Baking Soda Uses

Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is inexpensive and found in any grocery story. It has myriad uses and performs as well as many more-expensive products. At 50 to 75 cents a pound, it’s hard to complain about the price. At a warehouse club, it may be as low as 20 cents a pound.

Some of our favorite uses around the barn include:

- Clean bits, stirrup irons, any metal. Rinses off easily with plain, cold water and leaves no after-taste.

- Scrub algae and any type of buildup from water buckets/troughs and feed buckets.

- Excellent choice to scour automatic waterers.

- Absorb spills of hoof oil and other greasy substances.

- Soak brushes clean.

- Gentle spot cleaner to remove urine or manure stains from coats and blankets. Mist area to be cleaned with water, apply paste of baking soda, rub in with a small brush. Brush off when dry.

- Use as a deodorizer on wet spots in stalls.

- Sprinkle in barn aisle to control odors and moisture.

- Use liberally on trailer floors to neutralize manure and urine odors before hosing off.

- Keep barn drains free flowing with four tablespoons per week of baking soda.

- Remove mold from walls.

- Treat mouth sores with a rinse of 1 tablespoon of baking soda mixed into 1 ounce of water.

- Apply as a paste to soothe bites, stings and sunburn.

- Use as an emergency remedy to cut gut acidity in ”horse got into the grain bin”

emergencies (call your veterinarian for approval and dose).

- Effective cleanser for barn refrigerators and bathrooms.

- Sprinkle along an ant trail to destroy their scent signal.