Those of you who bed on straw...

[EquusMagnificus]

How many bales do you use per week?

Specify is you are talking about regular squares or large squares. :)

Per horse please! :)

Thanks! :winkgrin:

[M. O'Connor]

How much you use per week is determined by:

How much you have the horses in...

How messy they are...

How deeply you like to keep them bedded...

What type of floor you have under the bedding...

On average, if we are keeping horses in only at night, we might put new bedding in twice per week (usually a bale each time). That's assuming a good supply of initial bedding was in the stall to begin with, banked up on the sides and in the corners. Might be more for the messy ones, less for the neat ones. Less if we are keeping them out more. More if they are in all the time. I'm speaking of normal, smaller sized bales.

[Alagirl]

hmmmm it has been a long time.....when we used to do deep litter.

The stall would get about one bale to start off, then , depending on the messiness of the horse a couple of ribs a day on top, stripped once a week.

so 2 to 3 bales, best as I can estimate it, since we had 4 horses to one barn, turnout varied a great deal, as well as messiness. (mine was a pig, I think he turned out the best manure tho)

Edited to say, if you pick twice daily, your need for straw will go up dramatically.

[BramblewoodAcres]

I use about one bale a week per stall, but I do a lot of "rotating" of the straw in the stall. I pick out the chunks and the sopping wet stuff, then rotate the slightly dirty stuff to the pee spot so it kind of gets "recycled." One bale beds pretty deeply in a 14'X10' stall.

[Evalee Hunter]

Our stalls are 12'x14' with "dirt" floors. The horses that are in 24/7 get at least one new bale every day when the stall is picked, some get two bales. These are small square bales that weigh about 70 lbs (tightly compacted). So we use anywhere from about 6-7 bales to maybe 10-12 bales per stall per week.

Horses that are in half time might get half as much straw. As others have said, it depends.

Our used bedding is taken away for use in growing mushrooms. I love that it all disappears with no effort on my part.

[Spike]

My stalls are 10x12 (1), 12x12 (2) and 12x16(1)... when horses are outside for the day (going out at 7am and coming in at 6h30pm).... I use around 1 bale per day (splitted between the 4 stalls)... I start with 2 to 4 bales depending on wich stall. I like the bedding to be deep, and higher near the walls. It can be up to 6 bales when I prepare the foaling stall when a mare comes in to foal. My bales are around 30-50 pounds. I clean the stalls every day, and leave the straw in one pile, so the floor can dry. then before horses come in, I replace all the straw. At the night check (around 10pm) I muck the poops so it is less messy the next morning.

Well, at the end of the winter, I cant wait to switch to shavings again, and at the end of the summer, I cant wait to switch to straw... lol... I guess I cant make up my mind about what I prefer... Shavings are harder and harder to get as the wood companies are closing one after the other in our area, and straw (oats, barley or wheat) isnt the first culture for farmer near us neither... One way or the other, it is expensive. On another side, manure from straw... summer resident of our small town are killing to grab a part of the pile... manure from shavings... well... not the same excitment about it... lol...

hope that helps.

[MistyBlue]

Just curious...those who use straw...what is the average price per bale of straw in your area?
Around here in CT straw is about the same as hay...can run anywhere between $4-$6.50 per 50 lb bale. Finding it for $4 would take some work and buying a trailer load, but can be done.

[Evalee Hunter]

Just curious...those who use straw...what is the average price per bale of straw in your area?
Around here in CT straw is about the same as hay...can run anywhere between $4-$6.50 per 50 lb bale. Finding it for $4 would take some work and buying a trailer load, but can be done.

I have always paid pretty much the same price for hay & straw, which I think is strange, since hay is a product & straw is a by-product of something else (grain) which is supposed to make money. But that is the way it is in this area.

I pay $4.50/70 lb bale so about $130 a ton. Actually, I am buying alfalfa for about $200 a ton, so I am paying more for hay right now. On the other hand, my hay supplier took grass hay to an auction & got $2.75 a bale (don't know how big the bales were so don't know how much a ton).

