I hate corn cob pelleted bedding

[Plainandtall]

I put “pelleted bedding” on a shopping list when my mom went to town. At the time one of my horses had a sore foot and when she was at TSC she saw the two kinds- pine and corn cob- and the cob was a lot more expensive. She thought that because of the price, the cob must be somehow nicer and opted to get it for the sake of the horse with the sore foot.

So I was forced into trying it and HATE it. So I’m just posting a little review here in case anyone else is tempted to see for himself- maybe I can save you the $4 difference.

The color is a little different- it’s pinkish rather than tan. It fluffs up VERY fast when it gets wet- and it is very absorbent, at least as much or maybe more than the pine pellets- so I guess that’s a plus. It smells different too… kind of sweet, yeasty and musky… that smell doesn’t represent the “fresh pine” smell that I usually associate with a clean stall. When it gets wet and sits- it develops a really sour smell- no, I don’t mean ammonia urine smell… it smells like a bucket full of water and grass clippings left to rot for a week. The first time I smelled it (upon entering the barn) I thought that there must be some spilled soured alfalfa pellet mash in Beau’s stall- but it was just a wet spot under his water bucket.

Now for the fun- when it gets really wet- it turns to a pudding-like slime! Pine pellets similarly saturated, stay gritty. I almost fell multiple times sliding around on them! (Imagine Cosmo Kramer with a pitchfork! )

note- In case this sounds like a confession of really disgusting stalls on my part- to be specific about what I’m doing- I’m speaking of a rubber matted 12x12 tie stall for a draft horse who spills his water and pees gallons and gallons when he goes. He is in the stall for about 6 hours in the heat of the day- so the bedding is not to lie down in- but just to “catch and absorb” the flood of pee when it comes. He stands to the side of the pee spot. I usually touch up the stall at least 1x in the 6 hours and then fully clean after turnout. So I would call the volume of bedding I use moderate to thin.

The biggest drawback is that the pellets are palatable to critters to EAT! Yikes! Yuck! Granted a ground up corn cob is likely a pretty non-lethal source of fiber for a big herbivore- but I don’t know that and the fast swelling capability makes me worry for choke or colic…

One night I left a 1/2 full muck bucket of the pellets out in the aisle to use the next day- the next morning they were all gone! Between three goats and two “run of the place” ponies they had eaten them all!

Within a week of using them, the draft horse who had never considered eating his bedding before with pine- had discovered a taste for them and he was approaching his stall like I was now feeding shovelfulls of sweetfeed with no pan! Not good!

[turningpointequine]

I’m with you on that one! I simply couldn’t get over the wet corn smell. My mother walked into the barn and asked me if I had bought a cow.

The absorbency is good though. I work at TSC and we sell it by the pallet to a gentleman that raises deer. He said he actually did a test with pine shavings, pine pellets and the corn cob and the corn cob won hands down as far as how much it would absorb before saturating. My guess is that since his bedding is in a run-in type shelter the smell is less of a problem for him.

[2DogsFarm]

I used corncob bedding for almost a year and was liking it.
I never wet it, just dumped into stalls from the bags & never had a problem with the wet spots getting slippery.
My horses were never interested in eating the stuff.

I’d probably still be using it but one of my horses developed SAD complete with heave-line & 6mo regimen of steroids. This horse had never shown any sign of respiratory issues prior to this.
A friend read online where the cob bedding had been linked to respiratory disease in dairy cattle (where it was commonly used) due to bacteria developing in the moister bedding.
Based on that info I switched back to shavings, then pine pellets.
SAD horse’s lungs cleared up so completely when the cobs were gone that attending vet swore if he had not heard the rales 6mos ago he never would have guessed this was the same horse.

PSA: cob bedding may not be the best choice for horses with any respiratory issues.

[Plainandtall]

I’d be interested to know about the two kinds of bedding and their ability to harbor or feed bacteria or fungus. That is a very interesting experience with the breathing issues 2Dogs.

