Alternative to wood pellet bedding?

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B&J

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I am currently using wood pellet for my elderly COPD horse but I am having a nightmare with it. The suppliers think I should only be using 1 - 2 bags a month but I am getting through 5 bags a week and he still seems wet!! I'm doing exactly what they say - Fully rubber matted stable with a drainage exit, pour half bucket of water into bag, let it expand then spread into bed, take out the worst of the wet and mix the rest in but its smelly, doesn't soak up the wet, getting expensive and the banks refuse to stay up :(

We are not allowed shavings at all (my preferred bedding) and he cant have straw so I wondered if anyone has an alternative? I've just heard about Tropibed, does anyone use that?

Thanks in advance
 
Although it is expensive to set up the bed, I have found Auboise to be very good. 8-10 bales to set up and then 1 a week to continue. Good for keeping a dust free bed and quick to muck out. However, at anything up to £10 a 20kg bale in some areas, it's an expensive habit to begin with!
I am sure lots of other people will have other good ideas, though, and not so expensive.
 
Which make of wood pellets do you use? 1 - 2 bags a month is a load of rubbish. I have tried all makes of wood pellets and average 2 - 3 15kg bags per horse per week. I now use Woodlets as have found them to be the best. They are in 10 kg bags and I would say most horses get through 3 a week. Messy horses get through 4.

If you are looking for an alternative, then I would highly recommend megazorb. It is fabulous bedding and so easy and light to muck out. It works out a bit more expensive but most horses use fewer than 2 bags a week.
 
I used to use Aubiose for reasons stated above, until it went a little to expensive for us.

I found that Nedzbed Pro (chopped rapeseed straw that's treated with eucalyptus and dust extracted) has and still is working well for us. Bales are round £7.50 a pop and with an initial set up of 6 bales to start a bed (and we're on rubber matted floor too), I use one a week/10 days during the Summer months when horse is out overnight,...and 1 bale every 4/5 days in the winter months when he's on daytime turn out.

I do a deep litter bed during winter and skip out the dropping and scrape a layer of wet off the top,..then re-bed down and it work for us. Now and again if he has a particularly wet patch, I will take more out and make sure I fill the hole back in with plenty of bedding.

I don't touch my bankings at all....they stay in situ!

Seems to work for us. :)
 
I found aquamax pellets prettty good-they are a slightly bigger bag so more for your money.Auboise is good but stunningly expensive here. I am about to try miscanthus straw (Cavianthus)-would that be an option for him?
 
Its an imported pellet from a local yard who imports it in bulk. In the last 2 weeks I've used 12 bags but normally average out at around 5 bags a week. He isn't messy though and perfect on shavings at about 1/2 bag a week. I'll have a look into the above ones, thanks :)
 
I like Safemix which is a mix of shavings and tiny bits of soft chipped wood, its very cheap at £5.80 ish around here and works quite well making a decent firm-ish bed that doesn't eat the poo so it sits on top and is easy to muck out

Sometimes I use shavings or Aubiose (as I can get those cheap) or a mixture of bedding too.
 
I use pellets underneath in the wet patches and bliss (chopped rape straw) on top. I don't disturb the base for 1-2 weeks.

The treatment on the bliss does rather hit the back of your throat when you open it but is ok once settled and not dusty. I only use this as it is what we have on the yard and not allowed straw.

Horse currently in about 12 hours of day and getting through 1 bag of pellets and 1 sack of bliss every 2 weeks and he has a decent thick bed. He is quite tidy though and not as wet as some.
 
I've just started using Pro bed, its made of rape haulm (whatever that is, lol), looks a bit like Aubiose, but is a few pounds cheaper and so far seems to be really good. http://www.probale.com/probed/ Think you can buy in bulk for around £6.50 a bale, I paid about £7.00 each locally for a couple of bales.
 
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I had the same problem with wood pellets, was using up to 5 bags a week and didn't have a nice bed. Hated them, and couldn't wait for my pallet to be all used up!

