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Bed-Down Info - Expert TipsThis page contains expert advice, facts and tips with Bed-Down. BED-DOWN WORMING FACT Parasitic worms are a problem which every horse owner needs to be aware of and this time of year is when you need to be zapping those worms! Currently the advice is to have your horse's faeces tested for worms twice a year, these worm counts will tell you the types of worms affecting your horse and will guide you to what drug you should be worming your horse with. However, faecal counts cannot tell you the amount of tapeworm your horse is burdened with and so you need to ask your vet to take a blood test once a year to test for tapeworm infection. Often people have guessed what to treat their horses with but now with the readily available diagnostic techniques to determine what parasite is infecting your horse, it makes sense to have the worms identified first so you do not waste money on unnecessary worming. Also if you treat the parasites which are present at the right doses you should not be contributing to encouraging worm resistance and you will not be polluting the environment unnecessarily.
Regular mucking out of your stable is essential for good worming prevention, worm eggs can survive out of the body for a long time and so it is essential that faeces are cleared and that the surfaces of the stable are cleaned at least twice a year with an antiseptic solution.
Useful information can be sourced from www.westgatelabs.co.uk
BED-DOWN COPD FACT Did you know 'A horse with respiratory disease does not neccessarily cough.' (Susan L. Raymond and Dr Andrew F Clarke, Equine Respiratory Health, www.wehn.com). Horses will tolerate far more mucus in their lungs in comparison to humans and dogs. Therefore just because your horse is not coughing it does not mean that he/she is not suffering from respiratory problems. BED-DOWN COPD FACT Did you know that 'the more frequent the exposure to moulds in fodder and bedding, especially if combined with inadequate ventilation of the stables, the more likely a horse is to develop COPD. The increase in the disease prevalence as horses age may be related to the summation of exposure to these factors.' (McPherson et al, 1979, COPD: Factors influencing occurrence).
BED-DOWN VENTILATION FACTS Dr Andrew F Clarke, is a prolicifc and knowledgeable scientist who has written many papers regarding horse health. In the late 1980s he wrote several scientific papers regarding ventilation and the horse. In these papers he emphasises the importance of reducing the levels of airborne contaminants in stables. In the papers he states:
To find out more scientific based information visit the website, www.pubmed.gov
BED-DOWN FORAGE TIP Good ventilation and good dust reduced bedding is essential to your horse's breathing. However remember that good low-dust forage and feed is just as important. Good quality hay soaked or steamed is a good way to reduce the air born particles in the forage. Hay can be soaked in a clean dustbin with cold water or by pouring two kettles full of hot water over the hay. BED-DOWN INTERESTING FACT Horses need about 7 hours sleep per 24 hours with light dosing. Horses and ponies can sleep standing up because of an unusual stay apparatus in their patella (kneecap). A hook situated on the inside and bottom end of the thighbone, on its hind leg, cups the patella and the medial patella ligament, preventing the leg from bending.
BED-DOWN MUCKING OUT TIP Bed-Down believes that you should use the right method of mucking our gear to get the best out of your bedding. Poo can be easily removed from the bed by using PVC gloves. The wet can be removed with a shavings fork. A broom is then needed to neaten the bed ready for your horse.
BED-DOWN TOPPING UP TIP To make topping up your stable bed easier after mucking out, SPLIT your Bed-Down bale in half by cutting around the middle and pushing the bale in two. Not only are the two halves easier to carry but also by doing this you make sure that you use the right amount of clean bedding. Bed-Down bales are easy to split like this because they are very tightly packed at manufacture, ensuring that each bale has the same amount of material in each bale.
BED-DOWN WATER BUCKET TIP Water buckets in the stable can absorb the ammonia in the air and make the water stale. Therefore it is better to give your horse fresh water in clean buckets when they go in to their stable rather than leaving the water in the stable all day ready for them to drink later.
BED-DOWN VENTILATION TIP Did you know that a clue to knowing how well your stable is ventilated, is to see how many cobwebs and how much dust is stuck on them! Spiders will not weave cobwebs in places where there is good airflow. If you have a lot of cobwebs you should sweep them away, along with any dust on the ledges, beams or other surfaces regularly. If possible you should also aim to improve the ventilation in the stable by opening more windows, doors or vents as this will aid your horse's respiratory health as well as your own.