My horse has started to develop a thrush-like situation- I’m reluctant to call it full blown thrush- but I just have a general “sinking feeling” that his soles are not as healthy as they usually are (beyond the injury to the one foot I mentioned earlier) I had chalked it up to the weather- but now that you mention it- I wonder if there could be a component from that bedding as the timing would coincide.

[trubandloki]

Thank you for the review. I have seen the bags at Tractor Supply and often wondered if it was worth trying. I will not bother now.

[Simkie]

I was also wondering about this stuff. Thanks for posting and saving me the dollars and frustration!

[TXPiaffe]

I used cob bedding on my boy. He is an absolute pig in the stall. For a 12x12 stall I started with 6-8 bags of bedding (not wetted). He circles his stall…all.day.long!
With regular pine shavings or pellets I was stripping his stall daily, no matter how much or little I put in his stall. With the cob bedding I just had to remove the wet spots and poo. I added a bag (or two) every couple of weeks.
It isn’t ideal for every situation or horse, but for me, it saved a ton of money and frustration.

[fourmares]

I used it for a while, but just by dumping a small bucket full in the pee spot in a stall otherwise bedded in shavings. For that it’s superior absorbent was a bonus. I think I switched because I found less expensive pellets bedding

[buck22]

I tried cob bedding once… for all of 15 minutes.

I bought enough bedding for a month. Was smart enough to just open one bag to see what it was about. I spread it out, went to go get the hose to dampen it, when I got back both my piggy geldings left their hay pile to come investigate and were greedily chomping down on it (to be honest, it did smell corn-y and my Morgan will tear down a brick wall for anything corn). So I shoe’d them out, buried the cob bedding under the sawdust, thinking it might help absorb more down there. As soon as my back was turned, geldings returned, pawed down to the cob bedding and resumed chowing.

I scooped it all up and deposited in the woods, afraid if I composted it, they would dig it up there too.

Fortunately I was able to return all of the other bags.

Never again.

I tell you what I am extremely interested in trying this winter is peat moss for bedding. My aged gelding is prone to thrush. He also pees lakes. I have read remarkable commentary on peat bedding and thrush, above and beyond its incredible absorption.

Its relatively inexpensive where I live, and even if it is a supreme waste of time and money, it will make for fantastic compost.

[microbovine]

They used peanut hulls at one barn I boarded at. It seemed to work pretty well, but the smell was odd. I heard that there might be a problem if the horses ate too much of the bedding but there weren’t any problems when I was there.

We tried peat moss for awhile to make wonderful compost for the barn owner’s garden. The dust was worrisome and it was hard to find.

[Victorious]

I have also used peat moss and like micro bovine said-it was extremely dusty. I also hated seeing a dark stall-I love coming in to a clean barn with fluffy light colored pine shavings. It just makes my heart go pitter/patter! We used corn cob bedding that was not pelleted for a spell, but it just didn’t work well for us. That stuff was too chunky and non-absorbent. Pellets are always more absorbent, but then they create dust issues. I’ve tried to use all sorts of different mixtures but at the end of the day, I’m back to my fine pine shavings.

[pacific_jumper]

[QUOTE=Plainandtall;7749974]

The biggest drawback is that the pellets are palatable to critters to EAT! Yikes! Yuck! Granted a ground up corn cob is likely a pretty non-lethal source of fiber for a big herbivore- but I don’t know that and the fast swelling capability makes me worry for choke or colic…

One night I left a 1/2 full muck bucket of the pellets out in the aisle to use the next day- the next morning they were all gone! Between three goats and two “run of the place” ponies they had eaten them all!

Within a week of using them, the draft horse who had never considered eating his bedding before with pine- had discovered a taste for them and he was approaching his stall like I was now feeding shovelfulls of sweetfeed with no pan! Not good![/QUOTE]

If your horses liked the taste, I wonder what rodents and other pests would think? :no:

[kookicat]

I use a flax bedding. It’s amazing- absorbs loads, make a lovely comfy bed and has no smell.