Wood shavings

convert

With the shortage of straw this year I'm considering changing to wood shavings for bedding.

Just wondering how much people pay for shavings? Do you buy it per bale or do you buy it per trailer (i.e. loose rather than baled)? Do you buy it from a retailer or a saw mill? And if you could give me a rough idea of what part of the country you're in too, that would be great (curious to see if there's much of a regional discrepancy!)

Thanks!

ciars84

At the moment there is a place near me selling it for 10 a bale but they are the smaller bales. For the slightly bigger bale I have seen it for 11.50. I Couldnt afford it any more for my 3 so we changed to straw which is prooving very difficult to find at the moment.

Horses are out on a break at the moment so will be interesting to see the replies here before mine come back in... I am in North Dublin.

verona

Hi, here in Monaghan they are still available for €8 a bale, quite a large regional difference!

togster

If you had somewhere to store a load of shavings, it proves much more cost effective.

Wicked

hi i bought mine in bales from a guy in abbeyleix. its 5 euro a bale. check out done deal

convert

I was hoping to buy a few bales initially to see how it worked out and then if it went ok, I'd buy in bulk, which could be handy.

What size are the bales of shavings you guys buy? Is it the standard size, ie, the size of a square bale of straw?

Wicked

there 25kg bags, you can get it in bulk aswell.

needadvice

To be honest its a great bedding to use but price varies. Bales are very pricey 6 or 7 on average. Loose is much cheaper but huge storage required.

Wicked

i contemplated getting it loose aswell but i'd have to store it in a shed away from the stables so i just imagined myself loading up some in a wheel barrow and a big gush of wind blowing it all over the yard. i figured i'd waist more and mess up the place.

the bags are so handy, you muck out, bring in a bag, open it up, spread it out, job done.

are the savings really all that great when buying in bulk??

elusiveguy

Wicked wrote: »

i contemplated getting it loose aswell but i'd have to store it in a shed away from the stables so i just imagined myself loading up some in a wheel barrow and a big gush of wind blowing it all over the yard. i figured i'd waist more and mess up the place.

wheely bin

Wicked

never even thought of that

nahh bags'll do me

xxkarenxx

I started using wood pellets with mine a few weeks ago. So far they are working out really well. There is very little waste, the bags are cheap and they don't need to be bedded as often.

YOURFACE!

I was paying about €8 for a bale of shavings about 2 years ago when I had my last horse. I mixed it with saw dust from the local saw mill who were happy to give it to me for free!! Maybe have a look around for smaller saw mills and see if you can come and take it off their hands?

convert

YOURFACE! wrote: »

I was paying about €8 for a bale of shavings about 2 years ago when I had my last horse. I mixed it with saw dust from the local saw mill who were happy to give it to me for free!! Maybe have a look around for smaller saw mills and see if you can come and take it off their hands?

That's what I was hoping to do - there are a few around me so hoping to pay them a visit soon...

Wicked

xxkarenxx wrote: »

I started using wood pellets with mine a few weeks ago. So far they are working out really well. There is very little waste, the bags are cheap and they don't need to be bedded as often.

never heard of them karen? how much are the bags and how do you dispose of it?

any web links?

xxkarenxx

Wicked wrote: »

never heard of them karen? how much are the bags and how do you dispose of it?

any web links?

I use the wood pellets for pellet stoves as they are only €3.20 for a 10kg bag. They are the exact same as the ones marketed as equine bedding so a significant saving is already made on that front. I soak them in water and then they crumble up, similar to sawdust but not dusty and have caused no problems respiratory wise for my horses. They are so handy for mucking out, just skip out the droppings and then scrape out the wet patches so no waste.

After about 3 months they should decompose to a black powder and can be used as a fertiliser. The muck heap is reduced because there is so little coming out of the stables and then it decomposes much quicker than straw or shavings.

Here is a link, I don't use these ones, but I think this site gives most info about them http://www.guardianhorsebedding.com/pine_pellet_bedding_faqs.htm

I don't work for any companies involved with this btw, I just think it's a really handy bedding!