Considering changing bedding from shavings to pellets, pros, cons please. Thank you.
Pros: easier to store and handle, they stay drier, here in Italy pellets are a bit cheaper, when they are wet they lose volume
Cons: when they break they are too dusty, not always sure there are no dangerous chemicals added (such as glue for example)
Easier to store, less expensive, turn into compost faster, faster to muck.
Only con, imo, is they donāt give you that thick, cushy bed that you get with shavings. Some brands can be dusty, but theyāre not all bad. There is a bit of a learning curve on how best to use them for YOUR circumstancesādo you add water, and when? When do you add more, and how much? Climate and barn set up influences what will work best for you, so it can take a little futzing to figure out the routine.
I FAR prefer pellets.
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Hey @Simkie, what are you buying that is cheaper? Here they are like $6 a bag for equine pellets and shavings are more like $5. are you using stove pellets and how do you know if they are all pine? I canāt risk black walnut being in them so Iāve been reluctant to do the stove pellets.
@fordtraktor I buy horse bedding pellets by the pallet.
Given that I only need about a bag a week per stall, it comes out quite a bit less than shavings. I use a few bags over four pallets of pellets per year for four horses.
The ease in storage and the smaller compost pile are bonus 
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We purchase our bedding by the pallet, Rural King has the cheapest pellets. They are under $5 a bag. We also really like the straw pellets, bought by the pallet I think they are $4.70
I donāt think stove pellets are safe.
Softwood stove pellets without additives are fine the companies that make the bedding also make the stuff for stovesā¦itās just a different label.
Itās usually the same price, though. Iāve picked up softwood stove pellets second hand at a discount, thoughāfrom people who switch to a different product for heatingāand thatās a nice little discount.
You can check the manufacturer website for each product for details.
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I think the major drawback of pellets is dust.
On on the plus side, they keep a stall really dry, are easy to clean, less waste, and break down faster than shavings. Also easier to store.
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I found them to be more cushy than shavings. They donāt shift around the way dry shavings do. You do have to keep them just barely damp. Not soggy, not clammy; just not dried out. If they dry out, they disintegrate into dust. They did freeze when it was in the teens or below for more than a day or two. Watering the pellets and letting them soak takes a few more minutes than just throwing down shavings, but, still very easy. I cut an X in each bag, poured in a 5-gallon bucket of water or put the hose in the bag for the length of time it takes to fill a 5-gallon bucket, and then came back in 15 minutes and shook the pellets out into the stall.
I love them. For me, they made it much faster to clean stalls, vs. shavings.
I use pellets outside in a pipe stall, so I donāt see the dust issue, but for the gals that use them inside a stall, it is VERY dusty to muck and their horses have an initial cough upon trotting.
I notice a difference in two suppliers based upon how quickly they fluff up with water added. TSC pellets almost have a hard varnish on them ā I guess the heat of compression ā but they donāt fluff up as well as others.
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@Simkie @enjoytheride thanks. I will look at Rural King. I have some super pee horses and under $5 a bag would be great. I donāt mind buying by the pallet ā heck, with 11 horses here I buy shavings by the pallet.
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I like a mix of both. I use TSCās fine shavings, and underneath where I know that that particular horse likes their wet spot I use pellets. That way they get a cushy bed, and I get maximum absorbency for the wet spot from the pellets.
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I really donāt find pellets to be dusty Ć°ÅøĀ¤Ā· MOST brands, anyway. Iāve run into one or two that are terrible. I do have runs off the stalls that are open all the time, so thereās air flow.
I donāt add water, at all. When Iāve played around with that, Iām more likely to see dust. The weight of the horse crushes the small particles into dust, so the longer you can keep the pellets intact, the better.
āā¹āā¹I totally soak pellets into sawdust for my chicken coop. Itās allowed to dry for several days in the sun before going into the coop, and thatās also never dusty. The chickens are too light to breakdown the bedding into smaller particles.
I moved to a new barn and have been experimenting with bedding, since I am now buying my own. Iād found a great sawdust-type shaving, but they went out of business. And shavings were messy and wasteful, especially if you donāt have a tidy horse.
I switched to pellets and LOVE them. I do pellets and then add about 1/2 bag of shavings once a week to fluff them a little bit. And I donāt find them to be dusty at all. Certainly less so than shavings, and a lot less expensive.
