Bedding. Cost v convenience?

[Firefly9410]

I found wood pellets dusty, especially in summer, I was forever hosing the bed before the horse came in. Does anyone else find this ?

My friend changed to flax for the same reason.

 

[teddypops]

I don’t get how people are removing massive heavy barrows of straw daily. I never usually remove more than half a barrow. That was with my old boy and with my youngster.

I prefer straw as it’s a heap, readily available and I find Much quicker to muck out. I throw my bed up daily after lifting the poo and I usually only have to put in one builders bag a week of straw and I have lovely thick beds.

If I had multiples it would be straw

Same here! I have 6 ponies stabled and I take out about 3 wheelbarrows between them. It’s really quick and easy to muck out!

 

[willowblack]

We have recently changed to straw pellets from concord equestrian and have 3 horses. At the moment they are in during the day and out at night but it’s fab stuff! 7 bags starts a bed and then it expands within a couple of days and only needs a bag every 1.5 weeks top up. Two of our ponies were wet monsters and every 3/4 weeks we’ve been completely lifting the bed, taking out any wet and the floors are bone dry! Because it’s straw the farmers will still take it away too. They have a FB page with lots of videos.

 

[twiggy2]

I found wood pellets dusty, especially in summer, I was forever hosing the bed before the horse came in. Does anyone else find this ?

Yes I found them very dusty in the summer, more dusty than deep litter sawdust with straw over the top. My mare also used to dig through the bed looking for any that were still pellets and then she ate them. Pellets obviously equalled food for her and she was not a greedy mare.

 

[meleeka]

We have recently changed to straw pellets from concord equestrian and have 3 horses. At the moment they are in during the day and out at night but it’s fab stuff! 7 bags starts a bed and then it expands within a couple of days and only needs a bag every 1.5 weeks top up. Two of our ponies were wet monsters and every 3/4 weeks we’ve been completely lifting the bed, taking out any wet and the floors are bone dry! Because it’s straw the farmers will still take it away too. They have a FB page with lots of videos.

I saw that only last night. They claim it’s more absorbent than wood pellets. Good to hear a positive review.

 

[Sandstone1]

I've tried straw pellets and found them ok but not as absorbent as wood pellets. My horses also tried to eat them!

 

[Barton Bounty]

I use shavings , my boy is messy , we can go a few days where its not too bad but then i go in and its like hes had 10 horses in it!

 

[tda]

I tried straw pellets too , (for the sake of the farmers muckheap), it was okay, but I found it sticks to everything, more than dampened wood pellets, and the ponies were keener than ever to eat them 🙄
Have gone back to wood pellets that I buy locally and they deliver 😁

 

[Trouper]

The trick with straw pellets is not to stint on the initial set up. If you put too little in the wet spreads quickly and then you are faced with having to remove more than is necessary. You also have to re-set the brain not to try and remove all the darker areas just because they look "wet" - only remove the fully impacted areas that have no residual drying capacity left in them - some of the damp areas can be forked around and will mix with still-dry areas to carry on working. I, too, prefer the straw pellets and you can get Miscanthus grass pellets which are even more absorbent if you have a very wet horse.