Need advice on stalls

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triplethorsefarm

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I wanted to add a quick introduction.

I'm Theresa from Triple T Horse Farm. I am located in the SouthWest corner of Missouri. Like many others, I had raised and owned full size quarter horses, but a few years ago I took the plunge into the miniature horse world. I have loved every minute of it. I have learned a great deal from you guys and hope to continue learning. With that all said......I have a question that I am sure will yield great responses.

I am having to use an old milking barn for my horse barn until we can build our "dream barn"
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. The past few years I have just used the Bermuda hay as bedding and had to clean the stall multiple times a day! With the cost of hay going up I can't bear to use my good hay for bedding. This is where I need some advice. I am looking for an inexpensive bedding option. Half of the stalls are dirt floors while the other half are on concrete. I have not used the concrete side, because I thought it would be too hard on their legs. The stalls are about 10 x 10. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

[SIZE=14pt]Triple T Horse Farm[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Raising correct and colorful AMHA/AMHR Horses[/SIZE]

www.freewebs.com/triplethorseranch
 
We use straw in most of our stalls but we have 2 horses that are on shavings because they would eat the straw
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I don't know how much straw costs down where you are but it is pretty reasonable in Canada.

Yvonne
 
For the concrete floors, you could always get some of the stall mats (would work really nice if stalls in the new barn were going to be similar size to current barn, then when its done you could just move the mats to the new barn). What little bedding I use, I prefer shavings, for me they are much easier to clean and most of my horses would eat straw and they already get plenty to eat.
 
I think Chandab is right on...

I would buy rubber stall mats to put over the concrete (or just leave the concrete as-is).

For the dirt portion, I would use pine shavings. For the areas they pee, I personally use the pelleted shavings. But I use regular pine shavings for a soft place to lay down.

Use barn lime (produce I use is Sweet PDZ) on the dirt pee spots under the shavings to eliminate smell.

Andrea

Oh duh, just re-read your post. I was thinking half of each stall was concrete and the other half dirt (how cool would that be, by the way?)

Anyway, my ponies are on different stalls... one is on concrete and one is on dirt, so that's easy.

The one on dirt, she gets less bedding, but some shavings and PDZ for her pee spot.

The colt is in a box stall which has a concrete floor. He is a shetland pony, and there used to be a full size Andalusian stallion where he is no so no worries about being hard on their legs.

For the concrete floor, there is rubber mats down. Then, I use pelleted bedding where he pees and then regular pine shavings on top. He's plenty comfy in there, never any hock sores (pressure sores) on his legs. I do put the barn lime on the mats after I strip the stall. I tend to bed it heavy, then as he pees, I take the shavings out until there is just a little left. The last remaining shavings get pushed to the pee spot, then I bed it heavy again. I am fortunate all of my horses are clean, so the manure is just in a back corner which I leave unbedded.

Your setup is fine. Rubber mats would make it perfect though! I like pine shavings better than hay because it is cheaper, easier to clean, less waste, (I have heard that hay also tends to make more ammonia than other bedding options too). The minis are not hard on their legs to begin with, so the concrete is wonderful for them!

Andrea
 
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Welcome to the forum!

I would recommend stall mats, because no matter what bedding you use you could probably get away with less of it. Are there any lumber mills near you? Around here, sawdust can be had really cheap if you have a place to store it. I don't, so I use pellets, which might cost more but I find they last a long time and make the matted stalls very easy to clean. I love the look and smell of shavings, and use them for my big horse, but for the minis they are way too much work to separate from the poop!
 
DITTO with rubber mats.......

You can use them on the concrete or the dirt floors. You can move them into your new DREAM BARN. AND, with rubber mats you don't need to use quite so much bedding. (We use shavings, not sawdust......sawdust gets up in the eyes and nose.)
 
Thanks for all the great ideas. I was leaning towards getting the stall mats, because I had heard they reduce the amount of bedding used. Unfortunately my horses (other than my stallion) are not neat when it comes to using the restroom =) They go everywhere, which makes cleaning the stall all that more fun. My Horses have also been caught eating straw, which by the way is as much as the alfalfa bales here.

Has anyone had any problems with using the pine shavings in their foaling stalls, with the foals? Another question.....when removing the solid bedding what types of disposals do you use? In the past we used the hay so we would pile it out in one of the back pastures and it would break down. Do the pine shavings break down as easily?

