Update! Ground corn cob bedding

[Woodland]

Last night I purchased a HUGE bag of ground corn cob bedding. I contained the equivalent of thirty bags yet only cost 20 bags worth! The bags run $3.99 and I paid $79 for the "30". It was in a HUGE fiber bag on a pallet and they loaded it with a fork lift. The top has a spout that is tied shut. DS & i pushed them off the truck and on to their side. I opened the top and they came out to use.

I have used them in the past and liked them. They came from Big R stores in Morris, IL. So until i can get a big bulk shipment of shavings these will work!

[theoldgreymare]

How absorbent are they compared to shavings or pellets?

[Lieslot]

I wouldn't mind trying that too, but can't seem to find this in my area.

Sounds like a great alternative to shavings or pellets.
Are horses not inclined to eat it?

[Foxyrab]

My one who is on a perpetual diet thought it was very tasty.

[enjoytheride]

Didn't care for them and some horses will eat them but cheaper then shavings.

[TrueColours]

I hated, despised, loathed, detested, abhorred (are there any more hate words left that Ive missed?!) the corn cob bedding. Not a problem until it started to break down and then the dust / fine silt was like cement dust and it got EVERYWHERE! All the horse in the stall had to do was slowly amble from one side to the other and the dust haze got kicked up and just hung there forever. I'd hate to see the stuff in a stall walkers stall ... :eek:

I couldnt wait to be rid of it and I kept mixing in the EcoStraw and shavings trying to lessen the dust aspect of it as well. Plus we definately needed to water it down well each and every day

Horrible stuff. Couldnt find one single good thing to say about it other than it did hold the wet areas very well

[Woodland]

It was produced by Beck's Better Bedding. It is 45 cubic feet of crushed corn cobs. it is not dusty and is very absorbent. It is from Beck's Superior Hybrids Atlanta, IN. 1(800)YES-BECK

It contains a warning label that says: WARNING! This product is made of all natural crushed corn cobs and is intended to be used as bedding. Corn Cobs are often used as a component of animal feed to provide roughage in the diet. Some animals, particularly horses, are curious and may eat the bedding. In small quantities this bedding should not be harmful to an animal. IF your animal continues to eat the bedding, you should remove the animal from the bedding, and you may want to evaluate if the animal has enough roughage in it's ration. Persistent or excessive ingestion of this bedding may cause serious injury to an animal.

I did have some minor eating of ground cob bedding in the past. Of this lot only Joshua the mule seems to think it is an all you can eat deli. The horse do not seem to care for it. Of course my guys are on round bales all day and have hay in their stalls at night. I have not had this time or in times previous a problem like the above poster with dust - perhaps she used a different brand?

Until I can get a bulk load of sawdust/shavings these will be fine.

[TrueColours]

I got 2 skids of the Best Cob bedding out of Iowa and it was like Grape Nut crumbles in the beginning but as it broke down it went to a super fine powder - like cement dust as mentioned or a fine cake flour

Is the Beck's a grainier / heavier consistency? The Best Cob was great in the beginning until it started to break down - then it was just plain gross ... :(

[Woodland]

You are in Canada and you ordered from Iowa? Canada is where all the sawdust/shaving come from :D

These are much larger more large peanut sized than crumbles. And they are screened for dust. Last summer I did a trial run in 5 stalls - just in case i had trouble getting bulk bedding again. And I had zero trouble with them. They were super easy to clean as well. They lasted a very long time. I was please enough to know i would use them again. AND i was thrilled when they came in a bulk container at a discounted rate.

I will be using them until mid Jan when i can get bulk wood bedding again.

[TrueColours]

You are in Canada and you ordered from Iowa? Canada is where all the sawdust/shaving come from

Ahhh ... but we are also having a heck of a time getting a steady supply of wood based bedding up here! Hence looking elsewhere for another product to sell along with my pelleted straw bedding ... ;)

Plus from an environmental perspective, wood based stuff is awful. It takes the longest of all to break down - up to 3 years. Corn cob bedding fits into acceptable territory - about 5-6 months in total ...

So - do those peanut size particles break down at all or do they stay peanut sized? The Best Cob also came in pellets - like Woody Pet / Guardian / etc sized but it still broke down to that minute dust in the end

I did speak with Beck's this afternoon and unfortunately they are not willing to look at selling outside of their core area right now. I'll keep bugging them - maybe they'll change their minds ... ;)

[Woodland]

I will keep you posted on how it goes. I am always interested in a "better mouse trap" when it comes to stall care. My place is small - just 15 stalls so it's easy to monitor and see if they are worth it. My 5 stall trial in July/August went very well. Lets see how they all do with it.

[winfieldfarm]

We tried corn cob bedding here and didn't like it. We thought the smell of the bedding was absolutley gag worthy. Our whole barn smelled like sour corn mash right from the start. We also weren't happy with how it performed as a bedding material. But mostly it just smelled so pungent and sour, even fresh out of the bag.

[RegentLion]

I did try the Best Cobs bedding and loved it.

The horse in question is a spinner/walker and he tends to be messy with his water as well. I put it down over mats and did NOT "activate" it with water. The stall/barn he is in is also an old pole building with no eves and when it would rain, water would run into his barn and into his stall.

He did try to eat a few pieces but decided they were yucky and then left it alone. My dog on the other hand, had to be locked out of his stall.

By morning, the stall was fluffy and clean looking. Yes, the bedding broke down into more of a "silt like" consistency but I never had a dust problem, maybe because my horse is so wet!!! The bedding DID clump sort of like cat litter.

