# Best Bedding for foaling stalls for mares



## MBhorses (Mar 2, 2012)

Ok I need Help with this. I ususally have my mares foal outside in the pasture.I used hay last year for foaling stall, but hay hard to come by this year. What type of bedding do you all use? I clean all the stalls on thursday.I put sunbelt pine shaving, but then I heard don't use shaving, so what do I do now. Help so do I need to try to clean up the bags of shaving now or what?I was also told foals can eat the shaving?Please share what you use and where you get it.I would love to see photos of your foaling stalls with the bedding.

Thanks


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## Genie (Mar 2, 2012)

_We prefer barley straw. This year we bought a straw chopper so we get a nice fluffy stall _


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## MBhorses (Mar 2, 2012)

where do you get that straw? Do they eat the straw? How do you keep it clean?So I will need to take out all the bags of shaving i just put in the stalls?


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## Genie (Mar 2, 2012)

_We are in Ontario, Canada and straw is only 1.00 a bale. Shavings are so expensive in comparison. _

_Not sure what your stalls look like but if I had shavings in my stalls I could put the straw on top of the shavings without it being a problem for the foals. They will eat some straw, especially if it hasn't been chopped._

_With the straw you can "pick it" and then add more straw after it gets packed down._


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## Field-of-Dreams (Mar 2, 2012)

You can keep the shavings in the stalls, put your hay or straw bedding over it. We do prefer hay, as it's softer than straw and if they are going to eat it, it's no big deal. Bed deep if you can.

Shavings can get sucked up into the mare's open reproductive tract and some shavings have been implicated in some foal illnesses.


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## HGFarm (Mar 2, 2012)

I use a bit of shavings and then bermuda grass hay over the top. It is soft and if they eat it, it doesnt matter.


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## Sandy B (Mar 3, 2012)

I used clean wheat straw for years, but got tired of the waste and cleaning it. We have now used Triple Screened Large Flake Shavings (not mini flake or sawdust). We have no issues at all with it and it is so much easier to keep clean and to dispose of. When the foals are about a week old we switch back to the mini flakes.


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## Eagle (Mar 3, 2012)

I put straw on top of my shavings when the girls are due cos just straw will smell of urine. It is very easy to remove to poos with a 3 prong pitch fork, the girls do eat it a little at the beginning but if I give them plenty of hay they prefer that.

Make sure there is plenty of straw so it is nice and warm when baby lays down.


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## Charlotte (Mar 3, 2012)

A deep bed of paper bedding, 6-8" or more, then a deep bed of hay over that. The paper is excellent as it absorbs ALL moisture and is easily removed as a clump with one scoop of the muck rake. The hay keeps baby up on a dry warm bed with no small particles. Our vet has commented that he doesn't have any foal eye issues on the farms using paper bedding. Hmmm, he also mentioned that our barn doesn't smell like a barn (I think meaning no urine/amonia smells)


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## Minimor (Mar 3, 2012)

We also use straw--barley or oat straw if we can get it, wheat straw otherwise. The horses do eat some of it, but that's okay, they never overeat on it, just pick out the choice bits and leave the rest. We get nice soft straw here so it is always amazing to me when people say that hay is softer than straw.

The horses do bedden themselves (at times) with left over hay, but I find that hay is not as absorbant as straw and when it gets soiled it stinks much worse than straw does--I pick out sheds once a day and on a hot day the soiled hay can really reek by the time I go to clean in the evening. Straw--not so much.

You do not need to pick up the shavings you have already put out--just put some straw (or hay if that works better for you) over top. The shavings can cushion and absorb from the bottom, and the layer of straw/hay on top will keep the shavings from sticking to a new foal or getting into his nose/mouth/eyes.


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## Magic (Mar 3, 2012)

Minimor said:


> We get nice soft straw here so it is always amazing to me when people say that hay is softer than straw.




Same thing here, the straw we get here is very soft. I've laid in it waiting for a newborn to nurse for the first time myself, very comfy.





