Frequently Asked Questions

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What is the best bedding for horses?

The most recent independent national surveys show that more than half of all UK owners now use wood shavings. Equine vets, experts and professionals, and thousands of owners prefer purpose-made shavings with the least dust content. Many use Bedmax.

Can bedding make a difference to the health of your horse?

The quality of the bedding you use in your horse’s stable has a fundamental impact on every aspect of your horse’s health. The best bedding helps safeguard respiratory and hoof health, protects joints, encourages rest and promotes mental and physical wellbeing.

What is Bedmax made from?

We make our shavings from fresh timber sourced from sustainable, managed UK forestry. At least half of our shavings are made from Scots Pine, which has unique natural antibacterial properties we think helps keep your stable hygienic and your horse healthy.

Is Bedmax Dust Free?
We screen out and vacuum extract every particle of ‘airborne dust’ we can capture during production. It’s physically impossible to ensure that our shavings are completely free of dust particles at every point in their lifecycle, but our shavings have one of the lowest independently measured levels of airborne dust on the market, and we keep aiming for perfection!
What do you do with the dust you extract?

We recycle all our waste. All the dust we extract from our shavings is compacted into Hotmax fuel logs, and in our drive to minimise our use of plastic we’re now packing a growing proportion of them in fully recyclable or compostable paper sacks.

How does Littlemax differ from Bedmax?
Littlemax shavings are much finer and lighter making them whiter in colour too. This makes them super quick and easy to use for people who are on a tight time schedule.
Can bedding improve your horse’s performance?
Yes. Good quality bedding and good bedding management can minimise the health threats that impair performance, and also encourage your horse to lie down to rest. It is true that horses can sleep standing up, however, they can only achieve deep REM sleep when lying down. Insufficient REM sleep will make your horse tired, grumpy and unable to perform to their full potential.
Is Littlemax dust free?

All our shavings, including Littlemax, are triple dust-extracted during production meaning they have one of the lowest levels of dust on the market.

Is Littlemax good for laminitic ponies?

Yes. Littlemax provides excellent support under-hoof which is particularly important if a horse or pony is suffering from Laminitis due to the impact it can have on the pedal bone.

Why is Strawmax better than straw?

Strawmax offers a 100% natural, hygienic, dust-extracted alternative to traditional loose straw for owners who prioritise their horses’ health.

Strawmax is thoroughly dust extracted and pelletised at a high temperature which removes the airborne dust and the harmful spores and bacteria often found in baled straw.

Unlike baled straw, Strawmax straw pellets are ultra-absorbent, minimising stable odour, waste and the muckheap, and unlike round baled straw they come in handy 15kg bags from equine retailers and they’re easy to handle, store and use.

How environmentally friendly is Strawmax?
Locally sourced from within five miles of our two UK production plants to minimise transport, Strawmax is made from a natural harvest waste product with minimal energy and a very low carbon footprint.
How easily disposable is Strawmax?
Used Strawmax bedding biodegrades very quickly and easily into a completely natural, nitrogen-rich compost that can be easily disposed of, and can even be returned straight from the stable to the soil.
Does Strawmax need water?
We recommend adding water to newly laid Strawmax pellets to allow them to fluff up fully into a deep, cushioning bed. Strawmax remains ultra absorbent, and although rigorously dust-extracted in production, dampening has the added advantages of minimising the risk of any dust inhalation during use, and discouraging horses from eating their bed.
Is Strawmax good for horses with respiratory problems?

Reducing the levels of harmful airborne dust is important for managing allergens in the stable, including equine and human asthma. Because Strawmax is dust-extracted and heat treated, in addition to the pellets being dampened down, it produces minimal dust in the stable.

Is Strawmax good for horses with respiratory problems?
Minimising the levels of harmful airborne dust in the stable is important for the respiratory health of horses and humans. Because Strawmax is dust-extracted and heat treated, it produces minimal dust in the stable, and dampening further reduces the risk of residual dust inhalation, even when horses are lying down in a comfortable, supportive Strawmax bed.
What are the main benefits of Strawmax for owners?
Cost, Absorbency and Ease of Use.

Cost, Absorbency and Ease of Use. Strawmax is one of the most cost effective equine bedding options on the market. Its super absorbency concentrates urine in small patches that can be isolated and removed quickly and easily with minimal waste and replacement, saving time and money for busy owners.

Where can I buy Strawmax?
Strawmax is available from local equine retailers and country stores across the UK. You can locate your nearest stockist using our Find a Supplier facility on this website.
Is Stockmax suitable for Poultry?
Yes, Stockmax makes an ideal bedding for poultry. It is extremely hygienic, comfortable, insulating and dust-extracted. The flakes are also too large for birds, particularly chicks, to ingest.
Will Stockmax help to reduce antibiotic use in lambing pens?
Stockmax is made from naturally antibacterial Scots Pine timber and dried at sterilising temperatures during production to enhance biosecurity and hygiene. A growing number of farmers using Stockmax in their lambing pens report that they lose fewer lambs to infection with significantly less or even no use of antibiotics.
Is there any scientific proof of pine’s antibacterial effect?
Studies in Germany have demonstrated that pine is the only softwood that fully eradicates harmful bacteria such as E. Coli that cause fatal infections in lambs.