I changed to ComfyBed, a wood-chip, which I deep littered all winter, this worked well but I ended up having a very dark bed by about December time, and it just got worse. ComfyBed have also stopped manufacturing, so I've changed over to Snowflake Softchip, and I absolutely love it. I dig out once a week, and am putting about 1.5 bags in a week; it's a lovely bedding, it's light and soft, but also seems to hardly move around, so doesn't take me long to skip out at all.

I considered Aubiose as well, but it's so expensive; especially for a big and dirty horse.
 
We use Puffin pellets at work - I use 1 bag per stable per week for those in at night, one every week and a half for those in during the day.

HOWEVER we don't wet the pellets before adding them (unless starting a bed from scratch). I find you get much more use from them adding them straight, and if there is enough of a bed already then you don't really notice the pellets being hard for the first few days.

I personally use shavings and love them. Why can't you use shavings??
 
I use wood pellets on my very mucky lad and would be horrified (and skint) if i was using 5 bags a week.

I use two a week, one bag i put down raw and one bag i tip into a wheelbarrow, wet and then leave overnight and then put down.

I have a huge stable with banks on top of full rubber matting. I try not to disturb the base and only remove the wet when it appears on the top of my bed.
 
Thanks everyone. I high tailed it to the tack shop after work and got a supply of Aubiose in. Took the under layer of pellets out and laid the Aubiose last night with proper banks (hurrah!) on top of the clean pellets, nice and deep. He seemed very happy this morning, stable didn't smell and his rug was still dry with no wee on him (have been washing rugs constantly and him too!)

I must have been doing the bed wrong but even our yard owner struggled with them whilst I was away - guess pellets just aren't for us :-/ Shame because on 2 bags a week it would have been quite economical in the long run but not 5 - 6
 
I would be interested to know how you get on with your new bed, B&J. I'm thinking of going back to Aubiose in about six weeks' time. Mare and her BIG foal are currently on wood pellets on a full rubber floor, in a large stable. Between them, they reduce it to a muck heap overnight, and it is a complete throw-out job almost every day. We are progressing weaning, which is going well, and should be completed by the end of October.
I know horses aren't nesting animals, and the rubber flooring is excellent quality and fully fitted: she will happily wee and poo on pellets, and lie down. She is a chunky, healthy, well-covered five year old Exmoor x ?. I just don't like the look of the thinnish clean bed to start with, and the poo-fest they turn it into, overnight!
Do we make the beds to appease our own needs, rather than the horses' ?
 
Burmilla said:
I just don't like the look of the thinnish clean bed to start with, and the poo-fest they turn it into, overnight!
Do we make the beds to appease our own needs, rather than the horses' ?
Click to expand...

Judging by the amount of time I spent building the banks and getting them even, spreading the bed level and squaring the front last night I think we do lol! Horse just wondered in, messed it up and looked pleased with his efforts!

I really wasn't keen on a thin bed either, especially with a 28 year old arthritic TB. It didn't seem to matter how much I put in, it always looked thin and compacted.

It was very easy to muck out this morning, there was no smell which normally is quite bad and it had soaked up the wee well. The poo stayed in neat piles too - with the pellet it was spread everywhere
 
A girl on my stable yard uses Auboise and loves it, her horse only pees in one spot though so she digs out that area every 3/4 weeks and I think puts in a bale a week on average. I would like to use it but it makes me sneeze loads :)

I use Easibed and used on average 1.5 bales a week but have started putting a layer of Megazorb under the area my horse always pees to see if that helps with bed useage and so am resisting to lift the bed every day and try and lift every other week - this seems to be going well at the moment - I have rubber matting as a base and still keep my bed thick but I don't worry so much now if he moves the bed about exposing the rubber as opposed to the concrete but I am hoping keeping a base layer of wet in may stop him moving the bed about as much.
 
I've tried every type of bedding and have found white horse premium pellets the best for messy, wet box walker. I suspect it's the type . Of pellets that's the issue
 
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