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Post by gilly on Nov 30, 2009 20:57:48 GMT 1
Who uses wood pellets and what do you think of them? Pros and cons?
Also where do you get them from and how much do they cost?
Am thinking of giving them a try. Have tried cardboard for the last month and don't like it. He is wet and messy and it's just a massivle pile of heavy wet bedding in the morning on cardboard. Have heard good things about wood pellets
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Post by donnalex on Nov 30, 2009 21:54:20 GMT 1
I bought a job lot of Blue Ribbon bedding pellets for £150 for a pallet of 65 x 10kg bags. Off the local coal merchant who could not sell them for love nor money.
I dont like them but will get through them somehow.
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oberon
Olympic Poster
Posts: 527
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Post by oberon on Nov 30, 2009 22:03:29 GMT 1
I have been on them since end of August (my old boy came in early this year  ) I got a tonne of wood pellets (74 x 14kg bags) from PLQ Pellets via an Ebay offer. When they came I unloaded all the 74 bags by putting 4 at a time on my wheelbarrow and pushing them to my storage. When I got to bag 30 I was in the middle of a cardiac arrest  ! My friend came to help me and that's when we noticed my tyre was flat . It became much easier with another barrow  By this time I had attracted alot of attention from the other liveries and even more when I started laying some bags down. People are popping in to check my stables and see how I'm getting along (most of them laughing at me  ala "What's Sarah up to now???" I've never had wood pellets before and my reasons for choosing them were purely economical. Having researched them on the net I had a vague idea of how to use them and had gathered the wetting and laying and mucking out 'required getting used to'. I was sure that there HAD to be a catch somewhere. They are so cheap - they have to be impossible to work with..... Not so. I LOVE them ;D. Cheap, good value and sooooo easy to muck out. My bed is lovely and dry and fluffy, just like fluffy sand. After having horses for 18 years, this should be the cheapest and easiest winter ever ;D Total cost was £181.00 delivered (enough for my two dirty boys + some bags for others to try) this equates to £2.44 per bag and I can assure you that each pag poofs up to the same as a bag of shavings. www.plqpellets.co.uk/products.html They have given me excellent service and even extended a special offer past the cut off date, for me. Liverpool Wood Pellets also have a good reputation |
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oberon
Olympic Poster
Posts: 527
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Post by oberon on Nov 30, 2009 22:07:22 GMT 1
For those interested, I took some pics for my friends when I first got them: When activated it stops looking like pony nuts and becomes a soft sand. I doubt it would be palatable in that stage. If a horse was particularly determined you could add Jeyes Fluid or something like to the water when activating it in order to put them off. I add eucalyptus oil cos I like the smell. Wood pellets in their bag.  Close up  After activation but before being slept on  Close up. As soon as they're stood on they crumble.  After Obi had a party.  Yeuck! ![]() i137.photobucket.com/albums/q217/Taliesin_ttlg/00sarah/100_0231.jpg[/IMG]After a full 2 minutes of mucking out.  It is very soft to the touch   Obi enjoying his dinner after having a huuuugge pee. (He managed to pee on a bedding free bit so it's running everywhere!)  "Will you **** off with that camera!!!  |
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Post by anastasia55555 on Nov 30, 2009 22:17:18 GMT 1
interesting to see those pics, dont know much about the wood pellets, definetly a thought for the future.
i have bought a couple of bags of shredded cardboard today to use instead of the shavings i use in my odd set up = shavings (now cardboard) with layer of home shredded paper on the usual wet patch, and straw and bit of paper on the rest of bed, on the step down by the door, matting and shavings (now cardboard). working out quite cheaply so far, but like the look of those pellets! guess takes a while to get used 2 different stuff
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Post by heather on Nov 30, 2009 22:33:02 GMT 1
We've changed to White Horse Bedding wood pellets. We had some of the cheap fuel pellets, but they fluff up to about a third of the volume of White Horse which are dust extracted and made only for animals, horses mostly, from pure pine.
Fuel pellets are made from waste wood, often pallets for instance and will contain paint traces too, and a lot of dust.
We made the mistake of putting in the same number of bags of White Horse to start off a box, as the cheap stuff and ended up wading in about 8-10" of bedding!! But now that we have got it down to a decent depth on our thick EVA mats- about 4"- it is very soft and comfortable for the horse, and easy to muck out.
