# how many bales of shavings??



## teamsarazara (23 October 2011)

How many bales of shavings do you use to start your bed and then mantain it or do you use a few a week and then start again? Thinking about it but not sure of cost!


----------



## joeanne (23 October 2011)

Depends on how thick you need the bed and whether you have rubber mats. 6 bales is thick enough for me on rubber mats

ETA: 1 bale a week to maintain...


----------



## perfect11s (23 October 2011)

teamsarazara said:



			How many bales of shavings do you use to start your bed and then mantain it or do you use a few a week and then start again? Thinking about it but not sure of cost!
		
Click to expand...

 I have rubber mats so one bale to start then daily top ups taking wet out,  horse in at night  approx one bale per 5 days  ....


----------



## Hells Bells (23 October 2011)

Ditto the above.

We have matting, so is normally 6 fresh bales then a top up of one a week. Depends on your horse's toiletary habits and how thick you want it- our old boy sometimes gets an extra bale!


----------



## Cuppatea (23 October 2011)

it depends on what make of shaving you use - bedmax dont go very far but mendip or natural flake  puff up massively when opened.


----------



## Damnation (23 October 2011)

On mats I put 2-3 bales down (Depending on size of stable). Only give her 1/3 stable of thin bed as she is so mucky. I then top it up with part of a bale daily. I generally go through a bale a week, mabey a bale and part of one a week.
She is a very messy mare and its the only way to keep her bed clean without going through 3-4 bales a week!


----------



## Sauerkraut (23 October 2011)

Do they come in different sizes? I just started to get Buddy in the day before hunting and prepared his first bed. I used 3 bales of shaving (1/2 the stable which is approx. 16 x 12) and YO was saying they never use that much?! 

Have to say I'm new to all these different beddings. Came back to horses after a 15 years gap and we just used straw way back


----------



## maresmaid (23 October 2011)

I have rubber mats and an average (roughly 12' x 12' ) stable. I start the bed with about 4 or 5 bales, and work on a semi deep litter system - only taking poo out daily, then a full muck out of all the wet at the weekend & I use about 6 bales a month to maintain the bed.


----------



## Archiepoo (23 October 2011)

i have eva rubber matting 34mm thick and just put a sprinkle of shavings on the top. one bale of shavings lasts my 3 stables around 2 weeks. when i used just shavings my stables used 6 to start and 1 each stable per week. save a fortune now!!!


----------



## ofcourseyoucan (23 October 2011)

i have rubber mats, and in a 12 by 12 i would start with 10 to 12 bales, in the corner boxes which are much bigger between 10 to 14 bales. muck out and wet out every day. takes 1 bale a week (half on wed, half on sat) to keep clean and fresh. nice big beds and nice big banks.


----------



## Teeni (23 October 2011)

I have rubber matting, stable approx 12x12 and used 2 bales to start bed.
I have an extremely dirty mare who wee's for England and was using 2 bales a week to maintain a decent very clean bed.


----------



## **Vanner** (23 October 2011)

I used 6 to start my bed then half every other day ~ so about 1.5 bales a week.  Keeps a lovely clean fresh bed.  I muck out fully every day but boy is in all the time.


----------



## L&M (23 October 2011)

Have just set up a shavings bed in a 12ft x 12ft stable with no rubber mats and only had to put 4 standard bales in - with a foot or so at the front left exposed to put hay down etc.

Still looked thick enough the following morning and no concrete exposed where the horse had got up and down, but was suprised at how few bales we needed (had allowed for 6).

On the basis the horse is turned out daily for approx 6 hrs, with full muck out daily, the bed will probably be topped up twice a week with half a bale, so usage of 1 bale a week.

Hope that helps!


----------



## You Wont Forget Me (23 October 2011)

I used 7 bales to start and 2 a week to maintain! - my boy is really messy though i used to only use one bag to maintain every week to two weeks with my old pony


----------



## muddygreymare (23 October 2011)

I use 3-4 bales to make a completely new bed and she has between half and a full bale down per week depending on how messy her bed has been. She has rubber mats down but still has a big-ish bed 
ETA I use natural flake - alternately use bales of small and standard flake


----------



## Honey08 (23 October 2011)

I used to use about 4 to start off the bed ( on rubber mats) and then one bale a week for my clean mare, and two for my dirty pig of a gelding!  Dirty pig turned out to be much cleaner and  easier on straw!


----------



## shadowboy (23 October 2011)

I used 4 snowflake bales to start then one bale every 10 days. My boy is very quiet and clean when in.