University studies we have commissioned in the UK have shown pine shavings to reduce the losses of new born lambs, which can be attributed to pine’s antibacterial properties, enhanced by the capacity of our purpose-made shavings to keep pens much dryer, cleaner and more hygienic than traditional straw bedding.

How do I use Stockmax?
Fluff up your Stockmax shavings to create a fluffy, deep and level bed. Removing dirty bedding regularly and topping up with fresh shavings will ensure maximum comfort and hygiene.
How deep should I make the Stockmax shavings?
This really depends on the species, however, for livestock and poultry we we recommend a bed of 6-8″ to allow Stockmax to manage moisture efficiently and keep the surface of the bed clean and dry.
Can I store my Bedmax products outside?
It is best to store the products inside if possible but outside storage will work if the product is raised off the ground and covered. This will prolong the quality of the product as it will vastly reduce the risk of the packaging getting damaged and moisture entering the bale.

Our products are manufactured and then wrapped in sealed plastic bales. The bales are then stacked on a pallet and covered with a waterproof hood. The pallets are delivered to direct customers, wholesalers or retailers who may then split the pallet down to use, sell the bales individually or in smaller quantities.

Once the pallet is split down into individual bales it is still safe to store them outside as long as you do not damage the packaging and allow the ingress of moisture. Covering the bales with a tarpaulin and stacking on a pallet can also protect the packaging, keeping the product clean fresh and dry.

Can I store my Bedmax products in direct sunlight for any period of time?
Over time, direct sunlight can deteriorate plastic causing the colour to fade and making it brittle.
Our products are supplied from our factories on pallets, with hoods manufactured with a UV additive to enhance UV stabilisation and prolong the life of the plastic.

Once this hood is removed, or if you are storing individual bags of product outside for over 3 months, it is recommended you cover them over with a tarpaulin.

Are Bedmax products completely free of splinters or shards?
No company who manufactures shavings from completely natural virgin timber can guarantee that every bag will be absolutely free of splinters, but at Bedmax we have invested continuously in our production processes to eliminate them.

During production we have two splinter extraction systems, one prior to drying and then an air pressure system after drying which screen splinters out of the shavings.

We carry out a strict quality check three times a day to see if there are splinters present, and If there are we retest, investigate and rectify as required.

Are Bedmax shavings completely free from breathable dust?
It is impossible to guarantee that any natural bedding made from wood is technically and absolutely 100% dust free.

At Bedmax we have developed our own unique multiple screening and vacuum extraction system to remove as much potentially breathable dust as physically possible. But during the process of packaging, transport, sales and distribution, any wood-based bedding will be subject to friction that will produce particles of dust.

Over 25 years of making our equine beddings, we have received countless testimonials from customers telling us our shavings contain the lowest levels of dust in any bedding they have ever tried, and in a recent independent scientific comparative study, Bedmax did indeed contain the lowest levels of respirable dust of any shavings tested.

Why does it no longer say ‘Dust Free’ on the packaging?

We work very closely with the British Equine Trade Association (BETA); we have just become the first bedding company to achieve their accreditation for Natural Occurring Prohibited Substances (NOPS).  As part of this accreditation they told us we were not allowed to advertise as Dust Free on our packaging as it is impossible for any shavings to be 100% dust free.

Do Bedmax products have a shelf life?
There is no shelf life on our products and if stored correctly, preferably inside and with stock rotation, it will remain fresh, clean and dry for many months. However, the date and time of manufacture is printed on our packaging and we do recommend using the product before it is 6 months old.

When manufacturing our Bedmax products we dry the shavings to a carefully controlled specification and package it in a sealed bag. Every single bag then passes through an infra-red moisture meter and if the moisture exceeds our specification it will be rejected by the stacking robot.

If our products are stored outside and are subject to extreme variation in hot and cold temperatures they may be subject to condensation forming inside the hood or inside the bags.

Are Bedmax shavings always the same colour?
Our shavings are made entirely from renewable, quality round wood timber. We use Scots Pine predominately used due to its natural antibacterial properties and Spruce is also used when required but never more than 50% of the mixture.

Bedmax and Stockmax large flake pine shavings have a characteristic warm colour and a very distinctively clean, aromatic smell. Littlemax shavings are cut finer and are lighter in colour, but every bag of each product should be consistent in colour.

Occasionally in the summer months when Pine is freshly cut a small amount of blue–grey staining may appear in parts of the log while it is drying out. This entirely natural occurrence does not compromise the quality of the timber, but a few shavings in the bag may not have the usual creamy white colouring.

What's the best way to manage my horses bed?
Good bedding management is essential to your horse’s health and wellbeing.

We recommend that a new bed of our shavings should be laid across the whole stable floor to a depth of between 15 – 20cms to provide create the optimum support, comfort, protection and drainage.

Droppings should be skipped out as regularly as possible, and wet bedding removed and replaced every day.

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