wood pellets opinions

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Dusty 123

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I use wood pellets with shavings since my mare is very wet I used to use 2 bags of shavings a week since switching to pellets with shavings I only using 1 bag shavings every 11 days there is very little wet in my horse bad. What you’re opinion on wood pellets? Do you use wood pallets?
 
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When I’ve been doing my own horses then I use wood pellets. Not on their own because I hate having to sift all the fine bits of poo out which takes forever and they also get quite heavy and dusty on a full bed.

But I always use them in a weekly semi-deep litter system under another bedding. Combining with good clean straw is by far my favourite approach.
 
I use pellets :) they work well for my stabled horses, I have one wet but tidy mare and one messy but fairly dry gelding ;)

I also think they work well with another kind of bedding, I am tight so I just sweep any left over or rejected hay into their beds!
 
Ive just switched to them and am finding them dusty. my horses dont seem to be laying down on it as much, they sleep in the fields now, but the mare was getting watery eyes from the dust which i think put her off from laying on it. I hose it down to stop the dustiness, but then that counteracts the reason i got them as being the most absorbant.

im using shavings as banks, but am dragging some on the pellet bed to inhibit dustiness.
i use the pellets whole which the horses crush with their feet into sawdust, basically.

I have horses partly for my farming side of life for the organic manure....and resent shavings as they take so long to compost, like 3 yrs!... so want to avoid using them, but aside from straw, which i hate as its mouldy here, shavings is the other option or wood pellets. Or miscanthus for 1000 euros a tonne which i need 2 tonnes of for the year for 2 horses, and its not greatly absorbant, but breaks down great.

so overall, i have bedding woes!
 
Not all pellets are equal, I've had some shocking pellets in the past. I bought White Horse's unbranded pellets this year and they've surprisingly been the absolutely best pellets I've ever used, like White Horse Platinum Plus used to be. I add half a bale of shavings on top for aesthetics and horsey sleeps like the dead overnight. The pellets take ages to be "worn out", I've found I'm adding pellets just because I feel I should rather than because I need to.
 
This is what it was like put down from scratch:

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and this is what im greeted with this morning after 12 days:

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its dry and powdery...all the pellets crushed.....i expected it to expand with the pee draining to the bottom, like others show in their videos...but mine has reduced as if im taking out loads everyday!

i wanted to do a semi-deep litter type bed, but not sure thats possible with these pellets.

my mare was terrified of standing on the pellets at first, despite me introducing them slowly with shavings to de-sensitise...but once the bed was fully pelleted she refused to go in there and stood outside getting drenched ?
 
Purbee - Don't be afraid of wetting it. If you soak them first they fluff up lots but don't lose their absorbency. I soak the entire bed when I first put it down - slash the bags and fill each one with a bucket of water and leave for an hour before spreading. I take out the wet everyday as he's exceptionally wet (but luckily doesn't kick the bed about) then add one bag a week of unsoaked pellets where he wees (on the right of his stable) every week. Every other week I also add a bag of soaked pellets (for this, I empty the bag into the wheelbarrow and add water as it's hard to soak in the bag when the rest of the bed is already down) to the left had side and drag the older stuff over to the right so that I'm constantly refreshing the supply. This stops it getting too dusty as sitting undisturbed seems to be the worst thing for dust. In winter, when the air is damp and the horses are in there's no dust at all. In summer, when they only come in for food / grooming/ tacking up it can get very dusty. A quick sprinkle with the watering can sorts that out though.
 
I’ve used pellets for a couple of years now and I don’t think you can beat them on price or ease of mucking out. I’ve been through almost every other kind of bedding with my messy old boy.

I usually have a good size bed of soaked pellets and then add in approx two a week per horse over winter and soak them thoroughly in my wheelbarrow in the morning, let them expand during the day and put them down in the evening.

In summer I run the beds down but regularly hose the beds down as they do get very dusty in dry weather and they’re not being peed on as much. Never had any breathing problems with either of mine due to pellets but my stable neighbours are convinced that my bedding affects their horses so have blocked off the top of adjoining walls.

I usually have White Horse PP but bought the unbranded version last winter and they were fine.
 
I use pellets and have done for years.
I just poo pick daily and leave the wet patch (I have geldings so the patch is always in the same place), occasionally scraping some dry bedding over the wet patch, until it becomes a solid mound. Then, I remove the mound (very easily as it cakes together and comes out on a shovel in big clumps) and mix in a few new bags of pellets into the remainder of the existing bedding.
My ponies aren't stabled, but they have access to their stables and it is where I have their hay nets, so they are used. I probably remove the wet patch perhaps once every 3 weeks, and add perhaps 2 bags of clean pellets into each stable.
I love it.
 
I kept mine on pellets for a few years as they were in a lot. They were great, so easy to muck out but don't think they provide the comfiest bed alone. The ones with shavings added look much nicer.

I found in summer they use to get SO dusty I was spraying them with a sprayer every other day.

I now use shavings as they're out a lot more.
 
I kept mine on pellets for two winters. Whilst the mucking out was quicker I still found it was costing me the same as the chopped straw types and I was needing to put in the same amount of bags. He did lie down in it but I found it coated rugs in a film of dust even in winter and in summer it got very dusty. I soaked them before putting into the bed and although I know that’s what’s you are supposed to do, the bed always had a damp feel to it.

