Corn Cob bedding........anyone tried?

[Loess Hills]

[SIZE=12pt]I was at a local farm store buying mineral blocks and came across this new bagged bedding made entirely from corn cobs............manufactured in Iowa! It's called BestCob. When I got home I looked up the website and found this information:[/SIZE]

• it's free of wood dust & pesticides

compressed into pellets which soften and fluff up with use

won't stick to a horses mane or tail

completely safe if ingested....acts as roughage

decomposes when spread in a field or composted

brightens and shines horses's hooves

Cost is about the same as wood chips, bag is 40 lbs. Soooo..........has anyone tried it, and what did you think? I'm planning on getting some next time we need bedding.

 

[Leeana]

I tried it several months back and it comes in a taller thin back, I put about 2 bags down in a few of my smaller stalls to try out and I did not like it. It did not do anything to mask the smell of urin at all like the pine scent does in other beddings / bedding pellets. If a horse would urinate you could smell it for a while and the stall never did smell totally "fresh" to me and there was a smell of strong urin after a day in the three stalls I tested it in. I am real good at keeping stalls clean too.

Thats just me, I much prefer the pine pellets / shavings. I didn't find they lasted longer either.

 

[ruffian]

"taller thin back" Leeana - what does this mean??

I got 5 bags free at a horse expo last year. I loved it! It had so much less dust than the wood, plus seemed to absorb much better. I am using it in stead of the woody pellets in every stall. I have to believe it's better for the horses' as it's more biodegradable and safer for them if they ingest it. They nibbled a bit at first, then quit completely.

 

[Leeana]

Taller thinner BAG Ruffian...

I think I will just stick with my pellets and shavings and enjoy the pine fresh non urine smell in my barn

 

[MinisOutWest]

I still use and love my shredded paper shavings.

 

[spindleberry]

I have used this bedding for one of my horses as a test. I hated this kind of bedding it was such a waste of money. It didn't soak up the urine. It left the stall smelling nasty and was just all around messy.

I'll stick with the pine shavings.

 

[Leeana]

I have used this bedding for one of my horses as a test. I hated this kind of bedding it was such a waste of money. It didn't soak up the urine. It left the stall smelling nasty and was just all around messy.
I'll stick with the pine shavings.

That was my biggest issue, once the urine soaked into the pellets and they broke down, there was no "masking" the urine smell unless you removed that right away. Sorry..but I have better things to do then stand around on pony pee watch

. I guess you could coat a layer of PDZ or something under it, but over all just was not impressed. It cost more then the pellets and shavings I use too.

 

[Dona]

I tried the corncob bedding too.....and hated it for all the reasons already mentioned. Give me the pelleted bedding or bulk shavings any day!

Just wanted to add.....there are probably different brands of corncob bedding, and some may be better than others. The one that I used was very dark (not nice & light colored like the pine bedding I'm used to) and the stalls always looked dark & dank. It didn't have that nice pine smell, and I had to strip those stalls a lot more often than with the pine bedding, telling me that it didn't obsorb as much....nor hide the urine smell.

 

[Loess Hills]

[SIZE=12pt]Well, it sounds like reports from the field are somewhat disappointing!

[/SIZE]

It sounded like a promising product, all natural and biodegradable. I was looking forward to the fact that it didn't get tangled in manes and tails. But I still think I'll try a bag or two make comparisons.