Straw Pellets trial (pic heavy)

Oberon

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Hi, do you find a very deep bed is best? My gelding is revolting and has (as you refer to it!) a space hopper bladder. He would flood the stable on straw!

I currently use wood pellets but have tried a big bed and a smaller bed. I'm worried about wasting bedding but at the moment I have to take out at least three shovels of wet because he is SO wet :rolleyes:

Whatever happens I'll be sticking with the pellets because they're much cleaner, smell nice and are quicker to muck out than anything else, but I just wondered whether to try a very deep bed or continue with just adding a bag or so a week so a minimal bed.

Definitely deeper. I have the same issue!

With wood pellets, I put 13 bags down to start off the bed (rather than the 8 recommended) and I rarely bother to wet them.
I remove the poop and scrape around the wet bit, remove that and then mix the whole bed up. If you don't mix it, the middle breaks down and gets sodden and the sides remain dry. If you mix it, then the bed stays nice and even. I add bags in as needed and never wet them. I use a tonne of bedding in 3 months (for two horses) and it could be made to stretch longer, but I can't bear to muck out horrid, soppy beds - so I use as much as I want.
 

xRobyn

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Definitely deeper. I have the same issue!

With wood pellets, I put 13 bags down to start off the bed (rather than the 8 recommended) and I rarely bother to wet them.
I remove the poop and scrape around the wet bit, remove that and then mix the whole bed up. If you don't mix it, the middle breaks down and gets sodden and the sides remain dry. If you mix it, then the bed stays nice and even. I add bags in as needed and never wet them. I use a tonne of bedding in 3 months (for two horses) and it could be made to stretch longer, but I can't bear to muck out horrid, soppy beds - so I use as much as I want.

Thank you for the reply. I think with messy horses once you've tried a bed like this then does it really matter about £ if you don't smell like wee, don't take 45 minutes to skip out daily because you have to remove the whole bed, and you don't shovel wee :rolleyes:

I might order the LWP next time. I emailed regarding the delivery etc but heard nothing back and I think from calculations they worked out only a few pound cheaper. I don't wet my pellets either, he does that himself! I think because he wees in the same spot that spot gets soaked and squelchy but the rest is always dry. I lift the bed most days so it gets mixed up well. It's definitely interesting to read other posts, I might bite the bullet and give him a deep bed next time. I tried putting his bed the whole way across the back of the stable a few days ago, but it was worse because it wasn't so deep, so sticking to a corner now. He very rarely lies down anyway but seems happy to on the pellets, often has them stuck to his sides :p
 

Oberon

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Thank you for the reply. I think with messy horses once you've tried a bed like this then does it really matter about £ if you don't smell like wee, don't take 45 minutes to skip out daily because you have to remove the whole bed, and you don't shovel wee :rolleyes:

agree.gif
 

Oberon

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The bed, 5 weeks on. 'Space Hopper Bladder' still refusing to come in at night, so the true 'winter' hasn't really started yet
woot.gif


It's still the Arab in his bed;)
Dirty
dirtypicswp.jpg


and clean:)
spbedoct.jpg


I've put 3 bags down in the last 5 weeks to keep the opulent depth
bed.gif
 

OFG

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After reading this thread I took the plunge and sourced some wood pellets locally to where I am to trial with the Welsh A who is very wet / messy / box walker.

Have to say I am really impressed with them and have only put down 7 bags in total (6 to start the bed and 1 to top up) since starting using them a month ago.

Thanks OP for the really informative thread and all the replies from other people who have used wood or straw pellets, it helped me make the decision to change bedding. :)
 

Oberon

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My pleasure
cheers.gif


'Space Hopper bladder' came in at the weekend for nights for the winter. Still happy enough with the straw pellets but I'm struggling with how the bed compacts. When stood on, the bottom of the bed clumps together. Perfect if you deep litter but I like to dig the whole bed every day and spend forever each day, breaking up the clumps.
At this point I'll be going back to LWP when the straw pellets are used up after the winter.