Aesthetically, I much prefer the look of a shavings/chopped straw bed. I now use Swish and with a very wet gelding I use 3 bags a week in winter and 2 in summer.
 
I've used them under other bedding in the 'pee spot' for several years now. With a weekly full clear out. 1 small (woodburner sized) bag of pellets and one of whatever actual bedding, usuallly miscanthus or rape straw on top a week.

When I was on a chalk (holey!) floor I did try filling the main pee hole with dry pellets but they never actually activated properly, always better if they were wetted first.
 
Ah ok, so wetting them makes them more absorbant than not. Thanks so much for the suggestions.
ive read conflicting methods...some soak, some just dump in whole pellets...having tried both, ill revert to soaking them.
my first go around i split the bags, added water, left half hour, spread. Nice soft bed, but it dried out, so maybe i need to keep to pre-soaking and hosing on very dry hot sunny weeks.

Mucking out though is much easier than any other bedding!

My dream bedding would be miscanthus pellets!
 
I use them in a shelter and a rarely used stable, they are better if the whole bed is more damp, but I know a lot of people can't cope with that. I take the droppings out and mix the wet into the bed and pat it back down.
I do wet the pellets before using, but only half of them, so there is a mix of soaked and unsoaked pellets.
It's not as light coloured as most people prefer?
 
I have recently been “converted” from chopped rape straw to straw pellets and am really pleased with the results. It’s so quick and easy to muck out and no dust or smell so even in deepest winter I could muck out on the way to work and not have to avoid meetings all day ??
 
I despise them. I am incredibly fussy about beds, and insist on banks at least 2 foot high (any lower and they are purely aesthetic) which isn’t possible with wood pellets. I also don’t find that wood pellet beds look nearly as comfortable, clean or Inviting as other bedding types. The same with cardboard, awful stuff.

However, you will get hundreds of different replies because this is all personal preference and opinion, so as long as you’re happy with what you’re using, that’s all that matters ?
 
Dusty 123 said:
I use wood pellets with shavings since my mare is very wet I used to use 2 bags of shavings a week since switching to pellets with shavings I only using 1 bag shavings every 11 days there is very little wet in my horse bad. What you’re opinion on wood pellets? Do you use wood pallets?
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used them as a bed, and hated them, once wet, not absorbing for my wet mare. Went tio Aubiose, much better, bed, tho this week trying one back wood pellets in her pee bank, so far not working so wont use wood p pellets
 
I've used them on and off for years. It was a relief when I brought horses home and could easily have them on pellets again.

None of mine have banks, but I make the beds thick, and my horses lie down a lot. Oh, and I do soak the pellets, can't imagine why you wouldn't if you are using it for your main bed.
 
Two of ours are bedded on shavings. They are both fairly clean & tidy so it works well for them! The 3rd one is a little messier so he has pellets with a bale of shavings mixed in every week or so. Works really well for him. His stable is also fully matted, not solid rubber matting but almost like one piece sheeting which is a permanent fixture in the stable. Super quick and easy to muck out. I like that the pellets make a firm surface, the bed holds its shape well and, judging by all the lying down he does, it must be comfortable ?
 
white horse unbranded are the best I've used. I've used verdo but they are the worst. Sorbeo ok but not as good as white horse. Platinum plus are ok but the unbranded ones are better. You just soak them though, they would be very dusty if not.
 
Honestly I was pleasantly surprised! An old livery of mine left her stable mats for a while with a Stable full of bedding after her loan horse went back. She allowed me to use them, and use up the bed. I’ve been a straw person for years, and I really liked how easy it was to muck out. And how much you got out of one little bag when wetted! Unfortunately I don’t have mats and she has since collected them, and I wouldn’t use them without so I’m back to straw (on the odd occasion that my horses are stabled anyway)
 
I think it depends on the horse so much!
I love them for one, he’s super tidy. The poo literally scrapes off the top and the bed looks immaculate.
For anything that walks round it is messier I find the little bits of poo get “sugar coated” and are impossible to get put. Even when I think I’ve got it all, then stand back by the door there’s tiny dark bits everywhere and I hate that!
 
Arch is very wet but doesn't kick the bed about so it clumps in one spot and is really easy to remove. Mont stable walks in the mornings if he's not out early enough so kicks the bed about but won't wee in his stable (hence the walking when he's desperate). This is also easy to muck out as the poo stays on the top and doesn't get buried. They work well for both these situations but I imagine one that was both wet and messy would be a nightmare on them.
 
angrybird1 said:
white horse unbranded are the best I've used. I've used verdo but they are the worst. Sorbeo ok but not as good as white horse. Platinum plus are ok but the unbranded ones are better. You just soak them though, they would be very dusty if not.
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Same. I am VERY impressed with the unbranded ones. Platinum Plus used to be OK, but have become unpleasantly dark and not anywhere near as absorbent as they used to be.

I used to think that Verdo were the worst, until I tried Pure. Pure are the most unabsorbent pellets I've ever had the misfortune to use.
 
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