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Discussion on Complete muck of stalls
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Member:
Muffi
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Posted on Wednesday, Nov 8, 2006 - 5:38 pm:
We just put the horses in to the barn - Just finished building it. I have Mats over hard pack. then Shavings - about 3 5 inches deep. I try to keep it pretty clean all the time - Picking the land mines and the Hamster cage stuff (wet smelly stuff)
My question is HOW OFTEN should I completely change out the bedding and wash the area (hose it down?) Being new to Barns and having friends without barns I really don't know? And is there a product or just plain water I should use when I "wash" it out? I don't want to destroy the mats or create a toxic environment.
thanks guys for your help
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Member:
Mwebster
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Posted on Wednesday, Nov 8, 2006 - 9:54 pm:
There are 2 reasons we completely strip a stall and rebed: 1) the horse makes an awful mess and there just isn't anything to "save" by sifting out manure and urine-soaked shavings (my gelding, once a week), or 2) the horse keeps its stall incredibly clean, so the stall gets very dusty after a while, since we never have to remove/replace any bedding (my mare, who goes outside except in summer when it's buggy). I usually shovel some of my mare's dusty (but clean) shavings into my gelding's stall to replenish a couple of times a week, as the fine stuff does such a good job soaking up urine, and then I top off her stall with some fresh pine shavings. We don't use any other sort of product to "wash up" or absorb odors, but we do have interlock rubber mats (over stonedust) which are nice and level, and we sweep up the wet spots (broom and flat plastic snow shovel) to get the stall clean and keep things fresh.
M
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Member:
Mrose
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Posted on Wednesday, Nov 8, 2006 - 10:41 pm:
We have rubber mats over concrete floors which we bed about 3" deep with pine shavings. Our shaving vary a lot, from very fine to big and fluffy. It just depends on what the mill has when we go pick them up.
We take out wet spots and manure at least once a day, more often when the horses are shut up all day due to weather or illness/injury. If the horses are turned out for the day, I scrape back the shavings and let the mats air during the day, then scrape the shavings back in the afternoon. I used to use PDZ stall freshener in the corners and anywhere that was extra wet, just to make sure the barn didn't smell. But, none of our local tack/feed stores carry it anymore. Now if I feel a spot is smelly (usually in a corner) I put some baking soda down.
Our stall walls are metal. I scrub them down once a year with a strong soap and water and scrub brush. We pick the mats up at the same time and scrub them and the cement floors underneath. If I have a mare that's going to foal, or have had a sick horse, I empty the stall of shavings and scrub the walls and mats with Lysol solution and let it dry on the walls and mats.
Other than that, we just keep the stalls clean and keep adding shavings unless the shavings get "yucky" from a horse grinding the manure into them or from having to have 2 horses share a stall for a night, then we shovel out all the shavings and start over with clean ones.(Our stalls are 14'x16' so there's room for two friendly horses or a mare and foal in one stall if I have an extra horse or two and run out of stalls.)
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Member:
Dres
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Posted on Wednesday, Nov 8, 2006 - 10:53 pm:
Sara has nice size stalls.. and I have the BIGGER HORSES go figure.. My stalls are 12x12 .. and are on mats.. I love the pelleted bedding I use a sack of that with a bale of shavings over that... the shavings stay dry and the pellets soak up the wet.. , its very easy to clean and I do save in bedding costs.. OF COURSE with an injured horse I triple how I bed them... but again the clean up is easy..
Also after a bit it does get a bit dusty... hehehe what I do is take the dusty bedding and put into the messy horse's stall and she will pretty much wet it all up.. thus no waste in stripping the stalls..
Ok slap me..
On the first day God created horses, on the second day he painted them with spots..
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Member:
Mrose
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Posted on Wednesday, Nov 8, 2006 - 11:21 pm:
Ann, do you use Woody Pet? I used to use it but it got terribly expensive here. I then went to stove pellets under the shavings, which work as good as the Woody Pet imo, but then they got really expensive. I was wondering if you'd found a less expensive brand of pellet.
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Member:
Banthony
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Posted on Thursday, Nov 9, 2006 - 9:16 am:
I have mats in a 12X12 stall with a thoroughbred in only at night. I never strip the stall. Since he is a gelding he urinates in the middle. I take out all the wet bedding, sprinkle stall dry on it, then pull the shavings from the sides. I also use any shavings mixed with hay in the middle. The new shavings I spread lightly on the middle and replenish those taken from the side. That way I continually rotate the shavings from the side of the stall into the middle of the stall.
