questions on wood pellet bedding please

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diegosmama

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First off I know there have been a lot of posts on this in the past but I have some questions that I've not been able to find the answer to before trying them..
1. The main reason I'm looking at changing the bedding is that my horse suffers with feather mites and although he get treated for it, since he has been on straw he has been stamping ALOT compared to when he used to be on shavings. It's obviously irritating him so I need to change it. I'd like a cheaper option to shavings as they're £8 a bale for me and he used 2 a week. So
Are wood pellets better then straw for irritating mites??

2. People seem to only use them over winter. Are they not a great summer bed.

3. Anyone know how long a pellet would last for 1 averagely clean 15.1 horse?

4. Going on what I've found on the threads so far the best choice seems to be out of 5* lwp and woodlets is this right? Are these the top 3? I'm in Lancashire if that helps

Hoping you can help me :)
 
I have no experience of feather mites so can't comment on whether wood pellets would be better than straw but I would assume that it would be.
I use Five Star from Eden Wood Products (having tried various others including LWP, Brites, Verdo, etc) and find them and Aquamax are the best.

I use pellet beds in summer without a problem.

I have rubber mats and put down a good thickness bed (approx 15 bags) to start and use about 2 x 10kg bags per stable per week. The trick is not to dig the wet out until it comes to the surface. If you have a good firm base it will last much better.

I can do my 5 stables in well under an hour.
 
Thankyou for the reply. I've been very tempted to buy half a pallet and think I will do. I have never bought bedding in bulk before and it's a lot of money if it wasn't to work for him. But as you say it's bound to be better than straw for him
 
Even if it does not prove to be ideal for you, I think you will find it is reasonably economical, I like proper banks, and shavings would be best for this, there is very little smell as long as you keep bed reasonably dry, I have seen people who go all out for economy and the beds are a bit wetter than I would like, and a bit smellier than I like. Not sure if you can get a good deal on a half pallet, as you need that quite a lot if starting from scratch anyway.
 
I have used woodlets for the past few months and have found them to be cost and time effective and am planning to use through the summer - if they get a bit dry and dusty I will water :)

I have rubber matting and initially used as a base to easibed as my horse was particularly wet but carried on just topping up with woodlets and now my bed is 99% pellets - I now put in 2 x 10kg bags at a weekend in dry pellet form and have gradually built up banks around the edges which I use to pull down if any wet comes through during the week - mucking out takes 10 mins at most using gloves and tub trug and then I just use my broom to brush a level surface.
 
diegosmama said:
Thankyou for the reply. I've been very tempted to buy half a pallet and think I will do. I have never bought bedding in bulk before and it's a lot of money if it wasn't to work for him. But as you say it's bound to be better than straw for him
Click to expand...

Check the price as you will probably find that a full pallet is not much more than a half pallet - I think the bulk of the cost is in delivery.
 
As others have said, you need to build a good solid base before you reap the benefits. They're not suited for a daily full muck out. The worse smelling bed I've ever come across was a wood pellet bed that was very thin, no base, looked clean but smelt like a pigsty. It made your eyes water. Mine is brownish, it gets paler when more bedding is added then goes brownish again. It's been down for over 5 years just adding more on top and skimming off the wet. I don't often dig down to the rubber mats. The only time it smells is when horse has done an extended riverdance on it and disturbed the base. They do get dry and dusty over summer, but I don't much worry as my horse lives out 24/7 in summer.

If you like shavings, you can put wood pellets under the shavings and save a fortune on bedding as the wood pellets soaks up all the damp thus saving a lot of bedding.
 
My Mare also suffers with mites She is on eva mats (I would not recommend eva mats long story!!) and pellets they work well. I only put down about five bags initially just to absorb the wet. She has Dectomax injections and vet gave me some Lime wash to wash legs with (watch this stuff it stinks of rotten eggs erghhh) These really have worked well and she has stopped stamping and biting her legs. Liverpool Wood Pellets are quite good.
 
Thanks guys ill give them a try and muck out as you suggested to keep a base. Fingers crossed no more irritated boy. Gmw he had the injection and didn't help now vet has suggested feathers off and frontine so ill be trying that aswell as taking him off straw
 
Its not really answering you questions, but I have an extremely messy mare and woodpellets I would say have been the best thing to keep her on so far (I have tried lots). I have tried straw, cardboard and every different type of shavings I could find. The person who suggested them to me actually said they were better in a nice summer because the bed stays a lot dryer but I am yet to test that out. every tackshop around me that supplies them always has about 3-4 weeks where they have non though, but I found a cheaper way!!! they use the same things for woodburners, if you have a local wood supplier see if they do them, exactly the same thing without the vat.
 
May be a little too late coming back to this but I am a massive wood pellet fan (but only a few brands). Most wood pellets are heat treated and i only use the natural ones not made from recycled wood or do they contain any whitener, I am prob a bit of a boffin when it comes to pellets.

A typical full pallet could last upto 12 months plus, depending on how long horse is in for.

I have tried loads inc LWP (Brites) complete pants as compacted saw dust and contains a whitener, Platinum Plus takes massive amounts of water to do anything, the bed starts off ok but then goes a weird yellow colour (also contains whitener), 5* used before Martin at 5* passed away, these were his exspensive ones, worked well but were pricey. Woodlets pretty much same as others, the best value for money seems to be Verdo Horse Bedding, not the heating ones as those are more dusty, they are completely natural no additives, no whitener and they are a much larger particle one broken down and I use a third less of bedding when using these. And NO AMMONIA smell on these pellets as some are dreadful. You must have a 4-5 inch base and leave the wet in till it reaches the surface, then remove all the wet are and DO NOT mix in wee.

Hope that helps.
 
My 15.1 gelding is on Corley biowood pellets, cheaper than LWP and actually answered the phone etc. I mix in a bale of shavings now and again, he's on mats, I don't take out the base hardly ever. It's fine in summer and if it starts getting dusty, just spray it with a bit of water. I add two 10kg bags weekly. My heavily feathered cob hasn't stamped since he's been on pellets.

This is a brand new bed with old shavings as banks-I never bother much with banks, he just kicks them down and they're pointless anyway unless they're like 3 feet high.
IMAG0797.jpg
 
Just thought that I would add; I'm a total newbie to wood pellets and after three days I love it. It's so quick!! (It does help that I appear to have a clean mare however!)
 
I'm using wood pellets as a base (don't have rubber mats) with shavings on top. Fab! I initially put down a 3" or so layer in the summer, and essentially deep littered it, adding approx 1 bag per week. Once winter came I added shavings on top for a cosy factor . It makes the shavings last far longer.

I have one very messy pony and one very good one.

I skip out the poo daily, and once a week I pull back the dry shavings, skim off a layer of wet shavings and then add 1/2 - 1 bag of wood pellets over the wettest part. I don't water them in. Then I pull the dry shavings back over the top and top up.

Messy pony has a bale of shavings per week added, clean pony only needs 1/2. I should add that I make my beds fairly deep.

I shall probably ditch the shavings over summer when they just come in during the day. It is far quicker just using pellets, but I am used to deep straw beds and like to make them look comfy!

Costs wise nothing is going to beat straw but I have one bed-eater and the other coughs on straw so that's a no-go. This is a cost-effective alternative though.
 
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