! It’s cheaper than pellets for more volume! It makes an absolutely lovely bed! I mucked cows on chopped straw for years - this should be a cake walk. Nope. It takes me forever

One thing I contemplated last night was a 2-implement method and I may try it tonight and report back. So, I’m envisioning basket fork in my left hand and a mini rake in my right hand to rake poo balls out from between perfectly clean straw and into my basket fork.

I have varying success with wall flinging. With the straw being so soft, some of the balls just sink down so I end up doing it twice. Annoying!

[Weezer]

I have good news for you…shavings provide more padding if they are a bit dirty, so it’s actually ok to leave those tiny poop balls to get worked into the shavings. So pick out what comes easily, scrape out the pee spots, and then mix the shavings all up so what’s left behind gets mixed in. This is, of course, within reason. If the shavings look dry, but a bit dirty, that’s perfect. I learned this approach when I had a foot sore horse on stall rest for a long time.