Wood Pellet Users

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Paddydou

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Just wanted to ask users of wood pellets a few questions. I have never used them, have no experiance of them. At the moment I don't like the sound of them at all - someone must do or they wouldn't sell and I was pondering...

a. why do you use them and what do you like about them

b. what do you not like about them

c. how do they compare to shavings, paper and straw etc?

d. how do you manage your horses bed (been reading that you have to soak the first lot to fluff them up and that you have to clear the whole lot out after 3 months which made me think water in a stable half way through winter? Not a good idea so how do others do it?)

e. how deep can you get the beds (big man throws himself down literally so I must have really deep beds woudl the fact it woudl need to be deep make it impossible to muck out?

f. any other thoughs or ideas you have on them!

Thanks - Will pop back later to read comments
 
I love these when I use them differently to how they tell you to!

I hate them soaked and fluffed up - bed looks dirty and is perminantly damp... you can have it as deep as you want though. They are very absorbant and don't smell - but I don't like the damp bed thought!

So I buy a few bags and fill up a dustbin with a feed scoop in it. I make my normal shavings bed and in the areas where he wees I put wood pellets down (under the shavings) - I use around 2 scoops a day. This then absorbs the wee, stops the smell you normally get with shavings and leaves my bed dry in the morning! (It just turns into smaller shavings.)

So one bag of shavings has lasted me 3 weeks and is still going strong and I use about 4 x 10kg bags of pellets a month (at £2.98 a bag)... I just take the poos out in the morning - and then anything that is still damp I leave and it is dry by the night (usually because he sometimes does a pee as I get there in the morning)...

I know some poeple who don't soak and use as a pellet for the whole bed... and then just keep it once it fluffs up... but I dont like the look/feel of this!

I couldn't recommend it enough if u use with shavings x
 
a. why do you use them and what do you like about them

value for money, dont smell, easy to do if you keep on top of it.

b. what do you not like about them

if not kept in good bed can go a manky dark brown. as long as i do a total muckout every 6 days
its fine.

c. how do they compare to shavings, paper and straw etc?

Much cheaper than shavings and less smelly than straw, but not as pretty as either. add a bad of shavings fortnightly for a nicer look.

d. how do you manage your horses bed (been reading that you have to soak the first lot to fluff them up and that you have to clear the whole lot out after 3 months which made me think water in a stable half way through winter? Not a good idea so how do others do it?)

10-12 bags, to start,
leave 10 days
full muck out
3 bags every 6 days - fluffed up in barrow.

What do you man water in a stable halfway thru winter?



e. how deep can you get the beds (big man throws himself down literally so I must have really deep beds woudl the fact it woudl need to be deep make it impossible to muck out?

As deep as you like.

f. any other thoughs or ideas you have on them!
 
The yard I'm at uses 1-2 bags per week, and just pute the pellets straight on top of the clean bed - the horses walk them around and it fluffy up when in contact with wee. Their beds are quite dry, and quite shallow (rubber mats) but you can have it deeper if you want.

We just muck out the poo and mix back in any smaller wet patches - there are no wee smells so no danger from amonia as it is absorbed. The really soaked wet stuff is taken out, but you can do this once a week or once every few days if thats easier - it'd save bedding too.

All in all I'm another one for reading what the bag tells you to do then doing it your way anyway :D

It is quick to do, but I would imagine a deeper bed would be heavy work to manage.
 
i used mine on rubber mats, not particularly thick beds, muck out every day. I thought they were great. My old boy can be wet and they soak up brilliantly, they also dont smell. I stopped using them mainly because to get the price you need a pallet delivered and deliveries at the private yard i'm on are a pain! They are also VERY dusty in dry weather - easily sorted buy adding water, but I didnt like the beds too wet and they dried out too quick! Im back on shavings now that cost a bomb but arent dusty. Pros and cons!!
 
