Posted 2006-11-19 8:15 AM (#51675) Subject: Stall Bedding for a horse only at night time
Member
Posts: 10
Location: East cost of USA
How often should you strip a stall with pine shavings when most of the time you only get the manure out every day, when the horse is usually only stalled up at night
Posted 2006-11-19 8:27 AM (#51677 - in reply to #51675) Subject: RE: Stall Bedding for a horse only at night time
Expert
Posts: 1723 Location: michigan
You can get away with daily picking for a week...give or take. I generally stall horses only at night unkess the weather is good then they stay out all the time. My routine is to pick out manure and wet bedding,rake sawdust from the sides in to the middle in to a mound. The horse will kick it around. It also depends on how much our put in there. I put two large wheelbarrows in at a time but I know people who put more or less. I can also add more bedding without stripping the whole stall out. So you can see what works for you. There is no good way or bad...just whatever works for you.
Posted 2006-11-20 6:25 PM (#51730 - in reply to #51675) Subject: RE: Stall Bedding for a horse only at night time
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 378 Location: Nebraska
Don't know what your barn is like, but make certain there is plenty of ventilation. If you can smell the urine you need to clean more often or get more vents.
Posted 2006-11-21 4:19 AM (#51743 - in reply to #51675) Subject: RE: Stall Bedding for a horse only at night time
Expert
Posts: 1205 Location: Danielsville Georgia
Wow a week or so? I stall a few at night.Deep bed stalls and go months(couple at least) as a rule with maybe adding some sometimes.Very seldom strip a stall.Pick good and add as needed.Pick every morning and most weekends wife gets into the zin of stall picking and really goes through them.My barn is vented,front is open and back is almost.Haven't bought PDZ or such in years.Only time I smell urine smell is at time of cleaning.
Posted 2006-11-21 9:02 PM (#51774 - in reply to #51675) Subject: RE: Stall Bedding for a horse only at night time
Regular
Posts: 93 Location: Cherokee, Ia
I found the best bedding this summer. Go to www.abmanimalbedding.com This stuff is GREAT. Crumbled, densified (kinda like crumbled pellets) bedding that is not dusty, absorbs much better than shavings, cuts down on the ammonia smell, all wood, no chemicals. We used it in our trailer this summer, trail riding or showing every weekend.(HAULING 3-4 HORSES) You can pick out the manure, and just fluff the wet spots, it dries out, then keep using it. Not as much waste as shavings. Best of all, no dust for your horse to inhale. We put 5 bags in our trailer this summer, lasted a good 3 months ( pick up the manure and fluff) Only costs about a buck more a bag.........try it. I wouldn't have believed it myself when they tried selling it to me!! It's great! Plus it's 100% biodegradable and compostable.
Posted 2006-11-22 6:56 AM (#51779 - in reply to #51675) Subject: RE: Stall Bedding for a horse only at night time
Expert
Posts: 1205 Location: Danielsville Georgia
Pine shavings same as most but you already knew that.Just how much manure do you think goes in a stall from 7 in the evening till about the same time in the a.m. We deep bed a stall five or six bags of compressed shavings in each one and unless the horse is a real pig my stalls always look pretty good.I also don't water in a stall if only used for night time.
Posted 2006-11-22 7:35 PM (#51814 - in reply to #51675) Subject: RE: Stall Bedding for a horse only at night time
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 378 Location: Nebraska
I'm glad you take all of the manure out and as long as they look good , but what causes problems is the ammonia. Everytime a horse raises it's tail or stretches out to MT the bladder, 1-1.5 gals of urine is passed and no matter how deep or absorbent the bedding material is, it won't hold that much. So if your floor is wood or dirt it will get saturated fast. Ammonia is a heavy gas that is caustic to the eyes, mucus, and lungs. At 10ppm it causes respiratory problems in calves. OSHA standards of 50ppm, humans must be in SCBA, this number is not pulled out of thin air. Measurements have been recorded at some of the finest barns in the country to be over 400ppm at floor level. With all this urea in the dirt and floors it's a 24 hour diner for bacteria and mold. And think of the foal stalled with momma that spends most of the day laying at her feet, it doesn't paint a healthy picture. Oh well if your happy with your stalls disreguard this, happy holidays
Posted 2006-11-28 8:50 AM (#51995 - in reply to #51675) Subject: RE: Stall Bedding for a horse only at night time
Veteran
Posts: 127 Location: PA
I have to agree with Hank, it is not the manure that is the problem it is the ammonia buildup from the urine.
