Straw pellets vs Miscanthus pellets - what’s best?

[fornema]

Pony has a pretty extreme dust allergy, can’t have shavings straw as she eats both - even the scented shavings! Pellets have worked for her before as of course watered.

we have used straw pellets before, but how do they compare to Miscanthus pellets - wood pellets not an option this year with the price coming up almost double both of these options.

She is an extremely wet and occasionally messy pony, so any other suggestions of low dust options happily received.

 

[rextherobber]

I used to use miscanthus, but randomly, opening the new bales made me cough terribly. I cannot source straw pellets here, so cannot comment on that. Mine's on Bedmax, which works well for her but takes forever to rot down on the muckheap. She has COPD, but doesn't eat shavings! (My others are on wood pellets, but they can get dusty) That said, she's out unless the weather or flies are awful.

 

[cauda equina]

One of the least dusty things I've used was made of shredded pallets but I can't remember the name
Shredded cardboard is good too

 

[Cragrat]

Cardbaord is absolutely the least dusty bedding I have ever used - which surprised me, tbh. It is really warm and very very absorbant. The type chopped into squares is much easier to muck out than shreds.

I have used straw pellets. I found them less dusty than wood pellets. Not used miscanthus pellets.

 

[Jellymoon]

I use straw pellets underneath my straw beds, I find them really good and have reduced to one barrow per stable from two/three. Straw stays nice and dry on top.

 

[Jellymoon]

I’ve used miscanthus too, but not in a pelleted form. It’s looser, dustier, and doesn’t clump nicely like the straw pellets, not so easy to pick out the wet bits. Also more expensive.

 

[rabatsa]

I am another who says shredded cardboard. Nil dust, it is me with the dust allergy not the equines.

 

[fornema]

Should-have probably added cardboard is not an option as she eats it with the increased of compaction when eating it, not worth the risk. I’m aware of the least dust options but alas her obsession with eating things despite having a full net ad lib (this pony ate a full straw bed per night routinely which may have made her allergy worse a few years ago - this is the scale of be eating we are talking).

We have looked at most options at this point. Purely looking for pellet bed comparisons as they are the only thing she doesn’t seem to eat - touch wood.

 

[Auslander]

I use miscanthus pellets, and like them a lot. More than wood pellets, and I've been a staunch wood pellet supporter for years.
I find them more absorbent than wood pellets, and the bed doesn't move much, so droppings stay on top, rather than getting mixed in.
I tried straw pellets, but hated them - dark and smelly!