Miracle bedding

[racaille]

As you all know ;D I've been quite evangelical about flax and hamp bedding but boy, I have to say we've found something even better - miles better, in fact. It's called Equinoo here and is pelleted 'wood' which fluffs up into a kind of fine sawdust (no dust though). It is quite extraordinary.
We put it in one box to try it out and put the muckiest mare on it - she stamps round all night and makes a real mess of her box. But this stuff is WOW!!! It's deep litter and can apparently last up to two months - ours has been down three weeks now and is still like new. The poo is incredibly easy to remove, I don't know why but it doesn't seem to break up into little pieces but stays whole and the silky Equinoo just slides off.
The downside is that it is not cheap. It costs about 100€ to fill the box at the outset, but if it lasts two months it's going to be comparable. There is also no waste (the bucket of poo I removed this am was just that - poo - and nothing else) and so a smaller dung heap, with no smell at all.
It's a bit of a revelation. ;D

[duckles]

Sounds amazing. Shavings here would cost (at most with messy horse) 60 euro a month- my boys would be a good bit less. So ,if it lasts 2 months, it would be comparable in price but much more labour saving! Hmm- definitely worth a thought. (Not that they sell it here I am sure). What do you do with it after the 2 months??

[ceej]

what happens to the wee?

[racaille]

It goes through the top layer and is soaked up by the bottom layer (it is a thick bed) but even with my technique of digging deep around the edges to find the poo (this mare really buries it ) I haven't yet found any solid sheets of wet stuff. The Equinoo can absorb four times its own volume, according to the literature. When the bedding is finished you just empty it all out as you would hemp or flax, disinfect the floor and start again, just like any other deep litter.

[duckles]

Hmm, sounds good. What about a status report after the 2 months???

[fimacg]

its sound pretty much the same as the Aquamax I use here. I don't deep litter as I have rubber matting as well but I add roughly one bag per box per week.

1 wheelbarrow load generally does the 3 boxes during the week. and 1/2 - 1 wheelbarrow per box at the weekend

Dexter is the filthiest horse I have ever met and I have tried every sort of bedding with him and this is the ONLY stuff that works, I do have to remove more from his bed at the weekend than I do from the other 2 but it is never more than 1 wheelbarrow load.

I agree it is brilliant stuff, and it can be composted straight away. I have been using it for over a year now and wouldn't go back to any other sort of bedding, I think the price for Aquamax is now pretty comparable to shavings (as shavings have gone up) I buy in bulk 80ish bags which I store in the corner of my feed room they last me about 5-6 months and I pay approx £400 for it.

[zoon]

Thats like liverpool wood pellets which I have thinking about using. Its £240ish pounds for 100x10kg bags. Apparently need about 10 to start bed and then 1 per week so would work out v cheap.

[racaille]

Update - and it really is miracle stuff. It's been down almost three months now and is still going strong. The mare is on it from 5pm to 8am.
We like it so much we have put it in the other boxes now. Boy, it's a joy to use!!!!

[neighlass]

What is the smell like with this stuff? Any bad odours?

[racaille]

Nope. When you're mucking out and (if you do what I do - dig out the edges) you can get a whiff of pee but if you leave it alone it's fine. The test will come when it's really hot here but for now we're going with it. If nothing else it is by far the easiest to skip out.