These Handy Tips Can Help Cut Down on Bedding Use and Save You Money

Horse stall bedding can get expensive, and bedding prices are only increasing. While bedding plays a vital role in absorbing urine and helping to cushion your horse, there are several ways to save on your horse stall bedding bills without sacrificing your horse’s comfort or health. Implementing these changes can help reduce the bedding you use, stretch your bedding for longer, and save you money when repurchasing bedding.

Carefully Choose Your Bedding Type

Many types of horse bedding are available, from pine shavings to sawdust to straw to even newspaper or pine pellets. Do some comparison shopping to determine which type of bedding will work best and be most economical for your barn. You’ll need to consider how you use bedding, such as whether your horses spend long periods in their stalls. Think about any significant features, like a dust-free bedding for horses with asthma or allergies, as well as how you plan to store the bedding.

Next, you can call local suppliers to find availability, pricing, and delivery options if you need delivery. Doing some number crunching can help determine which bedding type and specific product may help you save money.

Install a Bedding Blocker

To help minimize bedding waste, install a Bedding Blocker on all your stalls. The Bedding Blocker is designed for interior and exterior horse stall doors and helps prevent bedding from being knocked out of the stall as your horse exits. It’s low profile, ergonomic, and safe, and it even includes installation hardware for a quick and easy installation.

Curious how it works? Watch our quick video to see the Bedding Blocker in action—it installs in minutes and makes a big difference in keeping your barn clean.

Use a StableComfort System

To cut down on your bedding bills, install the StableComfort Horse Stall Mattress system in your stalls. StableComfort™ is a wall-to-wall waterproof stall mat system. This is in place of a traditional interlocking rubber mat kit. This mattress system consists of stall mattress pads that are equivalent to 4-6″ of wood shavings. The pads are then covered by a rubber crumb and one-piece top cover. This combination allows you to drastically reduce bedding usage without sacrificing any comfort. You can use less bedding while still keeping your horse comfortable.

Lastly, the top cover is one seamless piece – instead of multiple different interlocking rubber mats. This top cover reduces your cleaning time by at least 30% because mucking out time is drastically reduced.

While the StableComfort mattress system is a large upfront investment, it will pay for itself – in both savings around bedding costs, but also your time saved. You can learn more about frequently asked questions about our mattress systems in this helpful post.

Install Stall Mats

If you prefer, consider installing interlocking horse stall mats. These rubber mats are durable and strong, making them a long-lasting investment in your barn.

Since the mats interlock, you can create a flat, smooth surface in your stalls. Installing the mats over a loose subfloor, like one made of dirt or stone dust, can prevent your horses from digging down into the subfloor and mixing it into the bedding, which can lead to loss of wasted bedding. Plus, the stall mats make for an easier surface to clean, which can help cut down on bedding waste.

Want fewer barn chores and a safer stall for your horse? This article breaks down how the right flooring prep makes all the difference.

Train Staff in Stall Cleaning

If you have staff responsible for cleaning stalls, ensure they’re well-trained in your stall cleaning techniques. Familiarizing staff with helpful techniques and your preferences can help them deliver the results you’re looking for. Please share how you decide what bedding to throw out and what to keep, and give staff some information to help them choose when a stall needs more bedding and how much to add. Ensuring staff understand what you’re looking for can help prevent them from throwing out too much or overusing bedding.

Maximize Turnout Time

To save on your horse stall bedding bills, maximize the time your horses spend in turnout, which means cleaner stalls and less bedding use. Take advantage of nice weather and leave your horses outside for longer, and consider installing run-in sheds so your horses can be turned out even in inclement weather.

If you’ll be using turnouts more often, you may want to upgrade your fencing to a product like HDPE horse fencing, which is exceptionally durable and looks picture-perfect. We offer this fencing in eight beautiful colors and two, three, four, and five rail configurations.

Installing Dutch Doors on the exterior wall of your horse stall can encourage your horse to use an attached run and spend more time outside of their stall. We custom-build our Dutch Doors to your specifications, and they arrive pre-hung for easy installation.

Learn how to improve your horses’ physical and mental well-being with smart turn-out strategies. Read our article to explore runs, paddocks, and pastures that fit your facility’s goals.

Clean Stalls Multiple Times a Day

You can try to clean your horse stalls multiple times a day, especially when horses are inside for extended periods. Doing one thorough cleaning and then picking the stalls out one or two additional times can help prevent manure from getting ground down into the bedding, reducing the amount of bedding you throw out.

Buy Bedding in Bulk

If you have a larger barn, try to buy bedding in bulk. You can often get a good deal on a bulk purchase of shavings or sawdust, even after you factor in the delivery cost. You can also buy a pallet of bagged bedding to transport yourself.

Before you buy bulk bedding, make sure you can store it appropriately and in a location that’s easy for a truck to access. You’ll generally need to store bedding in a waterproof area, and ideally, you should have a way to use up all of the old bedding before another delivery arrives. If you’re buying loose shavings or sawdust, a three-sided shelter with a tarp hung over the front can work well for storage. A few stacked pallets and a durable tarp cover can suffice when buying bagged bedding, though indoor storage is ideal.

Contact American Stalls for Your Barn Supply Needs

At American Stalls, we offer numerous bedding solutions like the StableComfort system and the Bedding Blocker. We can also custom-design and build barn components, like paddock doors, to help make stall cleaning easier and reduce your bedding bills. Please feel free to contact us today at (855) 957 8255 or email us at sales@americanstalls.com to schedule a sales and design consultation or with any questions.