Dust levels in wood pellet beds

AdorableAlice

AdorableAlice

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Guidance learned friends please.

I have never used wood pellets but am thinking of giving them a try for a little horse who is currently on bedmax either on rubber or on an earth floor. The horse is showing signs of runny nose on shavings and even though I keep the bed clean there is a level of dust.

I have a few concerns, the horse is a greedy wotsit and I wonder if it would try to eat the bed, I know I have to soak and fluff them up so no pellets are evident to the horse. What is the dust level especially at this time of year with hot days and dry atmosphere. Are pellets used for horses with breathing/allergy issues.

An idiots guide to using the stuff would be ideal please.

Many thanks.
 
Friend has her horses on pellets. I really like them and would use them with mine but for the fact that my livery yard is either shavings or straw and all bedding must be bought from yard. Pellets are great for reducing dust, one of hers had mild RAO before coming to her, but on pellets and steamed hay he's done really well and hasn't needed medicating. It's very quick and easy to keep a nice clean bed, especially on top of rubber mats. Trick seems to be not to have too small a bed, skip out droppings as frequently as you can, and just take out the wet once or twice a day. It is a bit of a pain if the horse likes to trample its hay into the bed, and the bed does seem to draw moisture from the atmosphere in wet cold weather, but those are the only drawbacks. Quite expensive to set up a bed from scratch, but not a massive risk because if you don't like it you could quickly enough revert to shavings by mixing the two. Also takes up less storage space and makes a much smaller muck heap.
 
In the dry hot summer time they can get dusty, they recommend watering the bed with a watrering can with a rose daily.
 
I'm on pellets as mine is grim on anything else. I find they can look dusty in the summer, as above a quick once over with a watering can helps. I don't bother as I find the dust doesn't seem to travel up like shaving dust when I muck out but I don't have to move the bed in the same way. I tend to pick up the droppings then scrap any clean stuff to the side if I need to take out some of the wet then scrape it back over so no chucking up the sides of the stable which reduces the dust. Mine seems to end up with most of her feed in her bed so spends a lot of time with her nose in it but has never coughed on pellets even in all the hot weather when they got a bit dust like. Again as above they do soak up the moisture in the atmosphere when its wet but I didn't find it made the bed wetter in the winter.
I don't take out the wet, I found that a good base works best then just skim the top once a week or so. Top up with well soaked pellets.
Don't let hay get mixed in as it will effect the bed but its far easier get out of the bed than with shavings.
Also not all pellets are equal, some are really rubbish.
 
They can get really dusty in the dry weather unless you keep them watered.
I think if you have a horse whose breathing is iffy on bedmax then I wouldn't be rushing to pellets. Paper/cardboard would be the best (if horrid to manage)
 
Have you considered megazorb (which is a paper product)? We use it mainly on the truck because it's not dusty and its super absorbent but am not sure how economical it would be to use in a stable as it doesn't go tremendously far.
 
I'm really liking equinola which is chopped rape straw. It is like miscanthus in absorption but not dusty. It is quite heavy so stays in place so easy to lift the poos off the top. Taking out wee patch once every 10 days while she's been in 9-5 during day. Pellets are good but more difficult to keep looking tidy & clean. Always a layer of clean, dry bedding on my bed till I dig wet out.

Horse lays down on it daily & is on mats. Not got breathing problems, I'm just a neat freak & have to have clean tidy bed despite doing semi deep litter.
 
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It seems to depend a lot on the microclimate of the stable. We tried them and didn't didn't get on with them at at all (stone stable with concrete floors). There was a film of dust everywhere and although we didn't hear the horses cough (neither with compromised breathing) the humans certainly did, and the ever present dust made grooming, keeping water clean,etc a bit of a pain.
 
to avoid dust i use the following,

very good quality paper bed

eva mats under bed.

clean out properly daily

clean out in the morning and leave the floor bare to dry thoroughly during day

put down enough paper to give poo and pee a place to lie and not run everywhere

doing this avoids most dust and most ammonia and limits airborn particles

i never groom in stable

never muck out while horse is in stable

best of luck
 
It can get dusty but I find if the horse is in a lot so is weeing and creating a bit of moisture in the air by sweating or even just breathing it tends to keep it at bay. If he's only in for a couple of hours a day it's probably not enough to keep the dust down. If you do go for it put at least a medium thickness bed as it will allow the wee to soak down and leave the top clean and dry. Remove the poo as normal but only remove the wee once or twice a week.
 
I use pellets and find they do get dusty in the summer, especially if the horses have been out for a while. I just watered the bed thoroughly, turned the top and watered it again before bringing my mare back in, and kept it watered until they went back out again, it seemed to do the trick. I'm not sure it is the bedding I'd choose for a horse with respiratory issues though.
 
We used our's a little differently as we used them under shavings, they were never dusty for us but Topaz (ahem fatty hippo :o) did try to eat them :o...
 
To find out the dust content, take a sample, with it, sieve it with a 500 um sieve (brush through the sieve) and weigh the dust which goes through. You will be amazed at how much is there as it hides on the bigger pieces. I did this recently as part of a DSEAR assessment on a woodwork shop
 
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