I pick out my stalls 1-2 times a day depending on how long they are in and fortunately for me I have horses that use the same corner for leaving their "deposits". But I do have a gelding, who pees in the same spot in the middle and a mare, who pees in the same corner as her manure........ these "spots" have to be scraped clean every day or the ammonia smell will gag you.
The catch is that you won't smell how bad it is until you shovel or scrape off the sawdust on top. The sawdust covers the smell but the ammonia is still there and the horses will have to breathe it. My barn is well ventilated also, my stalls even have half doors with the top half open 99% of the time and you can still smell the ammonia when the sawdust is removed from the pee spots.
As long as I clean these spots every day I rarely have to "strip" a stall, the rest of their stall is neat and clean and doesn't smell.
Posted 2006-11-28 7:47 PM (#52018 - in reply to #51675) Subject: RE: Stall Bedding for a horse only at night time
Expert
Posts: 1723 Location: michigan
You can reduce the ammonia bulid up in a barn by allowing for good ventilation. Yes, cleaning out the wet spots is ideal but without a good fresh air flow, its not always enough. Too many barns, especially in the north, were bulit to keep the wind, snow and cold out which also keep stale air in.
Posted 2006-12-01 9:33 AM (#52090 - in reply to #51675) Subject: RE: Stall Bedding for a horse only at night time
Veteran
Posts: 225 Location: Urbana,MD
I agree...clean the stalls out daily after each use,and if your in there picking out the poops ...what is so hard about doing a quik swip to get the urine?I keep my horses in at nite when the ground starts freezing or in bad weather.I use the nice fluffy pine shavings.I clean them every day.You can also use some lime to keep urine down.Or if you wnat to go more natural you can use sweet PDZ.It also helps.You can also pull back the bedding over the urnine spots and lime and let them sit that way for the day to air/dry out.I am furtunate to have designed my barn ,and all my stalls have huge 4ft by 4ft windows in their stalls in which they can hang there heads out to breath.My barn windows face the south so they get a nice breeze in the summer ,and most of the cold wind from the north in the winter hits the other side if the barn.So with that the windows are open 99% of the time all winter so they can get fresh air.
Posted 2006-12-08 10:59 PM (#52348 - in reply to #51743) Subject: RE: Stall Bedding for a horse only at night time
Regular
Posts: 96 Location: MasonDixon
Originally written by hounddog on 2006-11-21 4:19 AM
Wow a week or so? I stall a few at night.Deep bed stalls and go months(couple at least) as a rule with maybe adding some sometimes.Very seldom strip a stall.Pick good and add as needed.Pick every morning and most weekends wife gets into the zin of stall picking and really goes through them.My barn is vented,front is open and back is almost.Haven't bought PDZ or such in years.Only time I smell urine smell is at time of cleaning.[/QUOTE]
If the only time you smell urine is when your in the stall, what do you think the horse smell's when they're standing in the stall all night long? Or they want to lay down? Roses and lilac's?
We use pelleted bedding, and I can and have laid down in a freshly picked stall and didn't smell ammonia.
Posted 2006-12-09 2:33 AM (#52354 - in reply to #51675) Subject: RE: Stall Bedding for a horse only at night time
Expert
Posts: 1205 Location: Danielsville Georgia
My barn is well vented.If only used at night just how much manure and urine do you think a horse produces at night. My stalls are always reasonable clean.As I stated I pick daily with out fail.Wife cleans them on weekends and really goes through them.Have no need to strip a stall if used only at night for a long long time.Deep bed them,pick well,clean pee spots and fluff from sides of stall back to center.Add shavings as they get thinned out.Leave sme urine areas uncovered for the day if bad and cover them in the evening.I use to have a neigbor that removed as much shavings in a evening that I removed in a week.He also feed as much grain in a day as I did in a week with same about of horses I had.Yet I rode mine a lot and he never rode his.To each their own.
I sell it up here in Canada, it is manufactured in NC, and its a fabulous new bedding! You use a lot less than shavings or straw, the dust, mold and allergens are removed during processing and it contains the urine /ammonia smell as well
Plus you dont wet it like you do the dehydrated wood pellets!
Stall Bedding for a horse only at night time
