David marlin bedding

[SantaVera]

Anyone watch the webinar I missed it, results about dusty bedding some surprises apparently

 

[lottiepony]

I didn't personally but a lady on the yard subscribes and I was chatting to her about it. Felt a bit pleased I had put my horse onto Bedmax due to him needing box rest after surgery and as he's the horse who will always get the problem I picked the what I thought you be least dusty as no doubt he would end up with airway troubles lol.
Dust wise Aubiose came out worse alongside Megazorb. There were a few brands that I hadn't heard of or seen stocked at out local suppliers - Concord did well across most of the categories as did Bedmax.

 

[fidleyspromise]

I have wondered this especially with a COPD pony.

 

[milliepops]

I didn't personally but a lady on the yard subscribes and I was chatting to her about it. Felt a bit pleased I had put my horse onto Bedmax due to him needing box rest after surgery and as he's the horse who will always get the problem I picked the what I thought you be least dusty as no doubt he would end up with airway troubles lol.
Dust wise Aubiose came out worse alongside Megazorb. There were a few brands that I hadn't heard of or seen stocked at out local suppliers - Concord did well across most of the categories as did Bedmax.

that's useful to know, thanks for sharing.
I really like Bedmax, i have fairly tidy horses and it makes a great bed.

 

[LEC]

I thought the wood pellet result was over egged because it wasn't tested soaked but instead dry. IME woodpellets are pretty dusty and I am wary about them in the summer. We don't sweep at all on the yard as have yard blowers and you get covered in dust by wood pellets.

 

[criso]

I assume you can't see the results unless you are a member.

With the wood pellets, I have found a huge difference in dust between brands so I wonder which they tested.

 

[poiuytrewq]

I found Concorde to be horrific dust wise!
I love bedmax, we use it at work but I’m not allowed at home unfortunately

 

[Flowerofthefen]

I used to use wood pellets but found them horrendously dusty. I use straw now which is very clean. Friend still uses wood pellets. I know which I prefer!

 

[Lady Jane]

I watched the webinar. Very interesting. There is no such thing as dust free bedding (or even close), but some are worse than others. It depends what matters to you most which is best: dust/absorbancy/easy to manage/expansion when damp/support under foot etc etc. He said if you saw the levels of dust measured on their device while mucking out is in progress (on any bedding), you would never again muck out with your horse in the stable and without you wearing a mask!

 

[PurBee]

Its such a dilemma to find good absorbency and little dust.

The most absorbent bedding seems to be the dustiest!

I like wood pellets for best absorbency and use shavings on top. Shavings differ greatly though and even dust extracted flakes have tiny specks of dust still.

I’m thinking of trialling a really deep bed of pellets broken down with some water to make a spongey base, and top with 8 inches of wood chip. Wood chip isnt dusty compared to all the other non-shavings alternatives.

 

[rabatsa]

I have not seen the webinar. How did cardboard fare?

 

[poiuytrewq]

@Lady Jane if money etc were no object then what’s best for a copd horse?

 

[SEL]

I cleared out 3 deep litters beds at the beginning of September and the top layer of the wood pellets was horrendous - the water that came off me in the shower that night was grim!

The other two were on Probed and that was better but surprisingly damp at the bottom unlike the wood pellets which had soaked up everything with minimal smell (all been down and topped up over 12 months)

What came out top for dust (as in least dust)?

 

[LEC]

If you look at Jo Davis racing on FB there is an interesting discussion on bedding. With racing they need dust free as much as possible and they have decided to go after hygiene as the big thing to focus on. Basically you get one or the other with dust/absorbancy so you have to make a choice.

 

[Boulty]

I can't see it cos I'm not a member but will say that bedmax is imo the most awful bedding I've ever used. It's absorption is flipping useless & unless your horse is a saint they make a right mess with it! Re hemp type bedding would be interesting to see if they compared dust levels when it's fresh Vs when it's been compacted down a bit (I find it a lot less dusty than either straw or shavings when it's compacted a bit, which tbf it is supposed to be disturbed infrequently). Shavings really set my allergies off (as does straw to a lesser extent) but for some reason hemp doesn't. I still wouldn't want to open a new bag & spread it about with the horse in the stable though but tbf I wouldn't want to with any bedding really as think everything that's been disturbed should be allowed to settle before horse goes back in (bit difficult if horse is on box rest of course!)

