~ how often do you take out the base? wood pellets ~

shiresrus123

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bedding on wood pellets, left a base to form and horse is extremely wet and a musher, put fresh in and on top, just got treaded in

so now, have tried letting base form during week, and removing it before putting fresh in so its a loose bed once more for the new week

is this right? horse is very wet, very walkee, very mushee and hooves like clodhoppers
 
I'm on pellets too and have one that churns around, the others aren't so bad so I sympathise. I've tried it both ways and I've found the best way for me is to leave it all in and keep topping up, just keep taking the droppings out. At least that way, you do have a base which sticks to the floor; if it's all dry it slips and slides. I think you just have to make sure it's deep enough to start with and put new pellets in before it really needs them to keep them topped up. That's what works for me and they're still easier and cheaper than any shavings I can buy.
BTW, I always put pellets in dry so they soak up better, it's amazing how much drier they make the beds.
 
thanks for that, do u not find that after a while the base is so wet that it takes the new and melds it in, we have tried putting in dry but they seemed to just get squashed and fossilised!
 
That sounds really bad if that happens but I always add more before it gets to that state if I can as it can only soak up so much; once it's reached its limit then it can't go anywhere else can it?
Do you have mats? If so, have you thought about either a sprinkle of shavings or Sundown Yellow and just sweep out every morning; sounds like the only feasible way.
I had a filly that walked around her box instead of walking across it and she was wet too. I got around that by just putting a large dollop of Sundown Yellow (before I knew about pellets) just in the middle of the box for her to either lay down on or stale on; it was always clean in the morning but the outside ring was a disaster area; it was the only way I could give her a bed at all but I always felt mean so I'd put a bale to make it a bigger lump then just take some out over a few days before adding another bale.
Will be glad to hear if you succeed in finding something that works; I'm really surprised the pellets are letting you down.
 
[ QUOTE ]
bedding on wood pellets, left a base to form and horse is extremely wet and a musher, put fresh in and on top, just got treaded in

so now, have tried letting base form during week, and removing it before putting fresh in so its a loose bed once more for the new week

is this right? horse is very wet, very walkee, very mushee and hooves like clodhoppers

[/ QUOTE ]

I have the same problem. After a lot of trial and error I have found that if I take droppings and worst of the wet out everyday it is best. I have to put a bag in every other day to keep it topped up. It looks horrible and brown but no smell or dust and still works out cheaper than shavings for me ( I used to use 3 bags of shavings a week!)
 
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