----------



## BijouBabe (23 October 2011)

We have a stable at home with no rubber matting and it is fairly big. Started off with 8 bales down. ( we give her a big bed with banks) She gets 1 maybe 2 sometimes every week and then once a month or so we have a really thorough(?) clean, and i mean not leaving a single bit of poo etc. and then put 3 or 4 bales in


----------



## DougalJ (24 October 2011)

**Vanner** said:



			I used 6 to start my bed then half every other day ~ so about 1.5 bales a week.  Keeps a lovely clean fresh bed.  I muck out fully every day but boy is in all the time.
		
Click to expand...

The same as me then - I try and see if I can get away with 1 a week but it always eeks out to 1.5 bales. I'm thinking of deep littering this winter by placing a layer of Megazorb on the bottom with shavings on top. Then (in theory) just pick out the poo say for 5 days then lift out the wet and then repeat. The trouble is I do have a bit of OCD with mucking out and don't know if I can cope with the wet being left....I'll give it a go!


----------



## claireandnadia (24 October 2011)

I've just got Nadia's bed ready for winter and have no mats and started with 6 bags. I will semi deep litter, only doing a full muck out every 1-2 weeks. Last year I only needed to put a bag down every other week but we shall see this year as we are at a new yard and it concrete this time instead of wood at the old place.


----------



## **Vanner** (24 October 2011)

Hmm i too have ocd when it comes to my boys beds.  

Have to say that high days and holidays i do add the extra bale or two just to get that lovely white fluffy bed again


----------



## Malibu_Stacy (24 October 2011)

**Vanner** said:



			Hmm i too have ocd when it comes to my boys beds.
		
Click to expand...

I'm in the OCD over my horse's bed camp too:







This was made up yesterday with leftovers of last winters bed (have used up bits over the summer) and a bale and a half of hunter shavings.  I then tend to use 1/2 a bale every 5 days to keep it like that, as my mare is pretty clean.

She doesn't really need such a big bed as there's rubber matting down, but it doesn't really cost me any more shavings and it does look nice...


----------



## MizzPurpleKitten (24 October 2011)

I too have Bed OCD, I have perfect bankings and a lovely neat flat bed for each of my lads.

They both have fully rubber matted stables except for a foot or so at the front to allow for water/hay etc. This leaves them with about 12X12 to bed on top of rubber mats. I generally use about 6 bales to start a new bed, fully muck out every day and use about a bale a week each to keep on top of it, they're both very clean.


----------



## Pally (24 October 2011)

It really depends on how clean your pony or horse is, how big the bales are and how big the stable is etc.
My old lad was really clean, amd i mean really clean, always pooed in the back corner and would wee just in front of that so the reast of his bed where he would lie down was always pristine.
The stable was on the smaller side and I used good quality rubber mats.  I'd start the bed with 3 or 4 bales depending on the time of year, I'd take out the wet and poo every day and top up at weekends, usually either half a bale or one bale depending on how clean/dry he'd been.  Summer was usually half a bale and winter one bale, but like I said he was really clean.


----------



## Pally (24 October 2011)

When I topped the bed up I would also move the banks into the centre to become the base and put the new shavings into the bank.


----------



## BobbyMondeo (24 October 2011)

How do all of you afford all these shavings?!?!!? 

I use 1-2 bales a week and i struggle to pay for that.... My boy doesnt get a big bed though or i would be using a bale a day


----------



## CBFan (24 October 2011)

BobbyMondeo said:



			How do all of you afford all these shavings?!?!!? 

I use 1-2 bales a week and i struggle to pay for that.... My boy doesnt get a big bed though or i would be using a bale a day
		
Click to expand...

Are you sure about that? I actually find that the bigger the bed, the less I use.

My boy's stable is 20ft by 15ft and he has a bed of about 15ft by 8ft and 6 inches deep with big banks... it took me about 15 bales of rapport to get it perfect and I top it up with a bale a week... occasionally two.


----------



## SizzlerB (24 October 2011)

BobbyMondeo said:



			How do all of you afford all these shavings?!?!!?
		
Click to expand...

Exactly what I was thinking!  I have rubber matting and only put down 2-3 buckets worth.  I would love to have deep fluffy beds but just cannot afford the payout with two in over the winter.


----------



## shadowboy (24 October 2011)

CBFan said:



			Are you sure about that? I actually find that the bigger the bed, the less I use.

My boy's stable is 20ft by 15ft and he has a bed of about 15ft by 8ft and 6 inches deep with big banks... it took me about 15 bales of rapport to get it perfect and I top it up with a bale a week... occasionally two.
		
Click to expand...

Totally agree- the deeper and bigger a shavings bed- the cleaner it seems to stay- this allows the wet to soack down and the dry to stay on top- it also seems to bind together better.


----------

