Wood Pellets?

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LEXIS-MAGIC

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I am between Leicester and Coventry and just wondered if you can buy them from the tack shops or if you get them else where, I am currently using rubber mats and shavings but cant get a very good bed down as mare is wet and a box walker s thought I might try wood pellets. Any help much appreciated
 
Awww thats okay.

I have only been using wood pellets for about two months now (half bed on top of rubber matting) my darling pony is very wet - (hence user name :):)) But so far I love them - so easy to muck out - suck up the wet (Only take the worst out at the weekend) and so far have only used 9 bags to keep the bed topped up.

This is working out very cheap so far.

Pony lays down and seems to like them as well ....

:D
 
Hi,

Yes all wood pellets needs to be watered, I am still working out the best way to do this - my latest method involvles using boiling water from the kettle and than adding a small amount of undilulted stable fresh onto the fresh pellets. Previously I just added cold water to the bag of pellets. The boiling water makes them swell quicker than the cold water.

Gosh I sound sad :rolleyes:
 
Take care if your horse walks around a lot as we have moved to them and they work for all but one of those that we have moved over (still kept a few shavings beds) who poos at the front of the stable and then stirs it backwards into the bed. Poo disintegrates through the pellets and harder to get out than with shavings I find.
 
LEXIS-MAGIC said:
Oh brilliant, I will def give them a try, I have rubber mats but like a bed on top and end up still chucking loads of shavings, do you wet yours when you put them down?
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My initial pellets are broke down with water to give the bed..all further bags are given a quick spray with the hose to start the breakdown...then chucked down for horsie to do the mixing/wetting out ;) used them for 3 years and this always works best for me...might add all hay/lage should be removed daily as it seems to create water wet patches!!
 
Hi, we used these for our mares last winter, we've had to stop as they are very heavy, and it really twisted and hurt mine and my mothers back working with them.
I also didn't like the way that they compacted downand just where brown and dirty looking.
Give them a try if you like, fingers crossed your have a better experience with them.
 
SNORKEY said:
Hi, we used these for our mares last winter, we've had to stop as they are very heavy, and it really twisted and hurt mine and my mothers back working with them.
I also didn't like the way that they compacted downand just where brown and dirty looking.
Give them a try if you like, fingers crossed your have a better experience with them.
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One man's meat is another's poison! :) Sorry you didn't get on with them.

I have to say the complete opposite not just to be awkward but because it's true. I have a bad back that goes into spasms if I twist (as I would do with straw or shavings) but I find these are so simple to muck out - yes, I do have scatterers as well - as it all sits on top so a simple scoop with the fork and it's done and the bags are a lot easier to handle than shavings or a bale of straw to me. Another plus is I can put 2 boxes worth on one barrowload so less on the muck heap too.
It is one of their plus points that they compact down and apart from a rake over, they need very little done to the bed at all; it's not necessary to take out the wet asap either, it welds together better with a bit of damp in. This is my third year of using them and I've tried all ways, wet out daily, semi deep litter or full deep litter; I've found the best which is also the easiest for me is to semi deep litter; that is droppings out daily, only take a wet patch out if it's become soggy, fill the hole back in and to not disturb the bottom layer any more than necessary, the more you can leave the bottom layer alone, the better. Even at the end of the winter, my beds would only be 6 - 8 inches deep so not too deep and a simple turn over to take the bottom layer out is not a hardship IMO; the floors underneath would be almost dry, not rank like with shavings or straw. Any bed left in would be used over the summer (once mine are out 24/7, they only come in for the blacksmith or emergencies) when I would sprinkle with a watering can to allay any dust. My only gripe with them is the colour which looks like wet sand and takes some getting used to.
 
Love ‘em! I find them a lot less back breaking than straw as I’m just picking up the poo and not the bedding, also because I now do one wheelbarrow a day and not two/three!
I have them for my sometimes rather mess tb, they’re fabulous, super absorbent, fairly cheap…
I do though cheat a little and I give him straw banks as I worry about capped hocks and the like, so he has EVA mats, Aquamax in the middle and straw round the outside.
I currently buy mine a bag at a time from the local tack shop, but I might buy myself a pallet for Christmas as I worked out if I spend just over £100 that should last me the whole year.
We also use them at work and honestly, I can skip out 20 stables on my own without too much bother, they’re very easy to do, have to have rubber mats though!
 
