Rice Hull bedding?

[AngusSenorita]

At our ag-barn we have to bed on sand, the sand is provided by the school. The sand as you know is terrible for their hair and just bad in general. Would rice hulls be an effective and cheap bedding? I have my teachers permission to take out the sand in my pen and replace it, and I have heard that rice hulls are more absorbant, cheaper and last longer then shavings.

thanks

 

[jaydill]

A friend of mine uses rice hull and says it works well for her. The sand is detrimental to the hair but if you're taking that heifer out and washing, combing, drying her everyday, it won't be so bad for her. Since your teachers have given you permission, I think I might go with the rice hulls. Some others here might be able to give you more information about it.

 

[tracy]

have used rice hulls but it nearly always has a bit of sand in it to absorb stuff better,i know its a real pain to get out of the hair but it is ok if you are grooming and blowing regulary.whatever you do dont wash them before you blow most of it out as this makes it harder to remove good luke

 

[WarriorPatriot]

Never thought of using rice hulls, we usually use straw...

 

[AngusSenorita]

ok thanks


Hey jaydill its Melissa ( we are at the same barn)

 

[AngusSenorita]

also how deep do you think the bedding needs to be?

 

[jaydill]

ok thanks


Hey jaydill its Melissa ( we are at the same barn)

:lol: hey Melissa! I like the name. ;-)

Never thought of using rice hulls, we usually use straw...

Y'all use straw in your barns? Or just at shows?

 

[AngusSenorita]

jas,who do you know that uses rice hulls?

 

[ffamom]

One family in our chapter tried the rice hulls. However, the fire ants loved them and moved into their pens by the millions. Just something to think about.

 

[la4angus]

One family in our chapter tried the rice hulls. However, the fire ants loved them and moved into their pens by the millions. Just something to think about.

In that case you definitely don't want rice hulls.

 

[jaydill]

jas,who do you know that uses rice hulls?

Esther with her horses.

 

[AngusSenorita]

oh okay

I went to the feed store today and looked at what they had. The rice hulls looked like they might get blown away by the fans so I got the suncoast shavings(the big flakes).

Hopefully this will work out. I took all the loose sand out of my pen and so there is a packed sand floor and shavings on top, i used 7 bags( our pens are about 20x8 )

 

[showme]

also how deep do you think the bedding needs to be?

3 inches so you dont have to keep adding just keep it clean.