Hemp Bedding for Sheep?

[Stephine]

I have been using straw bedding for my three babydolls, but would love to find something better after reading that straw is usually heavily treated with herbicides that stick around for a very long time. I am using the composted manure on our landscaping plants and fruit trees, so I have been choosing straw over pine shavings because it makes (if not contaminated) better compost. But I am also having trouble with terrible ammonia smell every spring because the sheep get sooo much protein grazing on filaree, clover, etc., this time of year. I just cleaned their stall and two days later the ammonia smell is back already. I would love to use hemp, because I imagine it would allow me to rake out most of their pellets and cut back on the fly population that way. Also it is more absorbent than straw, not treated with pesticides and much easier to muck out. I worry it’ll get stuck in their wool though. I am not really using the wool - they get sheared twice a year and the fleece doesn’t get quite long enough for spinning - but I still don’t want them to get all covered in hemp bits. Has anyone tried hemp bedding for sheep? Do you have any other tips for me?

 

[Mini Horses]

No on hemp but, use PDZ in there for the smell. Do you mow a lawn? Rake that for bedding. Check pelleted bedding for content. I have no sheep, so wool isn't an issue for me.

 

[Baymule]

I have hair sheep. I use pine shavings. What about using coarse sand as a base and the bedding over that?

 

[Stephine]

No on hemp but, use PDZ in there for the smell. Do you mow a lawn? Rake that for bedding. Check pelleted bedding for content. I have no sheep, so wool isn't an issue for me.

We don’t have a lawn - what I mow with my scythe we compost. I do rake up dried up grass in the summer from a spot where I couldn’t get the sheep on to graze and use that as bedding - works really well. And I use sweet PDZ but I have to use so much of it. I tossed about 20 lbs in their little stall (8x14’) a couple of days ago before it started to work. That stuff is expensive, too…. If this works until next clean out it’ll be ok, but I haven’t had great success with PDZ in the past (granted, I used less before, just got really frustrated this time around and determined to get rid of the smell and if it took the whole bag…).

 

[Stephine]

I have hair sheep. I use pine shavings. What about using coarse sand as a base and the bedding over that?

I’m afraid the sand would really stink when wet. I have read about chicken runs with that problem. Also I don’t have a good spot to get rid of the soiled sand and it is super heavy. I clean out by hand, no machinery here on our tiny farm…. I like a bedding we can compost, so it can be useful twice. I do wonder about using a layer of pine shavings with straw on top for the spring months. Maybe that would do the trick… We have rubber mats on top of bare soil at the very bottom - would have loved to take out the mats, but there is tons of broken glass in the soil of the barn… gotta love the traditional methods of garbage disposal…