With three horses with dust allergies, they are absolutely cough free on this, and haylage, and also, there is no ammonia smell. White Horse Bedding is dearer than the fuel pellets, but I prefer the texture too- the cheap stuff is quite gritty feeling and gets dusty quickly in summer.
Heather
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Post by montezuma on Nov 30, 2009 22:35:22 GMT 1
Love the fact that the beds don't smell!
Used cardboard years ago and it was so smelly and stuck together. Don't like straw so it has to be shavings r equivalent.
With the price of shavings getting higher and higher and I suppose there will be a shortage again this year as we get to Christmas I use wood pellets. Have down for a couple of years and have found a difference in the different suppliers. Liverpool Wood Pellets are fantastic. At present both horses are ona mixture of shavings and pellets and they have huge beds.
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ella19
Intermediate Poster
Posts: 202
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Post by ella19 on Nov 30, 2009 23:01:51 GMT 1
Brilliant! You end up saving so much money, not only are they cheaper than shavings to buy, they don't stick to the poo so you end up taking out minimal bedding when mucking out! I used to semi deep litter Jake on it and only used 2 bags of aquamax a month but he was only 12hh and very clean!!
disadvantage: you often need to leave 40 mins - 1 hour for the pellets to soak but you can fit 2 or 3 bags in a large barrow
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Post by LMuirEDT on Nov 30, 2009 23:14:59 GMT 1
I got a couple of bags free to try, I tried a handful of pellets and thought they just stayed damp once wetted, am I adding to much water or what?
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rosie
Grand Prix Poster
stroppy mare
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Post by rosie on Nov 30, 2009 23:53:45 GMT 1
I've been using Liverpool wood pellets for a while. We get quite a big delivery at our yard, so the price per bag goes down. I liked them better on concrete, but since I've used them on rubber mats, I dont find them as absorbent. I've tried putting quite a few bags in, therefore having a bigger bed to start, then tried to use 1 bag a week. I have found I need to be adding more bags, throughout the week, so its not very cost effective and I am actually going to try going back to shavings. So, at the moment I have a mixture of pellets and shavings. On the good side, they are very easy to store, easy to muck out and dont smell.
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Post by Karon on Dec 1, 2009 10:21:53 GMT 1
Two people next door to me use them and swear by them, they use one bag a week each and have a lovely bed down. I've mucked out once for them and can vouch for the fact it is dead easy to muck out, too!
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Post by spanisheyes on Dec 1, 2009 11:43:01 GMT 1
Ive only been using for a few weeks. I have mine from Corley Biowood, the price vaires depending how much you order. Pros - Quicker to muck out
- Very absorbent so less wet to remove volume wise = smaller muck heap
- Works really well over EVA mats
Cons - dont think its as warm as say straw (my horses are unrugged so this is more an issue for me) although they are on EVA mats so its just me wanting the best for them
- The manure heap is not going to be good for the land. I use it for my flowers and wood manure is not good for growing things.
- Getting the bedding damp enough so its not dusty but not so wet it feels damp is tricky.
How do other people manage to get the moisture content right? |
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Post by ellibell on Dec 1, 2009 12:00:14 GMT 1
This is my 3rd year on the pellets and I get them from PLQ pellets delivered. HAVE had them from Liverpool and found the delivery a bit hit and miss at times, but they have their own vans now so they are probably loads better! (Notused them since they got own vans).
I use the pellets on eva matting. One is very dirty and when on shavings whet thru 3 bags a week, on pellets I use 2 bags a week,one week then 3 bags the next. All lie down on it no probs, its cheaper, easy to store, not had a prob with the muckheap, farmer put it on his land and it washed inok and this year he had a bumper crop of haylage. Not found it dusty, but I dont wet it, I let the pee break it down. Dont find it damp as I am not wetting it. I have about 4 inch thick bed in a 1/2 of stable. Love it and struggle with other beddings now! LOL !
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oberon
Olympic Poster
Posts: 527
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Post by oberon on Dec 1, 2009 14:52:38 GMT 1
I also no longer wet them when I put fresh down, just mix it in with the old. I don't have time for faffing around! ;D
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dagbecian
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Elementary Poster
The Three Musketeers
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Post by dagbecian on Dec 1, 2009 15:19:36 GMT 1
I used them for three winters but have now changed to Aubiose which is hemp.
I found the bed was ok when first put down but after a few months it became damp and smelly so I ended up using more bedding each week, so it was working out expensive.
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)
! My friend came to help me and that's when we noticed my tyre was flat . It became much easier with another barrow 
ala "What's Sarah up to now???" 
