wood pellet bedding good or not?

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lirago

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Hi I am thinking of changing my horses bedding on to wood pellets and was just wondering if any recommends it or not I have looked on various websites selling it and it looks good but then they always do.
How easy is it to use and is it as economical as they say
all feed back wanted
thanks
 
Its good stuff, I like it. But for very dry horses/ones which are out alot, or in this type of weather in the summer it can get very dry and dusty. It works well as a base for a deep litter shavings bed atm though.
 
Very easy very economical, horses love it! But it can get a bit dusty at this time of year so I mix 1/4 Aubiose (Hemp) into it and that makes it less dusty and more stable!
 
If you want a cheap, dry, easy to work with bedding then it is excellent.

If you want a bedding that creates a beautiful asthetic and makes other liveries jealous because your banks are higher than theirs - then it's not for you.

I would never go back to any other bedding now. I love my pellets.
 
I love them, finally found a bedding that could cope with a very piddly clydesdale. I also saved about £250 last year on bedding and I use a lot more than most folks due to Miss Farra's ability to pee and poo - the one disadvantage of having a heavy horse.

Very easy to muck out, I just skip Chancer during the week as he is a clean boy and then at the weekend dig out the wet spot and top up with a bag or sometimes two if he has been very wet. I use the hose to damp them down in the stable, just enough so they start to crumble. You learn by trial and error. Farra has the most of the wet taken out every three days and at the weekend I do take most of her bed out - as well as being wet she kicks and smashes the poo in and put in two - three bags and start the bed again.

I have thick rubber mats and a bed that is 3" thick over half of it. I don't care what my bed looks like as long as it is clean and dry and I don't have banks. However, if you want big banks and an beautiful white bed, then pellets are not the bedding for you.
 
I hate them. Very few makes are made from virgin wood- the rest are from recycled wood which could have been contaminated with anything- chemicals, etc.

I dislike immensely that you only take the worst of the wet out and mix the rest in. If you dont then the bed is dusty. if you mix even the tiniest amount of wee into the bed to keep it damp then thats a breeding ground for bacteria. To avoid dust the bed has to be damp, which i dont believe is good for the horses feet either. Or if the horse lies down. It may not be soaking but its still a damp bed.
 
If you want yr horse to look like it has just come out of a dust storm, then brill stuff... I shall not be using them again, have you tried Megazorb????
 
teddyt said:
I hate them. Very few makes are made from virgin wood- the rest are from recycled wood which could have been contaminated with anything- chemicals, etc.

I dislike immensely that you only take the worst of the wet out and mix the rest in. If you dont then the bed is dusty. if you mix even the tiniest amount of wee into the bed to keep it damp then thats a breeding ground for bacteria. To avoid dust the bed has to be damp, which i dont believe is good for the horses feet either. Or if the horse lies down. It may not be soaking but its still a damp bed.
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I dont mix any wet in and mine is fine ??
 
Love it to use although I wish it looked 'cleaner' as they tend to be a grubby brown colour even when first used. Wouldn't change to anything else now although I also admit most firms do over estimate how many you need. I use 8 x 10kg bags to start (boxes are 13.6 ft x 11.6 ft with rubber mats) and cover just half the floor then 2 bags a week unless incredibly wet so they don't even cost as much as 1 bale of shavings. Muck heap is so much smaller too however you muck out and it's the easiest stuff to muck out. I skipped out 2 shavings beds the other day for a friend, it took me ages and reminded me never to go back to shavings again, they're so fiddly!

Meant to say, my lot are out most of the day in winter anyway so don't know what they're like for a horse in most of the day but it wouldn't worry me to use them and in the summer you can sprinkle them with a watering can if they get too dry.
 
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I use it on Comfort permanent rubber matting and love it for a mare who pees alot when in overnight. It is so absorbant and lasts ages and if buy in bulk it is alot cheaper than shavings as use less.

It is dustier in summer as she is out 24/7 and I am not removing any. I spray it with hose before spread it as it helps it break up a little and then not dusty and it also works well on removable large mats in gelding's stable underneath shavings to soak up the pee.
 
I used them last year. We have one very very wet manky horse, and one who is quite tidy.

They worked brilliantly, not a drop of wee running out of the stables, really easy to muck out, tiny muck heap, and beds were dry and firm.

Wouldn't hesitate to recommend them. Much prefer them to shavings (less dust) and to megazorb (more absorbent and easier to do). there's plenty of good deals out there too if you can store a pallet or two.
 
Hope I'm not hijacking the tread but I'm also interested in using these - but was put off last week when one poster said they froze solid in the winter ! Was this a problem for anyone else ? I know it was exceptionally cold but even so I couldn't sleep at nights if I thought my girl had a frozen bed (Aaaaahhh)
 
Wood Pellets really didn't float my boat!

There are a lot of positives:
Small bags, easy storage
Definitely one of the cheapest bedding on the market
Small volumes of muck, so small heap
Really absorbant
Really quick to muck out with cleaner horses

However the bed looks permeantly dirty and in the summer you need to be wetting it daily or mixing in all the urine into the rest of the bed, otherwise you just get one big layer of dust everywhere. Personally I prefer my horses to have clean, dust free beds. Also if you have a horse that plays poo football, this type of bedding takes ages to sift through.

Never heard of it freezing mind.
 
The cost makes me use wood pellets. If I was rich I would use shavings, however I am saving so much money I now don't worry what the bed looks like. I have the beds deep as no matting, so straight onto concrete. I have big horses (smallest is 17:1hh) and they all like to lie down and roll so the bedding must be ok for that else they wouldn't do it!
 
ITPersonnage said:
Hope I'm not hijacking the tread but I'm also interested in using these - but was put off last week when one poster said they froze solid in the winter ! Was this a problem for anyone else ? I know it was exceptionally cold but even so I couldn't sleep at nights if I thought my girl had a frozen bed (Aaaaahhh)
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I had six on it that I semi deep litter (muck out daily, only very wet patches removed once or twice a week when I top up with a new bag) and it never froze at all. I wonder if their beds were too wet but even so, I find it surprising. I find it the easiest system I know other than a handful of shavings and sweep out each day which I don't like, I prefer mine to have decent beds as they lay down a fair bit whatever the time of day and wood pellets does just that..
 
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