[Spike]

In our area, we paid in 2008 2.50$ CDN for bales of oat straw between 30-50 pounds each. It is not delivered so we calculate an extra 0.50 to 0.75$/bale to get them to the barn.

We used to pay 2.25$/bale (more around 40-60 pounds ea.) delivered, back in 2005-2006, but we were living in a more agricultural area. It was barley straw, chopped... The best straw ever!!

[sk_pacer]

I just trade for my straw - 4 bales for one hay bale, and that does me a year. Straw bales are probably 1800 pounds or more. and barley straw that went through a rotary combine. Those 4 bales last a long time :)

[BramblewoodAcres]

We are surrounded by wheat fields and I can get straw straight out of the field during harvest for about $1.50 a bale, string-tied. During the winter bales (50#) are typically $2-$2.50 a bale. Which is the #1 reason I use straw over shavings. Shavings, in the compacted bag, are $8+ a bag and sometimes very difficult to get. I use 3-4 bags per stall when stripped. Straw is just more economical for me.

[x-rab]

Do any of you who use straw for bedding have an arrangement for selling your manure to mushroom farmers? I know they want and use manue with straw for growing the mushrooms.

[Evalee Hunter]

Do any of you who use straw for bedding have an arrangement for selling your manure to mushroom farmers? I know they want and use manue with straw for growing the mushrooms.

Yes, sort of. Our used bedding is picked up by a mushroom truck for mushroom growth. We are not directly paid for it, but get things we want in barter (gravel for the driveway, fill dirt, stuff like that). I once talked to a mushroom farm about selling them bedding. They are pretty fussy about how many stalls you have to have (15, I think) & so on - can't keep the bedding around too long, either. I'm very happy with the current arrangement. The man who takes it stops by & looks & when we have a truckload he brings the truck & gets it & offers us something in return. In PA only a certified manure hauler can pick up your used bedding - he is certified & he has connections in the mushroom farming industry so he can sell it & it seems they aren't as fussy (maybe) with him as they claimed they were over the phone.

Regarding straw, I forgot to mention that the price I pay is delivered & stacked price - 100 bales at a time - very convenient for my purposes as 100 bales fit in the hay storage alcove in the main barn.

[easyrider]

Between two and a third to four bales a week, per horse, in the winter. Three and a half to five bales a week, per horse, in the winter. With barley straw (my favorite), it's even less, since it fluffs way up.

I do deep litter bedding in the winter, and straw atop peat moss in the summer but use more in the summer since more straw gets dirtier in the summer.

It costs me between six and six eight-five a bale. I'm not sure what they weigh but I think it's at least 50 pounds.

[Acertainsmile]

We grow our own straw and the amount we use per day per horse can vary.

Our horses are turned out for at least 8 hours a day in good weather, it also depends on who is mucking stalls for us! As hard as we've tried to preach saving as much as they can, some of the folks are lazy and throw most of the good straw out!

When you grow/bale/put up your own or buy it, you tend to waste less!

So, if I do a stall on a not to messy horse, I can get away with freshening up the stall with a few flakes (and they are still bedded fairly deep). When counting bales to make sure we have enough to last, I always count one bale per horse a day throughout the season just to be safe!

[Triplicate]

The manure man picks up our straw manure - no shavings permitted - and I am paid $125 per load. The manure man also brings us fancy mushroom whenever we ask.
We use 5-6 bales of straw per week per horse. 5 bales to start up a stall.
I like clean, bright oat straw the best - none of the little scrappy things that wheat straw has and that get tangled in their tails.
Never use wire bales.
My hay guy brings and stacks in the hay loft. Rarely, and I mean rarely, if we get a funky bale of straw or hay he replaces it or credits the next bill.

[TheBandit]

Do any of you who use straw for bedding have an arrangement for selling your manure to mushroom farmers? I know they want and use manue with straw for growing the mushrooms.

I have a garlic farmer take my manure pile. She takes all of my old hay as well.

I usually use between 80-100 (small square) bales of straw per winter. (I use shredded paper in the summer.) 3-4 horses, stalls are all different sizes. My guys are in at night from Nov-Mar consistantly. I ordered roundbales last year. Never again. Too much waste.