Thanks Theresa

Triple T Horse Farm

www.freewebs.com/triplethorseranch
 
We have an old milk barn too... but the horses are in the area we think pigs were... but.. I don't like stall mats (just to give you another opinion). When I used them they always stuck! I do use half of one for hay only in two stalls--but the other horses peed on them. I'd drag them outside to spray them off every time--so now they get something smaller. I have all dirt floors and put lime on the wet spots, and shavings over that. Good enough! I love straw, but it was a bad year for it, so we haven't gotten any. I miss it. Shavings with a thin layer of straw is ideal to me.
 
Thanks for the idea of using lime. I hadn't thought of that before, for the pee areas. I think we are going to try just the shavings on the dirt stalls and the mats w/shavings on the concrete stalls. It is always trial and error when it comes to these kinds of things. Thanks again for the great tips!

Theresa

Triple T Horse Farm

www.freewebs.com/triplethorseranch
 
There are a few saw mills that are local I can get in contact with. I may try that, thanks! Has anyone else ever used sawmill scraps and had troubles with them being too refined? I have heard some breeders say that the dust can cause breathing problems. Any experiece with that?
 
I have dirt stalls and I use shavings exclusively. I won't use the stuff from the local mills because I have had problems with the shavings being full of splintered wood and actual dust that irritates me as well as my horses. Pine shavings are fairly cheap and if you only discard what is actually soiled, they will last quite awhile.

I only put down shavings if I have a horse that has to be stalled for some reason, my horses have the option of being in the barn or out and are only stalled long enough to eat their grain. If there are shavings they will use them for a potty but if there aren't any, they go outside so my job is much easier if there are no shavings.

Hay is getting too expensive to use it but when we had a mare that was due to foal, I used hay instead of shavings until the foal was about a week old then went back to shavings.

Mary
 
Thanks for all the great ideas. I was leaning towards getting the stall mats, because I had heard they reduce the amount of bedding used. Unfortunately my horses (other than my stallion) are not neat when it comes to using the restroom =) They go everywhere, which makes cleaning the stall all that more fun. My Horses have also been caught eating straw, which by the way is as much as the alfalfa bales here.
Has anyone had any problems with using the pine shavings in their foaling stalls, with the foals? Another question.....when removing the solid bedding what types of disposals do you use? In the past we used the hay so we would pile it out in one of the back pastures and it would break down. Do the pine shavings break down as easily?

Thanks Theresa

Triple T Horse Farm

www.freewebs.com/triplethorseranch

Like I posted before.....stay away from sawDUST, if possible. For foaling stalls we do use grass hay just before the mare is to foal......even spreading it over the shavings works. And if the mare eats some if, there's no harm. After the foal is a couple of days old the stall needs to be stripped anyway and regular bedding can be used by then.

For disposal, we earmark an area to dump for a period of time and turn it. Then, have another area we dump in. But we have several acres we can work with. We are just now using up our 4 year old embankment for gardening.... plus giving some to friends.
 
I have an old dairy barn for my Minis and I LOVE IT.We removed all of the staunchions and filled in the manure trough with concrete.As I could afford it I bought rubber mats for each stall.I used deep shavings on the concrete before mats.The stalls are different sizes due to the window placement in the concrete walls.I have about 30 stalls of various sizes and shapes.The old milk house had a drain and a well with a good water supply-it now has a wash bay with a laundry sink(great for washing blankets and small dogs)and a hot water heater and fridge.The old pound area is now covered and is a great area for horses in bad weather or extreme heat. There are lots of ways into the barn so I can get lots of horses inside from various fields.I just open the doors, whistle and in they come.If you e mail me a drawing of the layout of your barn I may be able to help if you need any ideas.I love my barn-it has so many neat areas.I also love having my hay loft.It holds so much hay and it is always nice and dry.I just throw down a few bales as needed.We have been back on this farm for almost 20 years so it has taken a while to get things done.Good luck.I'm sure your Minis will love the barn.
 
Thanks for all the great ideas. I was leaning towards getting the stall mats, because I had heard they reduce the amount of bedding used. Unfortunately my horses (other than my stallion) are not neat when it comes to using the restroom =) They go everywhere, which makes cleaning the stall all that more fun. My Horses have also been caught eating straw, which by the way is as much as the alfalfa bales here.
Has anyone had any problems with using the pine shavings in their foaling stalls, with the foals? Another question.....when removing the solid bedding what types of disposals do you use? In the past we used the hay so we would pile it out in one of the back pastures and it would break down. Do the pine shavings break down as easily?