We used pelleted bedding in foaling stalls as a base, then straw on top of that. It's great to have some kind of absorbent base layer beneath the straw, I just rake through the straw looking for the wet spots, clean those up, fill in with more bedding and then recover it with straw.

Good luck with your foalings!


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## K.C. Lunde (Mar 3, 2012)

a little shavings on the bottom of the stall and then a layer of straw!


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## Jill (Mar 3, 2012)

Too many of our mares would eat the straw do we bed down with hay for the first week or so with new foal and prior to birth. Don't know why the go for the straw as with foal and before foaling, we keep (girgeous) hay in front of them!


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## Reble (Mar 4, 2012)

We used to use hay, but was told not such a good ideal.

So always use straw than after a few weeks back to pellet bedding.

Found this write up on the internet, if interested.

* Hay*

*Hay starts to ferment quickly when wet resulting in odor. It is **difficult** to clean.*

* Hay is also more expensive than straw or other **bedding's**. Hay for bedding is not a good idea.*


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## Nathan Luszcz (Mar 4, 2012)

As much as I HATE it, straw. Its very expensive here, and the mares do eat it a little (not much), and its a b$#@! to clean (usually strip any wet spot, don't worry about sifting). I'll put a layer of shavings under it, myself, and about a week after foaling, move them to clean fluffy shavings. I also don't put the straw down too early... as a rule, when I'm foaling my own mares, I use the Chemectrix system and don't watch for more than a day or two pre-foaling.


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## supaspot (Mar 4, 2012)

barley straw over shavings but I cant wait to get back to just shavings


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## Barnmother (Mar 4, 2012)

Straw is definitely miserable to clean and I have found not that absorbant particulary when the mare's water breaks. I have like so many other made sure there was shavings underneath. I have been using paper bedding this year over the winter. I like the way it works in the barn but we do seem to track a lot into the house and I am waiting to see with the big thaw how messy it is outside the exterior stall doors were it gets tracked out into the snow. Seems like a little goes a long way, here it is the same price as shavings and less than straw. I would like to hear if anyone has used if for foaling and if they have found any problems doing so.


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## JAX (Mar 5, 2012)

Nathan Luszcz said:


> As much as I HATE it, straw. Its very expensive here, and the mares do eat it a little (not much), and its a b$#@! to clean (usually strip any wet spot, don't worry about sifting). I'll put a layer of shavings under it, myself, and about a week after foaling, move them to clean fluffy shavings. I also don't put the straw down too early... as a rule, when I'm foaling my own mares, I use the Chemectrix system and don't watch for more than a day or two pre-foaling.


Ok I give... what is the "Chemectrix system"??


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## Nathan Luszcz (Mar 5, 2012)

Its a titration based milk calcium test kit called "FoalWatch". MUCH more accurate than the strip-based systems. Never watched a mare more than two nights using it. Actually gives a number to evaluate, rather than vague colors on a piece of paper.


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## MBhorses (Mar 5, 2012)

where do you all that use paper shavings get it from?


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## paintponylvr (Mar 6, 2012)

I prefer having my mares foal outside but have always had larger Shetlands and horses until now...

Now, I'm foaling more inside since the last two years, pastures have had more equine and less cleaning, so not as good. I've used a variety of beddings. Here in NC it's hard to get "pretty" straw - clean, NON-dusty, not musty smelling (miss being in CO & MT where there was always beautiful straw!!). I lay a bed of shavings for absorbency and then put something on top to keep the foal from getting them into their airways or into mares repro system.

I'm experimenting with shredded paper - last year didn't have enough for a small stall (dog kennel) but what I used worked well. Use mostly hay so that if they eat it, it's ok. I also feed Oat hay in the spring - but usually don't have any for earlier foals, so when I bed on hay it's a combo of coastal/bermuda or timothy or timothy mix.

I'm not sure where you can purchase shrededed paper - I collect paper from us, neighbors, the company I work for and shred it myself - using it for chickens, dogs and horse stalls. Then its composted and in the last two years -it's been awesome. What a great way to recycle. I tried to purchase shredded paper from the local Office Max and Staples, but they said they couldn't sell what they were shredding...

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What are "pellets"??


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