Q to thoso who semi deep litter or full...when you take the wet out do you dig right down to the mats?? I've been using wp since May just cant seem to get the right way of handle the bedding. Ive had to take out quite a bit laterly. Im trying not to distred the whole bed. Ive put in 2 bags last week and another one the other day.
 
Again give liverpool wood pellets a go. Great price, service and delivery.

I've used wood pellets for the last year and find them fantastic for my boy. You have to water them to start your bed off and I find the best way to do this is by watering can.

When I muck out I pick out the poo and only the heavily wet bit and leave the rest. Add a bag a week for my messy boy and it still looks as good as it did when it went down. Hope thats of some help. x
 
Bojangles said:
Q to thoso who semi deep litter or full...when you take the wet out do you dig right down to the mats?? I've been using wp since May just cant seem to get the right way of handle the bedding. Ive had to take out quite a bit laterly. Im trying not to distred the whole bed. Ive put in 2 bags last week and another one the other day.
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Depends how soggy it is to be honest but yes, usually down the the floor, then fill in the hole with older bedding in that area, I found if I just topped up the hole with new, it didn't last as long.
Usually, if it's soggy enough to get down through the bedding to the floor then it needs to come out. If you only have a thin bed this will happen more often, if the bed is deeper, not as often if that makes sense.
 
Maesfen said:
Depends how soggy it is to be honest but yes, usually down the the floor, then fill in the hole with older bedding in that area, I found if I just topped up the hole with new, it didn't last as long.
Usually, if it's soggy enough to get down through the bedding to the floor then it needs to come out. If you only have a thin bed this will happen more often, if the bed is deeper, not as often if that makes sense.
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Dohh Im been filling the hole in with new bedding and since then it's been a nightmare!! Next time I will use old bedding!! I will add more bags to it and see if any more depth might help I would say it's deepish. How long do you leave yours before taking out the wet etc??
 
Wood pellets are fantastic for me and my horse. I rarely take the wet out as the bed is deep enough and well compacted to ensure that the top is dry. My essential tool is a metal garden rake, the poos are picked up by hand then I rake over the top of the bed and remove the poos that have been slightly buried and are now covered in sawdust so difficult to see. With the rake, these are easily dislodged and obvious. I wet mine by slitting the bag down the front and sticking the hose in for 20 secs. I leave overnight then tip onto the bed and rake them in with my trusty garden rake. I also pinch someone else's shaving fork to remove all stray hay by using the fork as a sieve.
 
I love them and they are the only bedding that keeps us with piddly Farra Clydesdale and doesn't cost me a fortune.

I saved about £250 on bedding for two horses last year using LWP instead of megazorb and shavings.

I have thick rubber mats and use a bed over half the stable about 3" deep. With Stinky, I take out the wet at the weekend and Farra I do take out a little wet midweek and then the rest at the weekend. Rest of the time, just scoop poo of the top of the bed, remove any hay, sweep the front of the stable and pull a little bedding onto the pee area to keep a dry layer on top.

I put down the pellets and give them a quick spray with the hose, just enough to have them start to swell and crumble works best for my two.

I do use a lot more than they say, Farra has on average 3 x 15k bags a week and Stinky 1 or sometimes 2 bags a week but they are in a lot in winter (only go out 9 - 3.30 4 days a week at the most) and on ad lib hay and they drink lots with the obvious consequences. Still, an average of £15 a week on bedding for them is still far better than the £30 odd I was using.

Finally this year I used the premium version of the LWP and have to say they are a bit nicer to the eye - stay white for longer and do seem to be a little more absorbant.

I can never see me changing back to anything else unless I was forced to.
 
I use Liverpool wood pellets with mats and they are fab. Get an aqua max bedding fork to 'sieve' out the bits of poo and dig out the wet patches and that's it. When I put new in I tip a bag of pellets into one of those massive trugs and put a few buckets of water on top. Do this in the stable coz it gets really heavy. Stir round with a stick after about 10 mins and then tip out into the stable.

Soooo much easier and cleaner than straw.
 
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