I was thrilled because he was standing in dry cleanish bedding in the morning instead of the muck he'd create every night. Even the poop balls seemed to stay together better.

As time wore on, and the bedding got more saturated, the color darkened but the mats were still dry and there was no urine smell. There is a fine line where you need to either ADD MORE or wait a couple of days and strip.

I found that the best thing to do was rake it all to the center of the stall where he'd spin it outward. Because of the silt like consistency it is heavier, and it didn't spin so easily as other beddings and if I raked it to the center there was still some in the middle come morning.

This is not a bedding you can skimp on and have good results. That being said, 4 bags went a long way for me, I should have added another bag a week as per the directions.

Aesthetically speaking it isn't as nice or as pretty as shavings. However, for this horse, I felt good that he was standing in dry stuff every morning and his stall didn't reek of urine.

I have since gone back to shavings as I get them free, in bulk, and in the cold weather everything clumps (thank you icey pee spots!), but when summer rolls around I'll be getting more Best Cobs to use.

Here is an album of pics of that stall. Some have my dog in them (sorry) but you can see what it looks like after a few days of heavy spinning. The other challenge is that because the barn and stalls are so old they are longer and narrower than ideal, so the horse is truly walking on every inch of the stall if he chooses to pace.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2146403&id=40600898&l=7b83bc0810

[TrueColours]

Our whole barn smelled like sour corn mash right from the start.

Winfield - I agree. There was a very distinct "sour" odour to it, wasnt there? And that was with good ventilation east/west/north and south. I couldnt imagine using it in the winter when the barn would be closed up more ... :no:

[texang73]

Funny. I use Worlds Best Cat Litter... it's corn too. I like it for cats, but not sure how corn cob bedding would work for horses...

[BuddyRoo]

Last winter, my barn went from using pelleted pine to pelleted corn cob.

As far as bedding goes, I think it was fine-ish. It was a little dustier I thought.

The problem was that my mare (and several other horses in the barn) were eating their fill of the stuff!

And the mice thought it was pretty fabulous too!

When that load ran out, they switched back to pelleted pine.

[2DogsFarm]

I used the Beck's bedding for about 3 months - and one of my horses developed Small Airway Disease in that time. I could hear wheezing/rales w/o a stethoscope.

After 3 (pricy) months on Clenbuterol I gradually replaced the corncob with pine shavings and his SAD disappeared.

Vet who saw him at his worst and prescribed the drug, said by Spring (when bedding was back to shavings and horse was 3 months off the steroid) his lungs were so clear he wouldn't have known there was a problem if he hadn't heard it back in Summer.

Apparently the corncobs have been linked to respiratory disease in dairy cattle also.

My other & older horse wasn't bothered at all and I really did like the corncob bedding, but it was not worth aggravating the other guy's airways.

[SpecialEffects]

I used the Best Cobs bedding and I didn't mind it at all. I definitely didn't have a sour smell to the stall and didn't find it dusty. But I didn't sprinkle it with water as I know some do, so maybe that's why it didn't stink for me or turn into cement and it did for others. And I tried it with a horse that's pretty messy, so I gave it a good test. I never had any horses eat it but the donkeys thought it was wonderful! :yes: But then again they like straw pellets, switchgrass pellets, the wood stalls, fence posts.... :rolleyes:

The only thing that kept me from considering it as a permanent bedding choice was cost. Too pricey since it's shipping so far.

[Mali]

We tried corn cob bedding here and didn't like it. We thought the smell of the bedding was absolutley gag worthy. Our whole barn smelled like sour corn mash right from the start. We also weren't happy with how it performed as a bedding material. But mostly it just smelled so pungent and sour, even fresh out of the bag.

Ditto. Yuck. NEVER AGAIN - not even if it were free!

[Woodland]

But I can say there is no order- in fact if anything there is a very "clean" smell. Not like pine but clean none the less.

The stalls look almost clean in the AM when I come out. Which is very nice. And they are dry - no noticeable pee spots until i dig a bit at cleaning. There has been no break down in the consistency. My cleaners do add a small amount every day to every stall. They have to replace what they take out.


Most remarkably Joshua the stall runner stopped dining on it and his stall is tolerable in the AM - usually it is a filthy pit because of his constant misbehavior in his stall. He runs back and forth front to back when anyone is in the barn riding or grooming. He was never stalled before he came here.

This is a stop gap until I can get my normal shavings back in. But it is doable thus far.

[Woodland]

It's been going quite well. We are in our third huge bag. no dust and still super easy to clean. None of the horses is eating it. there is a smaller amount of waste as well.

I was at a stable in the Chicago suburbs last week that uses ground cobs exclusively. 67 horses stalled and the barn was super tidy no dust no oder. They had a big sifter thing they used to clean stalls. it was very interesting to see it used at such a large level.

Just like me they had a delivery difficulty with a bedding supplier and went with the Becks. They changed 3 years ago. And the BO & BM said they would never go back.

Just an FYI

[Flying Hearts]

FYI... Best Cob is a compressed corn cob "pellet" - like pelleted wood bedding but they're just teenier. Beck's Better Bedding is simply plain old crunched up corn cobs. I've used both, didn't have the problems others have mentioned with Best Cob, but I can say I truly HATED Beck's Better Bedding - it didn't absorb well at all, and it just generally was awful haha. The price was $2 less per bag than Best Cob, however it didn't last as long and the bags are 10 lbs less than Best Cob as well.