This is the bed today
novstrawpbeddirty.jpg


novstrawpbedclean.jpg
 

9tails

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I'm totally anal about hay in the bed, IME it's made the bed wetter for some reason and I go over it with a garden rake every morning to get all the hay out. My pellets rarely get disturbed past the first 3 inches so compacting is good!
 

milesjess

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I use wood pellets on a deep litter bed. Much better option and I'll never change back. Bed is cleaner, thicker and softer and very easy to clean up.

I'd recommend every owner to try them at least once :)
 

Thai

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I started using wood pellets last year and loved them. At a county show this year we saw stable gold (straw pellets) and tried them. They are no way near as good as the wood pellets. When they pee it smells and have to take the wet out everyday :( Poo gets kicked around everywhere aswell !! Definetly stick with the wood pellets they are the best bedding ever!! xx
 

Oberon

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I started using wood pellets last year and loved them. At a county show this year we saw stable gold (straw pellets) and tried them. They are no way near as good as the wood pellets. When they pee it smells and have to take the wet out everyday :( Poo gets kicked around everywhere aswell !! Definetly stick with the wood pellets they are the best bedding ever!! xx

I'm inclined to agree at this point. I'm finding the straw pellets difficult to work with in comparison.

If I don't lift the bed every day it all becomes solid from being stood on during the night and it's really time consuming and heavy to do. I feel like I'm constantly fighting the bed.

I'll be going back to wood pellets when these are used up.
 

Thai

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we luckily only bought a few bags but we didnt throw all the wood pellets out. Instead we just mixed the 2 together. I put the straw pellets where he pees and now i just mix it in everywhere but where he pees because of the smell!!!!!!!!! Its not as bad if you mix the 2 together but definetly more wood pellets than straw !! Saw a very nice wood pellet bedding at your horse live which had smaller pellets that just ExPaNdEd so much when he wet them.!! Slightly more expensive but you get more in a bag and they expand much more :)
 

Flash_28

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I'm going to be using LWP again this winter as they are the cheapest bedding I can find really that my yard will accept. I am massively OCD about my bedding being clean but just can't afford to chuck out so much bedding every day or even if I could, I wouldn't have the time to do it! Can only have shavings of some sort. No straw or paper.

I have 5 horses. 1 is an angel in his stable but where he pees right at the front of his bed I need to remove the wet every day or it gets dragged round the stable. Anything really works with him. Then I have 2 messy ponies, one of whom is the wettest pony I have ever met!!! Last winter I was having to take out the whole LWP bed every weekend as it was just solid with wet! No matter what I did it would come to the top and it would all have to come out. The youngster just has a rave in his stable every night but is also mega wet in the stable! The last one is a chronic box walker and can turn a brand new fresh bed from white to black in one night! She is rather wet too. We are trying her with a stable mirror this year.

Last year as I was laying the bed I would wet each bag and then lay the bedding. How many people really do just put the pellets in and leave it as that? On the LWP. Is it any better to really wet the bedding when you lay it or should I just leave them as the pellets?
 

Maesfen

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I'm totally anal about hay in the bed, IME it's made the bed wetter for some reason and I go over it with a garden rake every morning to get all the hay out. My pellets rarely get disturbed past the first 3 inches so compacting is good!

Same here; would love to know why any hay makes them wttter and clumpier!

Personally, I wouldn't like to lift the bed every day as it makes the bed very unstable and slippery even with mats; far better to put the bed down and leave it down, just take out what you need as and when (I semi deep litter so skip out every day, only take wet out if it surfaces and then fill the holes in with other old bedding then new pellets on top.

Interesting Oberon that you're going back to wood pellets but thank you very much for the trial, it's been interesting.
 

NOISYGIRL

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I'm inclined to agree at this point. I'm finding the straw pellets difficult to work with in comparison.

If I don't lift the bed every day it all becomes solid from being stood on during the night and it's really time consuming and heavy to do. I feel like I'm constantly fighting the bed.

