Another wood pellets thread - mixing them with straw?

[Tash88]

I know there have been quite a few threads on using wood pellets lately, but I was wondering whether it is 'normal' to mix them with straw, so that there is a layer under a straw bed. I also have rubber matting, but I like a decent-sized bed. The bed covers two thirds of my horse's stable, with his hay and water buckets at the front. Most of the time he only poos at the front and so they are easy to remove, but he wees on his actual bed.

I am fed up with removing loads of wet straw, and to be honest I don't like the look of a straw bed unless it is completely dry; I also don't think that it would be very warm if it is wet during the night. And a drier bed doesn't smell so bad. As I assume he'll be weeing more in the spring due to the grass, I bought two bags of wood pellets last Friday and put them down under the straw, soaking them first according to the instructions. So far I am really pleased with them and mucking out is much quicker, I have been removing the droppings only, and mixing in the wet pellets with the dry ones, as instructed on the bag. The straw has stayed completely dry and his bed looks much nicer . I'm hoping that I won't have to put any more down until Friday when I'll take the wet out, this is because my YO supplies everything and the place where she gets the pellets from only delivery to the yard on a Friday, and I'm not allowed to buy anything in. I am planning to order quite a few bags for this Friday and keep them at home (more space!) so I'm not caught short again.

So for those of you who use wood pellets with or without straw - am I doing the right thing or does anyone have any suggestions for me? I'm really pleased with my little bedding experiment so far and I'm definitely using less straw as well, but any advice based on experience is always appreciated.

Thanks, Tash x

 

[goldypops]

I have been using pellets for about a year now and love them. With the cold weather I have just experimented with putting a straw banks in a few of stables to make it a bit cosier!! Also I have started feeding barley straw mixed in with their hay and any that doesnt get eaten rather than waste it I am putting on the top of their beds. The downside is it is making mucking out a bit longer and the beds dont look as neat and tidy but I am sure the horses dont mind and I hate waste. I am sure other people use pellets under straw but I would just be aware that you wont be able to keep them as 2 separate layers all the time.

 

[Inchy]

I mix mine with large flake shavings (bed max) works brilliantly! I use one bag pellets a week and put a bedmax in once a month ish.

 

[avthechav]

Last Friday I started doing exactly this and I have been mega pleased with the results!! Our straw is really cheap so cannot quite bring myself not to use it but Ginge is very wet, marches round and the rain also gets in the back of the stable...so a normal day would involve removing 3 barrow loads of horrid wet yukky straw. I bought 15 bags of pellets from a local supplier and put a layer down of 7 bags. This is on top of rubber mats. The first night I left the banks up at the side and just the pellets on the floor, was ok but he did grind the poo in a bit- so for the last couple of nights (and days actually as he has been in all day over weekend with our wet fields) I have been putting a layer of straw on top and scraping it back to much it out. I am down to 2 barrow loads a day- and that also includes the hay that he insists on trampling down a bit- So I am hopeful that we will be down to 1 barrow load when he is back out in the days. I will have to take out a bit of the wet in a couple of days and then prob add another bag or 2 at the end of this week....so far so good!!

 

[Elsbells]

I find the straw works itself into the pellet bedding and wicks the wetto the top. I'm keeping to the pellets only regime keeping it deep and on good fitted rubber mats it staying nice and dry.

IMHO, if you don't put down a decent depth and keep it like that, the wet can't get away, but a nice bed will stay dry. It reminds me of our Tempur mattress.

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

I use wood pellets and hemp in the summer and in the winter I add a straw bed on the top and it worls very well. I dont find any probs with it mixing together and the big old chap especially seems to enjoy it. Plus as I tend to use oat straw he has a regular chew while resting!

I would possibly use 3 or 4 bags to start the base layer tho, just so it doesnt let any wet through and doesnt need topping up as often.

 

[Tash88]

Hi, sorry for the late reply, it has been a manic few days with work! Thanks for all the replies and advice as well.

I am a week in to this new regime and did a 'big muck out' this morning to remove the wet, although I did take out some saturated pellets yesterday as I didn't think there was much point in keeping them in there as they couldn't absorb any more. I am still pleased with the pellets though - yes the base layer isn't so separate from the straw now but the straw is still nice and dry on top, although not as dry as it was at the beginning. I am using significantly less straw now - only two sections a day.

I am thinking of just putting the pellets on the bad and then having straw banks, or a modified version of this, but as I only have two bags of pellets until next Friday I don't think I'll be able to do this - I'm going to put one in this afternoon (bed up at the moment) then another one on Tuesday or something.

Another question - I have seen instructions where you slice the bag open then pour 1/2 a bucket of water in, then wait 20 mins or so for the pellets to expand, but on the bag of pellets that I have (aquamax I think) it instructs you to put the bedding down then spray it for two mins, then wait for 15 mins. I think it would be much easier to just slice the bag open then I can put the water in and get on with other things - surely this would be okay?

Thanks, Tash