Bedding For Your Mares

[rcfarm]

What do you prefer and why? Last year we had 1 foal and used straw, hard to clean.

I wanted to get different ideas from everyone. Thanks Carol

 

[Genie]

We always use barley straw for the mares when they foal.

We bed with shavings otherwise but never when they foal.

The straw really makes a lot more work and material in our manure container but I love barley straw.

 

[Jill]

For foaling we use straw, or if the mare won't stop eating it even w/ tons of good hay in front of her, then we bed it down with the good hay. I don't think shavings nor sawdust are recommended until the foal is a week or so old.

 

[shalamara minis]

Belive it or not we just use our grass hay. I won't use shavings. The straw hay that I can get here is just to coarse and I worry about it poking them. The hay is soft and yes they will eat some, never enough to bother them (kinda like free feeding). Yes it is harder to clean but if that was a big deal we would not be having foals, we just deal with it.

 

[Becky]

I bed deeply with shavings until I think foaling is imminent, then add a layer of hay over that. The mare can eat at her leisure without risk of impaction as she might if eating straw. I continue with the hay until the foal is 1 - 2 weeks of age then gradually start eliminating that. I do use the largest flake shavings I can get as they are less likely to cause eye irritations in newborn foals.

 

[DreamStoneRanch]

Hello, I have always used straw for foaling. I have been always told to the reasons were...warmer and the foals do not get the shavings or dust in their nostrils which could cause suffocation. I do have the stall mats and put a small amount of shavings down just to absorb the water and urine. Then I put straw on top of that. Yes it is always a big mess to clean up after the birth. Fun I spend time with the foals and mother while I clean the big mess.

 

[Matt73]

One of the main reasons for using straw and not shavings during foaling and for a week or so afterwards is that shavings tends to harbour more bacteria. The soaked chips (you can never get a stall 100% clean, obviously) sit and get warm and just tend to get bacteria proliferating a lot faster/easier than straw. The umbilicus is subjected to this bacteria when the foal lies down; shavings, especially, can stick to it and transfer bacteria easily to the foals' body. It's a lot safer for the foal to use straw. I actually only use straw now and it only takes me about 5 mins. to muck a stall; you just have to get used to it.

 

[eagles ring farm]

We leave some broken down woody pet on the bottom layer

but bed on top of that with grass hay for just the first week

then we go back to the pelleted bedding but we

use a large tub to break down the pellets before adding them in

with a young foal for fear of them eating the pellets

Our stalls all have mats

 

[Miniv]

Shavings also sticks to the umbilicus, the foal's eyes, nose, and mouth.... It's disastrous in my opinion.

We NIXED straw.....when a sharp piece almost poked a foal in the eye.

Our stalls are all rubber matted, so we sprinkle a small amount of shavings PLUS keep a bale of GRASS HAY stashed nearby and handy to spread over the shavings for when the mare is either testing close on the milk test strips OR actually in labor. Our grass hay is soft and not stemmy and if the mare eats some of it, there's no harm.

PS: Another item we keep available for foaling is a Foaling Sheet (an actual old bed sheet)....I store them with my clean towels in a rubbermaid tote. If there's time, we like to slip the sheet under the mare's hind end.....I'll even do it if the mare lays down out on the barn pasture. (I launder the sheets in bleach.) In the stall it soaks up a lot of fluids and stuff which gets pulled out, and saves some of the hay bedding.

 

[Field-of-Dreams]

We just use our regular hay. We already have it, so we don't have to purchase anything special, plus, if she eats it, no big deal!

Lucy

 

[minie812]

We use shavings on the bottom cause they really absorb moisture better and then layer with lots of hay not straw. Our mares love it

 

[Minimor]

Straw, always straw--that's what we use for bedding all the time and so mares/foals get the same. We prefer oat or barley straw but will use wheat if that's all that is available. Our straw is generally nice & soft & I have no worries about any of the horses eating some of it, and no worries about a foal poking an eye on it.

 

[Katiean]

I use a layer of shavings covered with the icky stems and weeds form my alfelfa hay. It is the stuff my horses won't eat. I just opened the last bag of that junk hay so I am going to run out of something to put on top. I have some icky thin stemed corse grass hay that is most likely cow or sheep hay. Would that be ok to bed the stall with? She will end up eating it and I am trying to keep her off the grass hay until after foaling.

 

[ThreeCFarm]

I bed deeply with shavings until I think foaling is imminent, then add a layer of hay over that. The mare can eat at her leisure without risk of impaction as she might if eating straw. I continue with the hay until the foal is 1 - 2 weeks of age then gradually start eliminating that. I do use the largest flake shavings I can get as they are less likely to cause eye irritations in newborn foals.

I do the same as Becky.

 

[Lucky-C-Acres-Minis]

I bed with large flaked shavings and then when I know foaling is close I put down straw on top... Usually leave mom and baby on straw for 5-7 days and then switch back to just shavings.

 

[Ellen]

We strip, clean and prepare the stalls, then we lay a small amount of shavings. Then cover with good grass hay. Has been a great way for us to do it.

 

[shadowpaints]

we use straw for our mares that are due to foal out. we have never had a big problem with the mares eating it..... we dont gfeed ANY kind of grass hay to our mares that are pregnant because of Fescue. we never have had a problem with straw being poky... yes its hard to clean and lots of waste, but i love the straw. shavings can be so dangerous for the foals... it can produce dust and small particles and the foals may inhale the dust. i know my mentor used to foal out on shavings and lost a foal due to inhalation of the dust... it got pnemonia. we use barly straw and at times if its available, we will use Pea and Oat hay, which is very edible for the mare and very like straw. but peas and oat hay isnt readily available any more so we use barley straw

 

[Candice]

Our foaling stalls are fully matted so when a mare is close I spray the stall down and clean it and then bed with the large flake shavings and use a grass hay on top. I use the shavings until my foals are older. I continue to bed with the hay on top on colder nights. My foals seem to like to snuggle down into it. It does make for more work but what the heck!! My finicky crew won't eat this hay gotta do something with it.

 

[rcfarm]

Candice

Since you live in Fl also, what kind of hay do you lay down? I used straw last year, I found it had lots of sticks, and not very soft. I was thinking about coastal this year. I have 2 foals due in April.

 

[Dontworrybeappy]

We leave some broken down woody pet on the borrom layerbut bed on top of that with grass hay for just the first week

then we go back to the pelleted bedding but we

use a large tub to break down the pellets before adding them in

with a young foal for fear of them eating the pellets

Our stalls all have mats

Same here - although we often wait until they are foaling or until just after foaling to cover the pelleted bedding with a bale of grass hay - or my favorite, an oat/wheat/barley mix (it grows the coolest grass!)

I've found that the foals are less likely to eat the pelleted bedding (broken down or not) than they are the shavings. We've had even older foals (a month or more) try to fill up on shavings - even with free choice hay! Haven't had that happen since we moved to the pelleted bedding. I'm right there wiping anything off their noses or eyes until we get the hay down, of course!