Paddydou said:
a. why do you use them and what do you like about them
I use them because one of ours has a dust cough and these are a more dust free and cheaper alternative to shavings, also they are much more absorbant than straw or shavings

b. what do you not like about them
only that the bed doesn't look as "fluffy" as straw

c. how do they compare to shavings, paper and straw etc?
cheaper, easier to muck out, easier to store and dispose of - smaller muck heap, bed sometimes looks a bit grubby, but is still drier than anything else we've tried

d. how do you manage your horses bed (been reading that you have to soak the first lot to fluff them up and that you have to clear the whole lot out after 3 months which made me think water in a stable half way through winter? Not a good idea so how do others do it?)
we put 12x20kg bags down (big stables) and empty 2 buckets of water on it and leave for a couple of hours. As for mucking out, as per deep litter really, take out the lumps and any soggy bits daily, top up with dry pellets, try to keep a firm base to make it work best. we clear out once a year in about april.

e. how deep can you get the beds (big man throws himself down literally so I must have really deep beds woudl the fact it woudl need to be deep make it impossible to muck out?
Ron's is about 8 inches deep and he throws himself at the floor too :D

f. any other thoughs or ideas you have on them!
they don't need as much water IMO as the vendors will tell you. 20kg in a wheel barrow with 1/3 of a bucket of water is plenty. Too much and the bed gets soggy too quickly which is worse than being a bit crunchy!

Oh, and watch that ponio doesn't think they are pony nuts, as Ron does... still.... :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

:D:D
 
Sorry to keep peppering with questions...

Do they move around much?

Sounds to me as if a big thick shavings bed with pellets under could be a way to go...

Just pondering as am thinking about getting better prepared for next winter and getting everything in during the summer. Trying to decide what to do. The old boy has been on straw for the last couple of years which has worked very well for him but its so darned dusty. I am lucky in that the straw I get is very high quality so not anywhere near as bad as some but even still. I also have to empty my little muck trailer every time. So when I wrote my car off the boys had to go out because I filled the yard with muck that I couldn't move! By then the weather wasn't so bad and the Old boy wanted to go out anyway but it would have been nice to keep him in and feed him up a bit while I had the chance and get the shetties a bit skinnier. The thing I love most about straw is that its so easy to deal with (if a bit bulky), cheap and I can give the old boy an enormous bed that is really comfortable for him (he like massive banks too so he has a pillow!). The old boy loves his straw bed, BUT, he also suffered from COPD many years ago, not had any problems for a few years and spends lots of time out, but you know how we horses owners are, these things are always a worry.

I was also thinking about the shetties and wandering if the pellets would be a better bet for them. They are messy devils and have to have the whoel bed changed every day. If they are yummy then I am not so sure...

Ponder ponder ponder...
 
a. why do you use them and what do you like about them

I use them because I have a very messy youngster (although she's much better now!) who trashes anything, and wood pellets are cheap. They make her a nice bed that doesn't really shift, and the poo stays on top so is easy to take out every day.

b. what do you not like about them

They don't work for my very clean mare for some reason. :-(

c. how do they compare to shavings, paper and straw etc?

They are absorbant, don't smell, easy to deal with, etc...

d. how do you manage your horses bed (been reading that you have to soak the first lot to fluff them up and that you have to clear the whole lot out after 3 months which made me think water in a stable half way through winter? Not a good idea so how do others do it?)

I gradually mixed them in with the bedding that was in the stable, pre-poofing them in the bag by splitting the bag and pouring water in. Sometimes I'll do it in a wheelbarrow. I take out all the wet (which I find really goes solid so easy to pick out) every other Saturday, and the Saturday in the middle I scrape the worst off of the top of the wet. Each week I put in 1 - 2 bags depending on how much I take out, sometimes pre-poofing it, sometimes just putting it in neat and then she wets it herself.

e. how deep can you get the beds (big man throws himself down literally so I must have really deep beds woudl the fact it woudl need to be deep make it impossible to muck out?

Titch's bed is about 3 - 4 inches deep and she's NEVER gone through to the floor on it. I suspect that it would be absolutely FINE a lot deeper, just more bedding to sift through on a big muckout!

f. any other thoughs or ideas you have on them!

They are cheap and easy!
 
I do not like them as only bedding but love them on rubber matting as an under layer to shavings so they absorb the pee and smell and the shavings stay cleaner and last longer but then also have the nice fluffy bed.

I lift out the wee patches as contained to small area rather than spreading all over with just shavings on matting and let matting dry. Lovely!
 
Paddydou said:
Just wanted to ask users of wood pellets a few questions. I have never used them, have no experiance of them. At the moment I don't like the sound of them at all - someone must do or they wouldn't sell and I was pondering...

a. why do you use them and what do you like about them

b. what do you not like about them

c. how do they compare to shavings, paper and straw etc?

d. how do you manage your horses bed (been reading that you have to soak the first lot to fluff them up and that you have to clear the whole lot out after 3 months which made me think water in a stable half way through winter? Not a good idea so how do others do it?)

e. how deep can you get the beds (big man throws himself down literally so I must have really deep beds woudl the fact it woudl need to be deep make it impossible to muck out?

f. any other thoughs or ideas you have on them!