Thanks Theresa

Triple T Horse Farm

www.freewebs.com/triplethorseranch

For my horses, I have them on concrete but with rubber mats. I use pine shavings as my preferred bedding. It smells great, its clean, its super absorbant AND it breaks down much faster than straw does. My husband keeps wanting to switch to straw, but I dont think thats feasible in our situation, plus I think straw is kind of a pain. As someone else noted, make sure you use shavings, sawdust is far to fine. Also, if you go the route of a saw mill, make sure its clean, because alot of times they don't clean it and you can get debris that can be harmful to yoru animals.

Where I work, we use both pine shavings and straw, and sprinkle any and all wet spots with lime. I need to remember to pick some up for at home too, I think any hardware store has it, but I can't recall what type of lime we use, i think type S, but don't quote me on that.

We have some laminitis mares that go in shavings only stalls, because the oat straw is extremely high in carbs and hard to digest and can set off laminitis if you have horses that are prone to it.

For mares and foals, straw is best, esp for foaling, in my opinion. Its not as absorbant, but its cleaner and won't stick to a new foal, or get in thier nose, or stick to or get inside the mare. This is the first time i've heard of using hay for bedding.
 
Perhaps it's being on the "rainy side" of Oregon (as opposed to miniv being on the dryer, east side), but we use wood pellets and never have a problem with dust, even with this year's very dry summer (I have asthma, so it would bother me before anyone else).

I've found that shavings never absorb enough liquid, while the pellet bedding is like using scoopable kitty litter. You end up with very little waste (other than the equine kind, hehe). On mats, however, you definitely want to dampen and expand the pellets before letting the horses in on it to avoid the marble effect.

A side benefit to the pellets is that it breaks down beautifully when composting. The combination of manure and sawdust make a great clay buster, to the extent that, unlike most of my Hardy Plant Society friends, my garden soil is friable even in the dead of winter.
 
I, too, am in SW Missouri. We are using the rubber mats. We found the best prices on them at an MFA Farm Store. There are cedar saw mills in our area, so we like to use the cedar sawdust over the mats. It's much easier to clean out the manure............and the barn smells so good!
 
I like the thought of the pellets, but I have never used them as they are outrageously expensive in my area and I don't have water at the barn (yet, but it's on my wishlist!) and don't you have to spray them lightly to get them to expand? How much do you pay per bag for the pellets and how many bags do you use per stall (my stalls are 10' by 10' as well)?

I get a wonderful product from a sawmill in my area. I don't know what to call it as it isn't sawdust, it isn't woodchips, but it isn't shavings either. It's larger and heavier than dust, but like tiny, tiny woodchips. It isn't "dusty" at all and it's very absorbent.

If you go the sawmill route, BE SURE that your sawmill does NOT process black walnut or cherry!!! BOTH ARE POISONOUS TO HORSES!
 
I like the thought of the pellets, but I have never used them as they are outrageously expensive in my area and I don't have water at the barn (yet, but it's on my wishlist!) and don't you have to spray them lightly to get them to expand? How much do you pay per bag for the pellets and how many bags do you use per stall (my stalls are 10' by 10' as well)?
I get a wonderful product from a sawmill in my area. I don't know what to call it as it isn't sawdust, it isn't woodchips, but it isn't shavings either. It's larger and heavier than dust, but like tiny, tiny woodchips. It isn't "dusty" at all and it's very absorbent.

If you go the sawmill route, BE SURE that your sawmill does NOT process black walnut or cherry!!! BOTH ARE POISONOUS TO HORSES!
Thanks for the tip on black walnut and cherry! Black walnuts are VERY popular in our area, so it will something to check on. When you buy them from the sawmill, do they bag it our just load your pickup?
 
Welcome to the forum!! My barn has dirt floors and I bed with pine shavings. I'm lucky that one of the local mills does a nice job of bagging shavings. They actually sift out the sticks etc. I use their "fines" which is not quite sawdust but not big flakes either. The fines sift right through your fork and you don't waste as much. When foaling time comes I put a thin layer of the fines and then straw on top. I find the shavings absorbs the pee spots much better than straw does.
 
When you buy them from the sawmill, do they bag it our just load your pickup?
The mill that I buy from loads it into the bed of my truck with a front-end loader. They charge $5 a scoop. My truck is small and only part of one scoop will fit in the bed.

I used to get shavings from a sawmill that would allow you to load as much as you wanted yourself for free or they would load them for you for $5 a scoop (because a man had to step off of the line to load them for you and for wear and tear on their loader); I always paid for them to load them, it was worth it to me!

With the Miniature Horses, a (small truck) load lasts me about a month. I burn through the bagged shavings and they are over $5 a bag here.
 
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