Miscanthus vs wood pellets

B

BigPony

Well-Known Member
Joined
12 January 2011
Messages
89
Location
Staffordshire
Visit site
I have used wood pellet for years for my very messy, wet gelding and now give him a reasonable bed on mats which I take the wet out of daily.

If I leave the wet and take it out once a week it ends up in a mess and just doesn't work for him. Currently using verdo pellets (all that is available on the yard, would prefer white horse but tough luck!)

I've always wanted to try miscanthus (ordinary, not pelleted) and it's now available on the yard. I'm hoping I may be able to use 1 bale of miscanthus weekly, as opposed to 2 pellets, saving me some money.

For those who have used both, is it as absorbent as wood pellets?

Does semi-deep littering miscanthus work better than pellets?

Does it stick to manes and tails more?

Does it bed down similarly to wood pellet?

Thanks :)
 
Next time your yard orders pellets, maybe they would try Platinum plus, they are excellent and on offer at the moment so a good price.
 
I haven't used wood pellets, but we are currently using straw pellets which I assume are pretty similar - I used miscanthus for years and years and I think I will swap back to it tbh.

Miscanthus imo performs best semi deep litter - it doesn't stick to the horse and rugs, and if it does it easily shakes off. Miscanthus is more absorbent than straw pellets and doesn't compact down as hard.

I wouldn't have thought it would be any cheaper though - I used to use one bale a week per large stable, but mine are fairly clean :)
 
I have used chopped miscanthus (Caviera) and really like it-much nicer than both straw and wood pellets IMO and better for their feet. Find it hard to get hold of up here unfortunately so am using rape straw (Bliss) atm. Works out about the same cost wise as I never did get down to the one bag a week of pellets the manufacturers claim and Bliss/Caviera is £8+ a bale but it gives nice thick beds that don't move around, don't compact in their feet and suits my very mucky 4yo! Rots down quickly as well.


eta it dowsnt bed down like a pelleted bed IMO, but I didn't like that anyway. just as easy to muck out with a shavings fork and I tend to not semi-deep litter as much as possible.
 
Thanks all :)

Now I've got used to the Verdo they are ok, but wouldn't be my choice of pellet, have tried to convince YO to buy White Horse but to no avail!

Am paying £5 something for the verdo, I think he said the miscanthus will be £6.75 or there about a, so if I can get away with 1 bale a week it will be good saving over a month, but that may well be a big 'if'. I probably throw a good shovel of wet pellets out daily.
 
I'd buy a pallet of decent pellets and keep them at home in the garden under tarp. I really wouldn't spend £5 a time on Verdo, I have but luckily only once at the local tack shop when I ran out. It's totally useless, I'm hard pushed to find a shovel of wet pellets every week with White Horse. I wonder why yards who supply bedding still buy it? There's one near me that include a bag of Verdo in their livery price, they're more expensive than White Horse too!

In your shoes, I'd definitely swap to miscanthus.
 
I use a bag of woodpellets (the small heating bags (10kg?) as same stuff- about £2.80 a sack) as a base to the bed in his wet spot to soak up the pee and it is topped and banked with bliss. This keeps the top layer nice and dry and works well on a usage level as in winter (in 2pm -7am) I take out the pellets once a week and add about half a bag of bliss (I usually add a sack one week and not the other).

This combo works really well for my guinea pigs too :D.

These are verdo pellets, not used any others as they are easy to get hold of- they don't seem any different to the two other brands used on the yard either, liverpool and not sure what the others are.
 
We have to buy all bedding through YO, I used white horse for years when I was able to buy my own and was very happy with them, but sadly they are no longer an option.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top