The only con is the prep (soaking) and dust, which are all outweighed by the pros in my opinion. There is/was a brand that had SweetPDZ added to the pellets that helped with urine smell, but my co-op doesnāt get it anymore so I buy is separately and add it in. Itās helpful for the donkeys, who generally come in to pee.
^^Same here. I use a combination of both. In a freshly stripped stall, I use 2 bags of pellets and then top with one bag of fine shavings. This gives me the best of both worlds and lasts longer than doing one or the other. My horse is in during the day during our brutally hot summers and out all night and this set up generally lasts about 2 weeks before I need to add a bag of one or the other. I like a cushy stall too. During our mild winter months, my horse only comes in to eat or in really bad weather, so I can go a month without adding pellets or shavings.
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Iāve been using pellets for about 10 years now and other than a completely stripped stall I never wet them, just add them to the existing bedding. But Iām in the southeast and we have humidity so your mileage may vary. While the cost of pellets is roughly the same as shavings, just like others I use far less pellets so itās definitely more cost efficient and easier to remove, dispose of mulch, etc. Generally I add one bag a week, sometimes one bag every four to five days depending on the season and how much they use the stall (they have an attached dry lot, but one of them canāt stand to pee outsider and the other canāt remove himself from in front of the fan when itās hot, so thereās always something to clean). I sometimes add a bag of easy pick shavings every couple of weeks just to give a little more volume to the stall, but itās mostly pine pellets, 60% goes in the wet spot area, the rest is spread around.
I also use them in the trailer with regular shavings and I always bring a bag to horse shows for the wet spot area as well.
Been using them for about a year now, and so far no cons. I soaked the first load I used when I put down the initial amount but Iāve never soaked them since- just add about 1 bag a week. Cleaning a stall takes less than 5 mins now
Iāve been using pellets for 9-ish years now. My FAVORITE was Strufex pelleted straw - it wasnāt the prettiest because of the color, but the straw particles were heavier so there was a lot less dust. They arenāt in business anymore and I canāt get straw pellets at an affordable price now.
The pellets that TSC has are a lot dustier than the ones from Southern States, at least where I am. So it does take some figuring out what works best for you.
I also donāt water mine, though I lightly water half if I was starting a brand new stall and the horse was going to be in it overnight (or similar).
Mine do get dusty, thereās just no way around it. My horses are in for 1-2 hours a day, occasionally half day or so for weather, so turnover of bedding is low. As in, I buy 20 bags a year, and the bulk of that gets put down on the first night they need to stay in due to either major thunderstorms expected, or nasty Winter weather. The amount thatās in there then lasts the whole year :lol:
That means over time, particles get ground smaller and smaller, and thatās dustier and dustier. Faster turnover means particles stay bigger for longer.
Honestly, I switched to pellets more than 10yrs ago & have never found them dusty.
Neither the TSC brand or the rotating brands from my local feedstore.
Wellā¦ except the one time I used them in a trailer (3h trip). I soaked a bag, dumped & spread them & off we went. Stock trailer with Plexiglas to partially enclose sides.
Arrived to find my mini covered in dust along with my cart & everything that was stored in the front of my trailer, with gate closed between the front & back.
I will never use pellets again to bed a trailer!
In my stalls I only soak pellets in warm weather.
I stand a bag upright, slit the top open, dump in a bucket of water & let soak while I pick the stall - maybe 10min.
Dump & spread.
In cold weather I donāt bother wetting pellets, just dump in a stall dry.
In a day or 3, horsesā weight has turned pellets into sawdust.
My horses are out more than in.
They have free access to stalls, come in to eat & hang out in bad weather.
And to pee :rolleyes:
If I strip a stall (rarely done) or if we have had a stretch of ugly weather, I will add 3 bags to start.
Then add a bag every other week, sometimes 2 bags if the bedding has thinned from being walked out or getting wet from weather.
They cost $1 more per bag than shavings, but I save that when I can afford a 50-bag pallet.
And they last longer than any shavings Iāve tried.
Last year there was a Pellet Drought - nobody had them for a couple weeks.
Forced to use shavings, I saw the difference immediately & was glad when pellets were back in supply!
Composted pellets make great garden beds & they break down waaaay quicker in my manure pile.
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