Bed-Down Science - Stable AdviceAll Bed-Down bales are made from particles under approximate 5cm long of either chopped straw or wood shavings, which are easy to muck out using a shavings fork, a broom, a wheelbarrow and a pair of rubber gloves. All beddings are suitable for concrete, rubber or dirt floor stables, whether it be for daily, semi or deep litter mucking out systems.
BALE SPLITTING
Get Great Results with the NEW!! EXCEL & EXCEL PLUS BALES
NEW!! Excel and Excel Plus are now EVEN MORE ECONOMICAL to use. These bales now have new instructions written on them to help you use the bedding more economically. Follow the instructions on the bag to split the bale in half allowing you to add fresh bedding even when you do not require a full bale. This allows you to easily divide a bale between two stables or will allow you to just use half a bale in your stable and save the clean bedding for another day!
How to split the NEW!! EXCEL & EXCEL PLUS bales
1. Place bale in the stable.
2. Cut around three sides of the bale following the dotted line.
3. Place the bale on a solid surface allowing half to overhang (here we have used another bale).
4. Push down firmly to break bale in half.
5. Cut the remaining plastic. Either use the two halves between two stables or you can just use half a bale in your stable and save the clean bedding for another day.
6. To get the bedding out of the plastic, turn the bale with the open end nearest the floor and shake, the bedding will fall out.
7. The bedding is then ready for dispersing around the stable with a fork.
MUCKING OUT TIPS
The truth is we all muck out differently and the way we like it done is such a personal thing. Many horse owners have mucked out long straw and shavings but less are familiar with the mixture Excel. So to help new users of this high quality bedding, Bed-Down have described two ways in which Excel users get their stables clean for their horses.
Daily Mucking Out Tips from Sophie:
Sophie has two stables to muck out and these are done daily. One pony is very clean and one is filthy! Yet it only takes 20 mins to turn those beds into luxury stables for the lovely pair! Each stable is 12ft square and the floor is made from concrete. There is an approximate 5ft dry floor front where the haylage is fed from the floor and the water is kept in buckets. Each bed has banks to help prevent the possibility of casting. Hard feed is fed from rubber buckets off the floor. There are air vents to maintain good ventilation in the stable.
To achieve these super beds Sophie uses:
Deep Litter Mucking Out Tips from Anne:
Anne has 8 stables to maintain throughout the winter. Anne uses Bed-Down Excel in one deep litter bed for her horse who suffers from a respiratory problem and she uses 1 bale of Excel as a base for her other 7 beds which are topped up with long straw. Anne finds that the base of Excel soaks up the wet brilliantly. The large stables have concrete floors, with water and feed buckets raised off the floor. The haylage is fed from the floor. Top doors and windows are kept open to maintain good ventilation.
To achieve her clean deep litter Excel beds Anne uses:
Deep Litter Bed-Down Excel Bed = 5 bales of Excel to start a bed and Bed-Down Excel bale per week to top up. Litter Long Straw Bed = 1 bale of Excel as a base, 5 bales of Long Straw to start a bed and 1 bale of Long Straw per week to top up.
SIMPLE DISPOSAL
Disposal of bedding can be a headache! However the Bed-Down Range can be disposed of easily by the usual method of degradation in a muckheap.
For maximum degradation we advise that:
The muck heap weighs at least 1/2 tonne
The muck is turned over once a week to aerate the heap
The muck heap is sprinkled liberally with water
Once degraded, the muck may be spread on the land as an excellent fertiliser or used as a ‘marvellous mulch'! (Watch your garden grow!) The muck can also be sold to fuel powered plants. Different bales from the Bed-Down Range have different degradation times in the muckheap due to their composition:
Traditional – the chopped straw bale is the quickest to degrade to a suitable fertilizer level because it is made from 100% wheat straw, this process takes approximately 3.5 months.
Excel and Excel Plus – the straw content of the blended straw/shavings mixture allows more rapid degradation of the used bedding when compared to shavings alone, degradation takes approximately 4 months.
Premium Plus, Pure Shavings, Bed-Down 25s – the shavings bales degrade in approximately 8 months, the shavings are extremely useful as a mulch. |
BED-DOWN, Cherry Tree Farm, The Common, Metfield, Harleston,
Norfolk. IP20 0LP |
