Cheapest bedding this year?

Nudibranch

Nudibranch

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Haven't been able to get hold of any straw for the first year ever (I need small bales as I haven't storage for large rounds). So what's the cheapest bedding at the moment? Happy to buy pallets.

The field shelter has rubber mats but it's shared with goats and the occasional sheep so it's a case of a thin layer mucked out regularly rather than deep litter. Stables the same.
 
I've just swapped my big horse from small straw at around £4.50 a bale onto economy shavings at £6.50 a bale - I was dubious about the straw crop this year and potential price increase, and to be honest I think work will appreciate the lesser smell for the not dissimilar price!

Shetland will stay on wood pellets bought at a mark-up from the local tack shop (nearly £13 a bag 😭) both because he only uses a bag a month, but also because I'm trying to support local businesses too at the moment.
 
Unibed £180/pallet 36 bales = £5/bale either oilseed rape straw/chopped wheat straw/chopped miscanthus I've got the miscanthus, I don't like it as much as wood pellets but it was cheaper than pellets earlier this year and is kinder to the muck heap.
Can be despatched via palletline type courier which will add extra cost unless you're near Leeds and can collect
 
Cookiemonsterintraining said:
What are wood pellets like to use? I’m just getting back into riding after a 12 year break and they weren’t really a ‘thing’ when I had my old mare.
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I love them; have used them for over ten years until last year when the price shot up but now they've come down, I'm back with them as they're the only bedding that doesn't kill my back.
I used them over rubber matting mainly but they were the same over concrete too and didn't move which was great for youngstock. I deep littered just skipped out with a shavings fork and only dug out wet patches when it came to the surface then would fill in the hole with fresh pellets. Some wet the pellets first to break them down but I only do a quick spray when I start the bed, after that, I just tip the pellets on and rake in. The horses only had to take one mouthful to find they weren't nuts to eat and I never had any trouble with them. It takes some getting used to the darker colour and not making banks like I would with straw. The only downside to them is in summer they dry out and could be a bit dusty but it's easily sorted with a quick spray of water. They make for a small muck heap and gardeners quite like them so easy to get rid of and the pallet is about 4 foot square so takes up little room. They can be stored outside but if so then it's better to cover them over in case any bags have 'breathing' holes in them.
I dug up an old bed this week which had been down for three years; when I turned it over, the bottom was absolutely dry. The only thing is you must rake out any hay in the bed as for some reason, that makes it clump up and hold the damp.
At about £5.50 a bag (I usually use two every 8/9 days) so they're on a par with other bedding but a lot less work and less wasteful than any others I find.
Hope that helps.
 
Maesfen said:
I love them; have used them for over ten years until last year when the price shot up but now they've come down, I'm back with them as they're the only bedding that doesn't kill my back.
I used them over rubber matting mainly but they were the same over concrete too and didn't move which was great for youngstock. I deep littered just skipped out with a shavings fork and only dug out wet patches when it came to the surface then would fill in the hole with fresh pellets. Some wet the pellets first to break them down but I only do a quick spray when I start the bed, after that, I just tip the pellets on and rake in. The horses only had to take one mouthful to find they weren't nuts to eat and I never had any trouble with them. It takes some getting used to the darker colour and not making banks like I would with straw. The only downside to them is in summer they dry out and could be a bit dusty but it's easily sorted with a quick spray of water. They make for a small muck heap and gardeners quite like them so easy to get rid of and the pallet is about 4 foot square so takes up little room. They can be stored outside but if so then it's better to cover them over in case any bags have 'breathing' holes in them.
I dug up an old bed this week which had been down for three years; when I turned it over, the bottom was absolutely dry. The only thing is you must rake out any hay in the bed as for some reason, that makes it clump up and hold the damp.
At about £5.50 a bag (I usually use two every 8/9 days) so they're on a par with other bedding but a lot less work and less wasteful than any others I find.
Hope that helps.
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That’s really useful, thank you. I’d never considered wood pellets as bedding before but based on your reply it definitely sounds like a good option.

Sorry for hijacking your post OP!
 
I love wood pellets, sadly not allowed to use them but would defo recommend if you are!

I keep seeing on market place cheap
Unbranded chopped straw and tape bedding which is £5 ish a bale. Unfortunately never anywhere local to me but worth a look.
 
I did try the straw pellets, they were ok, darker than wood but that doesn't bother me, they just didnt seem as absorbent as wood pellets and the bits seemed to stick to everything. Plus nowhere local so costly to have delivered
 
tda said:
I did try the straw pellets, they were ok, darker than wood but that doesn't bother me, they just didnt seem as absorbent as wood pellets and the bits seemed to stick to everything. Plus nowhere local so costly to have delivered
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I wasn’t keen on the darkness, my beds always just looked dirty. I also found them really quite dusty, although when I brought that up with the company I was told it wasn’t dust, it was tiny particles in the air…..
 
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I love weod pellets. They are the most absorbent bedding I'm aware of. I'll water a new bed at about 1/4 bucket per bag. After that I just mix a new one in. The best thing about it imo is that you can genuinely sieve out poo, mine are heavily feathered and drag it everywhere 😬

Downsides are it does go dark even when clean. It creates a heavy dust, a bit more than shavings but it falls back quickly rather than floating in the air.

I'm currently trying a layer of megaspread large flake shavings over pellets, the pee runs straight through to be absorbed by the pellets and the shavings look brighter and keep the dust down. I'm taking poo out daily and wet about fortnightly. It is working well but the test will be in winter.
 
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