Wood pellets?

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hobgoblin

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I need to find a new bedding for my gang next year as shavings are costing me an arm and a leg ( use 3-4 bales per week between 4) ( on rubber mats but have a 'proper' half bed)
Looking on line at wood pellets they look quite good , and so cheap but what do people who have actually used them think?
Do the beds stay nice and White? , I have mucking out OCD ! Lol and do they work out more cost effective?
Are any particular brand any better? Have looked at verdo, White horse bedding and Liverpool wood pellets??
Sorry a trillion questions but any feedback gratefully received :)
 
Glad I'm not the only one with muck out OCD..!! :eek:

I use Corley bio wood pellets £245/tonne by far the cheapest I've found if you can bulk buy. I've got a wet mare on rubber mats with 2" thick bed 3/4 of the stable took me 12 bags to start the I add approx 1 bag a week, they do go slightky darker but nothing nasty I do a full muck out inc wet every day.....I take just under half a barrow out so far less wastage ....hope that helps
 
I use woodpellets, have tried a few different makes as some are much more absorbant that others. currently use one call 'plospan' from local merchant. found five star one of the best, bit, more money but stayed whiter than the others. urine is reduced to a much smaller clumped area than shavings and as you muck out the bedding falls through the fork leaving just the droppings to throw out. so you dont need to replace so much bedding.
It is so much quicker to muck out BUT if you like a deep cosy bed you may not like? would have to put quite a bit in to get a deeper bed, I mix mine with aubiose because of this and works really well together.
You can sweep some great straight lines with it and spirit level banks!!
It can be dry and dusty in the summer so I use a watering can to keep damp and the aubiose keeps bed from shifting around much.
I would never go back to shavings as back breaking to muck out!
you could do a trial on one stable, if you dont like then can add shavings back in, doesnt matter if you mix the 2.
 
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have been using them for the last two winters now, have 4 stables on them and have found corley wood pellets the best so far. they do seem to absorb more and stay wighter than liverpool pellets (these were a little bit cheaper) but very happy with them now.

as others have said it took approx 12 bags (10kg bags cost £2.49 per bag) i found i use approx 4 bags each stable per week, i muck out the poo and wet each day, it takes approx 2-3 mins per stable and waste so much less than shavings. the muck heap is therefore also cheaper to get rid of :)

i've also found the horses lie down more, the beds are on top of rubber mats but they dont move around as much as the shavings/rape seed staw did and the horses seem to prefer them. i dont have mine in from end march to oct so dont have any problems with dusty beds.

I certainly wouldnt go back to shavings/staw and would happily recommend the lady at corley wood, very helpfull and super quick delivery.

remember to say they are for fuel use, so there's less add ons (VAT) to pay :)
 
I use smart horse bedding it's not white to begin with, it's a sandy colour. My cob is mostly grey (that grey he looks white) and it does not stain him, it also dry's his pooh out so that does not stain either!! :)

I have mucking out OCD if I would'nt lay in his bed then he shouldn't, smart horse is brill as the wood pellets fall between the gaps of my shaving fork leaving just pooh, and it's really absorbant, with no smells. I take wet out twice a week, wed and sun. I did take it out every day but the MD of the beeding rang me when I emailed a load of questions about the bedding, he said even though wet it will still absorb, and that I was removing "good" bedding. This was the hardest thing to do for me.... leave wet bedding in a stable:eek:!! But he was right by the afternoon the bedding was dry again!!!

Sorry for long post but I am now a wood pellet lover (sounds very wrong that :) )
 
I actually mix pellets and shavings.
She was initially on just pellets for about 18mnths and was then on box rest for nearly 3mnths, over this period I had put in shavings so that she had a nice fluffy bed to stand on given that she was in it 24/7 and I've continued doing this, I used to use 2-3 bales of shavings a week when on shavings and 2 bags a fortnight when she was on just pellets (I used to put 2 bags in at once instead of once a week), I now use a bale of shavings and a bag of pellets each week.
I currently use Verdo and find them fine, have also used Liverpool Wood Pellets in the past and only swapped to Verdo to support a local business, after reading above I may try and give Corley a try.
 
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