Thanks - Will pop back later to read comments
Click to expand...

I use megazorb (which is actually a wood pulp) AND bedsoft bio

A - The megazorb is super-absorbent and my pony doesn't eat it

B - It doesn't make much of a bed, which is why I mix it with bedsoft

C - Very absorbent compared to others however i doesn't like the comfort side of it for the horse

D - Kept like a normal bed (mucked out daily) with not need for soaking etc.

E - Mix it!
 
I just couldn't get on with them... at my previous yard we had rubber mats but not sealed and it use to get between the mats and underneath.

I,m quite scrupulous when it comes to mucking out, but always felt the bed was skanky... (I know it was meant to feel damp). It just looked horrible.

I would lust over at the other stables with fluffy shavings, so I changed to shavings.

I,m also quite conscious of cost, it doesn't work out that much cheaper for the pellets for me, but then that could be the brand I was getting,

Now I love the shavings. They are so much easier to muck out.
 
a. why do you use them and what do you like about them
I started out with 8 bags and now use 3 a week to top up = £6.75 a week (cheaper than a bale of Easybed/Hempcore). I skip out daily by just taking out the droppings, takes around 5 mins. Once a week I sweep the top to one side, dig out the wet, sweep the sides back down and add the new bags around the edge - all in less than 1/2 hour! The bed settles into a great base with little movement once walked on. The stable is so much cleaner too, I 'dust' twice a year and since the pellets have been used the dust has halved.

b. what do you not like about them
They can be slightly dusty in the summer, a watering can soon sorts that out... now I have no problems. Also my bed started to freeze around the edges in the cold weather, a walk around soon broke it up again.

c. how do they compare to shavings, paper and straw etc?
I tried paper - but it drove me mad seeing all the little bits around the yard and also those wet bits stuck to the stable floor. Cardboard was much better but not as absorbent, I ended up using more than I wanted too and even though there is a local manufacturor it started costing me more than the paper. I love deep straw beds but hate the smell... especially when you just want to pop in and say hello before going out somewhere, the smell lingers!

d. how do you manage your horses bed (been reading that you have to soak the first lot to fluff them up and that you have to clear the whole lot out after 3 months which made me think water in a stable half way through winter? Not a good idea so how do others do it?)
As above, I take out the main wet patch once a week, the slightly damp patch gets swept back down to the floor, older bedding over the top and new bedding added to the edge. I have a large trug, I add one bag, fill with a bucket and half of water and leave it to soak in whilst removing the wet, I have the timings perfected to start soaking one bag, remove poo, empty trug into back of stable and soak another, dig out wet, empty next trug at the back, soak third bag. Then move older bedding over the damp patch leaving new bedding to the sides and then add the final bag.

e. how deep can you get the beds (big man throws himself down literally so I must have really deep beds woudl the fact it woudl need to be deep make it impossible to muck out?
My bed is the same as I would have a shavings bed, including banks if you want them. It beds down much better than shavings, paper and cardboard, as I only remove the poo the bed is not disturbed apart from the weekly muck out :D

f. any other thoughs or ideas you have on them!
If there was a perfect bedding we would all be using it... I have found pellets work the best for me, easy on the pocket, time saving and not stinky!
 
I use Aquamax wood pellets which I think are great, all the wet stays in one patch so there is no pee dripping through the remaining of the bedding and it is very absorbent. I muck it out out every day, pick up the wet patch and the poos shake out with no wastage. The manufacturers advise to mix all the wet together but I did that last year and found that the bed always stank and so did the horse and rugs. Problem is that my stockist has now ceased trading so I am not able to buy any more. :(
 
Please everyone be really careful about using economy or recycled wood pellets. 100% virgin soft wood is the only one suitable for horses. THe recycled pellets (economy) are made of chopped up pallets and chip board etc., so they are full of glue, paint, preservative and sometimes metal filings as they dont always take out all the nails. !!!

My horse's COPD was made much worse by using these cheap pellets. I now buy from Liston Equestrian, they are really nice and very 'horsey', really helpful with loads of good ideas and tips. They only use high grade pellets which are specially modified for use for horses. Give them a try ? 01273 891 890.

My horse's COPD is now back under control, thank goodness.
 
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