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Member:
Muffi
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Posted on Thursday, Nov 9, 2006 - 9:35 am:
Linda - that is exactly what I do - Both my boys are - well obviously male (I have always call them the boys in the back)and they do the middle trick. I scoop out the wet stuff then toss the side stuff in the middle. I take out a garbage can a day from each stall, I work from home so I am out there 3 & 4 times a day to clean and basically molest my boys (Hug Hug Hug...) - I am a bit AR about that. Well Now I feel good about not total wash out weekly. Good. I Like Majority Rules!!! I liked the other trick too of pushing it all aside when I "force them out" on sunny days to stay outside in the exercise yard. that way they can dry the rubber mats out (does rubber need to dry out?) ok Air out.
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Member:
Mrose
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Posted on Thursday, Nov 9, 2006 - 10:06 am:
Anne, we built big stalls so we could use them for foaling back when we were doing a lot of breeding our own mares. I love the big stalls; the downside is it takes a lot more shavings to fill them.
I do a version of the scrape the sides into the middle, but in my case all but one of my mares pees in a corner, so I keep moving the old shavings towards the corner, and put new shavings on one side.
Next discussion should be on how many of us have cleaner barns than homes!
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Member:
Cheryl
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Posted on Thursday, Nov 9, 2006 - 10:35 am:
I've always preferred saw dust to shavings - the shavings seem to float on the rubber mats - Fox always had them all banked around the walls with nothing in the middle - the saw dust doesn't do that - the wet spots are really easy to clean - Only I don't have saw dust now so am having to use the wood pellets - expensive - but work really well. I haven't stripped Lady's stall since she went in it - just add a bag of pellets - wet them down and when they have expanded spread them where ever they are needed.
There is no contest about the barn being cleaner than the house - the barn wins every time 
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Member:
Tpmiller
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Posted on Thursday, Nov 9, 2006 - 12:35 pm:
Rubber on stone dust. Stalls completely stripped daily using an electric sifter, wet spots sprayed with "Stable Fresh" (Sterling Creek Enterprises)which contains micro-organisms that eat urine, stall dry, re-spread bedding.
Absolutely clean stalls in about the same time as "picking" and saves on bedding costs.
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Member:
Warwick
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Posted on Thursday, Nov 9, 2006 - 12:46 pm:
My stalls are cement with rubber mats over top and most are 12x24 as I used to breed and I also have very big horses. I use pelleted bedding as it saves me quite a bit in both money and labor. I buy a locally manufactured brand that comes in 40lb bags and I buy pallets of 50 bags at a time for a price break. And the small storage space they need frees up my old shavings shed for tractor parking!
I love the pelleted bedding as it has such great absorbent properties. I use a shovel to take out the wet spots and switch to a fork for sifting out the poops. I don't strip stalls unless I have a new horse coming in.
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Member:
Mrose
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Posted on Thursday, Nov 9, 2006 - 1:17 pm:
Timothy, I've wondered about those automatic sifters, do they really work? How big do your aisles have to be? Would the sifter work on shavings as well as the pellets?
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Member:
Dres
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Posted on Thursday, Nov 9, 2006 - 1:29 pm:
Sara, there are many new wood pelleted beddings now to choose from.. I use a local company MALLARD CREEK the cost is about the same for a bale of shavings..What I found tho, is that using the pellets with the shavings save in the long run on my stall costs.. The pellets absorb the moisture and leave the top layer of shavings dry..
My mares pee / poop in a corner.. they are very clean.. My gelding WILL NOT PEE IN HIS STALL nope don't ask him too.. I have to take him out .. A long time ago I taught him to pee on command.. * a case of too much time in the barn on my part* .. since then... he refuses to pee in there.. hehehehe.. He is the day baby-sitter now, so really only in the barn 8 hours..
On the first day God created horses, on the second day he painted them with spots..
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Member:
Tweeter
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Posted on Thursday, Nov 9, 2006 - 1:31 pm:
I have a question for all of you that use the pellets for bedding. What about all the dust. I tried Woody Pet and the dust was driving me crazy. I used them exactly how they advised on the bag and within a week I took it all out and went back to shavings. The dust terrible. Are you guys adding more water and if it seems weird to wet a stall, I'm always trying to make sure they are dry. We have asphalt stalls so the wet always drains through the blacktop. If they get really wet and the horses can go out I leave the clean bedding pulled away for the day so they can dry.I like the wood pellet idea because of less storage needed.