I'll be going back to wood pellets when these are used up.

When we has wood pellets few years back the bloke said not to disturb the bed and to leave it alone, only removing the poop and the patches of wee when they form, when you do remove wet just put a bag of pellets in the hole and mix in a little, that's what he told us anyway, it seemed to work, he said not to lift the bed every day, every few weeks if you HAVE to
 

Thai

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just bought some new wood pellets not from LWP !! These people are called blue ribbon bedding. They come in 15kg bags and you slit the bag open and pour water in it and it overflows like a magic porridge pot!! Worked out cheaper than liverpool and tbh the pellets look whiter (more pine like) than liverpool so more absorbant :)) Ill let you know if their any good.
 

Oberon

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When we has wood pellets few years back the bloke said not to disturb the bed and to leave it alone, only removing the poop and the patches of wee when they form, when you do remove wet just put a bag of pellets in the hole and mix in a little, that's what he told us anyway, it seemed to work, he said not to lift the bed every day, every few weeks if you HAVE to

I had no problems when I used LWP.

But with these straw pellets the bed starts becoming solid after one night and if left longer than that, it is really really solid - and I find that really unpleasant to work with.

I don't mean lumps - I mean great big boulders of dry pellets clumped together that are really hard to disperse and that makes it harder to find the wet as you can't get a fork in.

Perhaps they would be good for deep litter - but I just can't do deep litter at all.
 

Paint Me Proud

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my straw pellet bed is very hard too - but i dont mind.

I let the bottom 3-4 inches compact to a solid block that absorbs the wet and rake the top layer over everyday as i lift the poop off the top.

I dig the wet out when it's needed and fill the hole with dry bedding.

I would be interested to try wood pellets after these though, just to see how they compare.

One things for sure....dont think i will ever go back to shavings!
 

NOISYGIRL

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I had no problems when I used LWP.

But with these straw pellets the bed starts becoming solid after one night and if left longer than that, it is really really solid - and I find that really unpleasant to work with.

I don't mean lumps - I mean great big boulders of dry pellets clumped together that are really hard to disperse and that makes it harder to find the wet as you can't get a fork in.

Perhaps they would be good for deep litter - but I just can't do deep litter at all.

Oh I see, looks like wood pellets are better then
 

Flash_28

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How many of you do actually wet the wood pellets when 1st laying the bed? I'm quite new really to LWP and can't find a good or easy way to do it. Tried to pour the water in the bag but most escapes out the bottom and then it's hard to get the rest out the bag. Should I water it down in a wheelbarrow and chuck it out on the floor? Also how much water are you all using for 1 bag?
 

Thai

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Soak it when you first put it down!! after that, when you are adding it in per week or whatever it doesnt really matter. Some people prefer to soak it others dont. I soak all the wood pellets that go into mine because my mare eats it otherwise!! i think she thinks its pony nuts!! With LWP its best to soak in a wheelbarrow as the bags are really small. I used to use liverpool but now have gone onto another 1 which is in a bigger bag and worked out cheaper. The bags are bigger so you can slit the bag and add in a bucket of water and let it expand for an hour. It overflows like the magic porridge pot!!!! For a 10kg sack probably about 3/4 of a bucket , depending on if you want to leave a few unbsoaked pellets in etc. Hope this helps xx good luck!
 

9tails

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How many of you do actually wet the wood pellets when 1st laying the bed? I'm quite new really to LWP and can't find a good or easy way to do it. Tried to pour the water in the bag but most escapes out the bottom and then it's hard to get the rest out the bag. Should I water it down in a wheelbarrow and chuck it out on the floor? Also how much water are you all using for 1 bag?

I lay my bags out flat, make a small 2" slit in the top, which is the side if stood up, and stick the hose in for 15 seconds. I then leave them overnight. The slit is too small for pellets to excape and I get a nice straining bag of breaking down pellets. I then cut the bag up in a cross across the top/side and tip out onto the existing bedding. Rake it over and leave it to take more moisture/dry out the existing bed.

