I am a fan of pellets, but I have mats down in my stall and I just put them in the pee spots dry with shavings over the top. There are several benefits - smell being the biggest. I am in the position of having to bag my used pellets and bring them home with me to throw away, so using the pellets has cut down on volume and smell. I use a brand called Natures Best and they absorb really well and there is no amoinoa smell at all with them. I don’t really see any cost savings, but the other two benefits make it worth it to me. Luckily for me, my horse is not a pig in his stall, and he always goes in the same spot so it is easy to clean.
Just an observation: out of 20 posts only 1 of you mentioned anything about a horses stall comfort.
I like to think of bedding a stall like this > what would *I* want to sleep on?. So... to answer my own question, "about 2 bales of light fluffy straw!"
When I bed my horses stalls, they are quick to lay down, rolls, and in the evenings very comfortable curling up in their stalls.
Amazingly, they are neat, and there isnt much to remove --- usually adding another 1/2 bale.
Cost? Sometimes cheaper than anything else.
Just sharing .I used pelleted mixed with pine shavings (more pellets than pine shavings). Then I put straw over top of that. Stalls stay super dry and so fresh smelling. I go through hardly any bedding at all. I went through mad amounts when using just shavings or just straw. Using all three is awesome so easy to clean.
While I am not a big fan of straw (though, if I was going to pick MY bed out of horse bedding, it totally would be straw!), comfort is one of the reasons I am so NOT a fan of pelleted bedding.
Our horses are bed on about 6 inches of shavings (at least)…on top of mats. You just can’t do that with pellets (and still be able to afford to feed the horses and yourself!). I like my horses to come in and be comfortable and want to lay down and sleep…hard to do on a thin bed (mats are NOT comfortable…they just keep them from slipping), and gross to do if their beds are so thin they are mostly wet after one pee. And, like brightsky, we have to muck very little out in the morning…pick the poo, a couple of forkfuls for the wet spot, and, voila!, big, deep, plush clean stall.
I also found pellets a little smelly, and I could NOT keep up with it with the total slob I had on them (ended up going and buying him bagged shavings). Nope. Not a fan.
I was a fan of pellets until I tried Guardian Swift Pick shavings. These shavings are fine, so they are much easier to pick and the manure pile is not as full with wasted shavings. I didn’t realize how dusty the pellets had become over time, until I switched to the fine shavings.
Best of luck.
I actually hate the pelleted bedding. It is certainly easier to muck, but I feel like it is much more difficult to get a good amount of cushy bedding in the stalls. Once the pellets break down, they lose a lot of absorbency and they get pretty darn dusty. The stalls never seem to have that nice clean, fresh smell with the pellets like they do with sawdust or shavings. I can imagine that a combo of shavings with some pellets added in the parts of the stall that are typically wet could be an effective technique. But straight-up pellets are just not my cup of tea.
We’ve used pellets in our stalls for over 10 years. The biggest thing we’ve found is that all pellets are not created equal. They may say the same thing on the packaging, but they certainly do not perform the same way. We love them at the shows where the stalls are on concrete. That is the only time we wet them down. At home, we never wet them. The horses do a good enough job on their own.
As far as comfort, the horses lay down the same on pellets as they did the shavings. IMO 2-3 inches of pellets when broken down provide the same or better cushion as 6 inches of shavings. The shavings push too easily when the horses get up vs the pellets. If dust does become an issue, we simply spray the stall. I think we’ve had to add moisture to our stalls less than 5 times in the last 10 years. Shavings can get dusty as well, however you can’t wet them to control the dust. Once they’re wet, they stay wet.
IMO, the best bedding for horses is the lush green pasture, however since we insist on putting them in stalls, we continue to use the pellets.
My horses lay down inside, outside, on gravel, in the dirt, on the grass…and quite happily on my pellet-bedded stalls. I have not noticed the 26 year old laying down any less on his pelleted bedding than on the shavings. The layer is 3" thick, they form a nice “mattress” effect–they don’t slide out from under him like shavings do when he gets up. Shavings look very fluffy, but I can’t afford to put down 8-10" of shavings so they can compress into a 3" layer when he lays down. And I can’t dispose of the excess shavings that come out of a properly cleaned stall, compared to the pelleted bedding I remove each time I clean. I won’t go back.
horse comfort
Well, mats help with horse comfort – and I think comfort when standing is far more important than lying down – but the costs make the traditional deep bedding out of the reach of the avg boarding barn. Barns that cost over $1000 a month do not use more shavings than the barn I board at (the facilities are amazing, but no more shavings), i just don’t think you can do it affordably. The old deep litter bedding practice is probably the best for the horse’s legs, banked all the way around the stall. But who can afford this any more?
Heck you might as well just buy more land for the horse to pasture on – you’ll save on bedding and feed, at least in the summer.
I run a 16 stall boarding facility, bed all 16 stalls very deeply (with banks), and do so affordably. It is actually cheaper in the long run- more expensive on set up, but less expensive on day to day costs. We also don’t charge $1000 a month. If my horses are going to be forced to be in a stall a good portion of every day, I am going to give them the very best environment while they are there. That means plush stalls, great hay and grain, and a peaceful barn with no drama…seems to work.
tell me more
Hi, Interesting! How do you realize cost savings? Do you use bulk shavings, straw?
Just to relate how things are around where I live in eastern PA:
Where I live there are few reliable shavings (bulk) sources, and bagged is used at about $6/bag. Three bags of shavings will put about 4-5" of shavings in a 10x12 stall, I’m not sure how many bags would do a deep bed and bank.
As someone who mucks stalls, I know that lots of shavings makes the work harder, and it takes longer.
I buy bulk shavings. I do buy pretty premium shavings (American Wood Fibers), but I think spending a little extra also helps with the costs in the long run.
We did an experiment a few years ago when sharing a barn with someone. The other person bedded lightly while we set our stalls up with deep beds and banks. Again, initially, it does take more, however, the other person’s stalls were getting a wheel barrow every day or two, while ours were getting one or two wheel barrows a WEEK. Really, unless I’m mucking out a lot of wasted hay or in an extremely wet, messy stall, I can fit the muck of two-ish stalls into a small wheelbarrow- after a night of being in. The pee doesn’t go everywhere, just straight down into one localized spot. The poo sifts out quite easily (a benefit from using really nice quality, fine shavings).
It is probably a little bit more labor intensive, but I don’t think it is THAT much more (considering I’m not having to add more to every stall every day or two). There’s an art form to do the deep stalls right without taking FOREVER to do them (toss the bedding against the wall…poo falls down to the bottom of the banks). I am the world’s slowest mucker (I do not get it, I just am…you’d think after 15+ years of stall mucking I’d pick up some speed), but I can make pretty short order of our barn the days I have to do it alone.
Oh, and for the record, it usually took me about 6 bags to get a properly bedded and banked stall, then about a bag or two a week, depending on the pig quotient of the horse living in the stall. I usually start a stall with 5 or 6 BIG wheelbarrows of bulk.
