Different angle to the perennial wood pellet question - too dry!

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stimpy

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I am using wood pellets for the second year. My horses are in at night for 4-5 months each year over winter. Last year I switched from cardboard to LWP half way through winter and by spring the beds were very dusty. This year I have started with Five Star pellets and after teh horses have been in for just 2 weeks in the beds are horrific! Everything is covered in a thick layer of dust, horses, rugs, mangers, and the water buckets have a revolting layer of dust on the top each morning after being scrubbed out the night before.

I chose pellets as they are so easy to muck out but neither of my horses are wet, in fact 90% of the time neither of them pee in their stables although one does pretty wet poos. The wet poo one is very tidy but the other one walks all his poos round his bed so sifting out his poo can be a nightmare. Because there is no pee to mix in I have been thinking about watering them, in fact I gave the stables a spray today, but it makes the management less attractive if I have to fanny around wetting them down and I am horrified by the amount of dust they have created. So, stuck with a pallet of 5 star I want to mix it with something else to try to minimise the dust. I don't think shavings will work well as they too will break down over time so should I go for wood fibre or hemp? I am disinclined to use any chopped straw products as one horse will eat anything straw based (including straw pellets).

Anyone out there mixing wood pellets with other bedding that is dust free?
 
Last summer I used water to make up every bag of pellets I used before putting them in the stable and I did water the bed.
 
My horse is very clean so I always water his pellets before adding them to the bed as I find they break down better that way. I have been adding a bag of woodchip bedding once a fortnight just to bulk his bed out a little. I use pellets from a local supplier and I haven't had any problems with dust - even in the summer when the warm weather really dried out the bed!
 
Yes, I always add water to the pellets before adding them, 4-6 litres per bag. They look fine when they go into the bed but the next day everything is just so dusty :(
 
I use LWP for the first time this winter and have not had a problem with being dusty. THey have been in the stable more hours than usualy because of the weather and I do mix some of the wet into the dry bedding
 
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