I don't put any pellets in dry, they stick to the poo and I then have to pick them off each poo nugget. I hate to waste any bedding, I even go through the stuff I sweep out to get the serviceable pellets out and throw them over my shoulder onto the bed.
 

Liostro

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this discussion is really helpful, i am seriously considering buying some LWP now.... i'm just hoping they deliver to Cornwall!!!!
I cam currently using straw which meanseverytime i go out to the stables i come back inside absoloutely stinking of pee!!!!!!! Are the pellets really good in terms of fragrance?!!??!
 

Crazy Friesian

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Have to say that I haven't had a problem with the straw pellets. I have 7 on them. My old lad box walks and even then it is fairly easy to repair the damage. I tend not to let the bed get very deep (have rubber mats down) and even with the Friesian (who is messy and tends to compact the bed) I just take out the droppings, flick the bed over and take out the wet. I found I had more "problems" if I left the bed to compact. Doing it this way the bed stays light, fluffy and clean.

They did take a bit of getting used to and I noticed the smell of the pellets more when I very first laid the beds. My stables have high ceilings tho so don't know if that makes any difference?
 

Flash_28

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Soak it when you first put it down!! after that, when you are adding it in per week or whatever it doesnt really matter. Some people prefer to soak it others dont. I soak all the wood pellets that go into mine because my mare eats it otherwise!! i think she thinks its pony nuts!! With LWP its best to soak in a wheelbarrow as the bags are really small. I used to use liverpool but now have gone onto another 1 which is in a bigger bag and worked out cheaper. The bags are bigger so you can slit the bag and add in a bucket of water and let it expand for an hour. It overflows like the magic porridge pot!!!! For a 10kg sack probably about 3/4 of a bucket , depending on if you want to leave a few unbsoaked pellets in etc. Hope this helps xx good luck!

Which brand of wood pellet are you using now Thai? With 5 horses I am always looking to save a bit of money or a bit of time! Beforehand I have always soaked all of the bedding but some other people on this thread (unless I have the wrong end of the stick) have said that they don't soak them at all. Trying to find a much easier way of being able to lay the beds as it is a proper pain in the butt when laying a wood pellet bed!

I lay my bags out flat, make a small 2" slit in the top, which is the side if stood up, and stick the hose in for 15 seconds. I then leave them overnight. The slit is too small for pellets to excape and I get a nice straining bag of breaking down pellets. I then cut the bag up in a cross across the top/side and tip out onto the existing bedding. Rake it over and leave it to take more moisture/dry out the existing bed.

I don't put any pellets in dry, they stick to the poo and I then have to pick them off each poo nugget. I hate to waste any bedding, I even go through the stuff I sweep out to get the serviceable pellets out and throw them over my shoulder onto the bed.

Thank you. Found a combination of things people try so may just try a different technique on each stable and see which works out best! The advantage maybe to having multiple horses!
 

Tammytoo

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A big thank you Oberon for sharing your Straw Pellets experience with us.

I had looked at trying these myself, but you've saved me the trouble and expense and I am sticking with what I have.
 

Thai

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Which brand of wood pellet are you using now Thai? With 5 horses I am always looking to save a bit of money or a bit of time! Beforehand I have always soaked all of the bedding but some other people on this thread (unless I have the wrong end of the stick) have said that they don't soak them at all. Trying to find a much easier way of being able to lay the beds as it is a proper pain in the butt when laying a wood pellet bed!

Its called Blue ribbon horse bedding. They come in 15kg sacks and if you order 1 pallet they are £3.20 each!! 67 bags on a pallet. so £3.20 x 67 =£215 !!!!!! They add on the VAT on so it comes to about 250 or something. Because the bags are bigger they are easy to slit open and pour water in. I used LWP a while ago but these are cheaper and, in my opinion, better quality. xxxx :)
 
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