 

[milliepops]

I think Bedmax works well like straw if you put something absorbent underneath, the horse lies on the soft fluffy stuff and the pee gets absorbed by the layer underneath. that's how i use it, i put dry pellets down so they don't get particularly dusty and skip droppings out with a poop scoop and rake, fortunately my horses don't kick their beds up so it's quick and easy.

 

[Fjord]

I was using wood pellets for a few years but got increasingly annoyed with the dust, although the absorbancy was great. I now put them in the toilet area and top with chopped rape straw, it's definitely less dusty.

 

[SantaVera]

Anyone know how straw fared? Being not so absorbent I guess it's not as dusty as some

 

[poiuytrewq]

Anyone know how straw fared? Being not so absorbent I guess it's not as dusty as some

I imagine the problem with testing straw would be it’s just so variable. I’ve had some amazing straw and some unusable rubbish.

 

[Sossigpoker]

I use BedMax and LittleMax and they are incredibly dust free!
I also use pellets underneath though as I find that the absorbency otherwise isn't as great

 

[Lady Jane]

@Lady Jane if money etc were no object then what’s best for a copd horse?

Probably Concord or Platinum Plus pellets - they were tested in their dry form and were close to the top 2 and it was expected they would be winners when damped. They also scored highly in the hygene area which I believe matters for COPD?

 

[poiuytrewq]

Probably Concord or Platinum Plus pellets - they were tested in their dry form and were close to the top 2 and it was expected they would be winners when damped. They also scored highly in the hygene area which I believe matters for COPD?

I just find that so bizarre. I laid my concord bed, horse tucked in so wetted and fluffed it up as per their recommendation. It was like I had a completely different product to the beds on the website. On the plus the customer service is second to none. Such a lovely helpful lady.
Maybe I’ll give it another try.

 

[MotherOfChickens]

straw pellets are really dusty in the summer, I didn’t like them at all. I lik bedmax but need something more absorbent -I will maybe try wood pellets underneath for the winter.

 

[LEC]

I think Bedmax works well like straw if you put something absorbent underneath, the horse lies on the soft fluffy stuff and the pee gets absorbed by the layer underneath. that's how i use it, i put dry pellets down so they don't get particularly dusty and skip droppings out with a poop scoop and rake, fortunately my horses don't kick their beds up so it's quick and easy.

exactly what I do - bedmax does about 2 weeks with this method before needing another bale. Put down roughly a bag a week of cheap wood pellets. Though I have just switched from bedmax to new flake as we live 20 mins from the new flake mill so pick them up for less than £7 which is a considerable saving on bedmax

 

[TPO]

Previously I used "normal" shavings and then switched to Bedmax. I had thought my normal shavings were fairly low dust but noticed a big difference switching to Bedmax. However I didnt find the absorbency of Bedmax to be very good.

I then tried a base of wood pellets (Sorbeo) with bedmax on top. I've never been a huge fan of wood pellets. I tried them donkeys ago (circa 2008) with matting. They had their benefits (cheap!) but I didnt like the dampness and the dustiness.

I found a wood pellet base with bedmax on top to be really dusty and I went through a lot of Bedmax. I like a "nice" bed and I don't like how the big flakes discolour.

Then I switched to Nedz Pro. They were so dust free they made all previous bedding look awful for dust.

I found Nedz Pro to be extremely absorbent as well.

Trying to save money I switched to Burley Bed Miscanthus as it said it was dust free and absorbent. No!! It was THE dustiest bedding ever as in it choked humans mucking it out. I don't muck out when horses are in anyway but with this stuff I had to make sure that all mucking out was finished at least 3hrs before the horses came back in.

Currently using unbranded chopped straw. It's very low dust too and even fat cob doesn't try to eat it. However it's absorbency is no where near as good as nedz

 

[milliepops]

i would guess that individual experiences will also be affected by the stable design. I've always had "outdoor" stables with full grill front walls or made up with gates so nothing above door height at all, so any airborn dust is quickly blown away!