Kathy
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Member:
Warwick
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Posted on Thursday, Nov 9, 2006 - 2:08 pm:
Kathy, I think it depends on the brand of pellets that you use. I'm not familiar with Woody Pet as I haven't seen them up here. The local brand I use is very low dust. In fact one of my geldings who is allergic to dust - he's a bit of a "big girl's blouse" in many ways - has been completely cough-free since I switched from regular shavings to pellets.
I use a trick I think someone on this board suggested which is to wet down the pellets while they are still in the bag. Lay the bag flat on the floor, score a large "X" on the side facing upwards with a knife or scissors, spread back the 4 flaps created by the "X" and use the hose to fill with water until the water reaches the open score lines. Works like a charm and in about 10 minutes the bag looks like Jiffy Pop popcorn - all puffed up and ready to be dumped and spread. The only time this doesn't work is when there are small holes on the underside of the bag. In that case, I just dump the entire dry bag out, spread it around and apply a heavy misting of water with the hose. But wetting while in the bag is definitely the best way to go if the bag is intact which in my case is around 90% of the time.
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Member:
Mrose
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Posted on Thursday, Nov 9, 2006 - 3:24 pm:
Ann, Mallard Creek does pellets now? Great! I miss that place. I used to drive down there from Truckee with a trailer and load up.
I like using the wood pellets under the fluffy type shavings. In my "outside" stalls (one side is open to outside with overhang) the pellets are great because they don't blow around like the shavings do. They've just become to expensive though. Lonnie just got back from the mill on a shavings run and brought home a load of shavings which cost $2.75/bale for 9cu.ft. bales. Pretty cheap if you don't mind picking them up.
I can bed one of my stalls with two bales of shavings, and it took 6 or more bags of pellets.
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Member:
Canter
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Posted on Thursday, Nov 9, 2006 - 3:45 pm:
At my barn, they use pellets (don't know what brand) and I find them to be a lot less dusty than the shavings, although I love the smell and look of shavings better. For some reason though, since being at this barn, my mare doesn't get hock sores from lying down...when she was at a previous barn, with a nice thick bed of shavings, she would get them occasionally. I would have thought the exact opposite.
Anyway, in the spring, they strip the stalls completely and totally replace all bedding. This is the first barn I've been at where the stalls are ever stripped except for a new horse. Stalls are picked as needed (i.e. the owner picks out poop almost the moment it hits the ground).
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Member:
Tweeter
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Posted on Thursday, Nov 9, 2006 - 4:32 pm:
Sue:
Sounds like maybe I did not use enough water. I opened the bags and spread them out in the stall. My first thought was that it did not look very comfortable to lay on. Then I lightly sprayed water over the pellets and left them for the day. By the evening they were puffy and looked ok. It was a few days later that the dust appeared. Even when the horse moved around in the stall the dust would puff up. I use kiln dry pine shavings now and they have no dust at all but are getting to be expensive at $4.25 a bag. my 5 horses and 1 mini donkey use 75 to 100 bags a month so it adds up. Some of the cost is my fault because I do my own stalls everyday and sometimes I don't feel like sifting the manure so some of the clean bedding goes in the spreader. Maybe what I need is one of those sifters!
kathy
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Member:
Tpmiller
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Posted on Thursday, Nov 9, 2006 - 7:12 pm:
Sara- this is the link to what I use-
https://www.brockwoodfarm.com/
Easily fits through a common size house door.
I've seen one competitor's, doesn't work nearly as well. My vet's getting one after she saw mine, over time, they will pay for themselves in bedding costs, particularly if one is doing multiple stalls. I only use, maximum, 3 inch depth of bedding. Cheap plastic snow shovel and muck bucket.
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Member:
Sjeys
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Posted on Thursday, Nov 9, 2006 - 8:04 pm:
Timothy; what do you use for your bedding; its hard to tell what they are using...looks almost like sand. Which would be great for my laminitic stalls. What a hoot!
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Member:
Liliana
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Posted on Thursday, Nov 9, 2006 - 9:19 pm:
Wow that devise looks great unfortunately I just send an email inquiring if they could send it to Cozumel and it bounced back So I do not know how else to find out if they could!
Would it be too much to ask Timothy if you could write to them and ask?
Many thanks in advance
Liliana
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Member:
Cheryl
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Posted on Friday, Nov 10, 2006 - 9:02 am:
I haven't had any problem with dust - not even when shifting manure and there is no odor - don't use any kind of odor control just fork out the wet spots.
CK
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