Straw Pellets for bedding - I'm trying them

irish_only

irish_only

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Yesterday went and collected a load of straw pellets. I'm trying them instead of wood pellets for a variety of reasons.

Pro's:
Comparable price to wood pellets
Not as dusty in dry weather
Won't dry horses feet out as much
Don't need to add water as it breaks down very easily
Pellets not as hard/sharp as wood
Guaranteed content
Rot down faster

Con's:
Poo'ish coloured, if you are anal about white clean looking bedding

I've just put equivalent weights of wood and straw pellets in two buckets and added the same volume of water to compare.

Will keep you updated :D
 
There was an article in H&H last year and they were very highly rated.
Supposed to have a very good absorbancy.
 
I've never heard of them: are they cheaper than wood pellets? I'd be very interested in trying them cos I fancied the wood pellets, just never got round to it. I can't see me sticking with shavings as the price of my brand is ridiculous round here.
 
i trialled some! looked like a dark pooh ey bed before any pooh had been added. also the trial stable horse tried to eat the bed. all in all i hated it!!! tho i am ok with wood pellets, (just) but love my shavings beds. yes i am a little bit anal about mucking out, and the look of the bed, and can only do big full beds, with banks, even though all my stables are fully matted! i did request some more to trial (cos they changed the formula) but none arrived. which type have you bought? where from? and how much? feed back is always good.
 
Can you post a link? I googles and emailed one company but got a delivery failure notification.

Having checked a wood pellet company, who do 10kg bags at under £5, unless it expands to three times the size, then I'm as well/badly off as with my current shavings. It's a bit sneaky, I feel, that the wood pellet companies are offering 'cheaper' bedding and then looking at the sizes, they're not better value.
 
Update - 4 days on.
Am loving it. Horses have NOT tried to eat it. They picked at it as they do with wood pellets and then decided it definitely wasn't tasty. This is apparently due to another straw product which is mixed in that they don't like (can't remember what tho )
The laid bed is MUCH springier than wood pellets, but stays where it is.
My biggest lad is a full Irish Draught, 17.1hh, and the bed hasn't moved. He can also produce 3/4 of a bucket of wee in one go (when I can catch it) and the absorbancy is impressive.
Definitely no need to soak or wet the pellets before putting in, they break down naturally under the horses feet quite quickly.
The colour when broken down is straw coloured - surprise!

Cost - I paid £160 per tonne in bulk bags. I think the bagged will be around £220 but not sure.
Link to where I got them from http://www.strawpelletsltd.co.uk/Animal-bedding.html
 
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