Straw pellets look alike in the bag. They are not alike in the box. A large share of the “bedding pellets” offered to stables are in fact heating pellets – pressed hard for boilers, not for horses. Here is how to tell them apart and why it matters.
What a heating pellet is made for
Heating pellets are pressed as dense as possible so they burn evenly. The raw material is not screened for dust, and nobody cares whether they open up when wet. In a box they stay hard, absorb slowly and turn into a dusty, uneven layer.
What a bedding pellet is made for
A bedding pellet is ground to an open structure, screened with sieves, magnets and filters, and pressed at +85…+110 °C so that mould spores and bacteria are killed. Watered, it breaks into a soft, absorbent layer that holds roughly three times its own weight and binds ammonia.
How to check
- Ask what the pellet was produced for. A producer of bedding will show you the process, not just the price.
- Water a handful. Bedding pellets open into fluffy fibre within an hour; heating pellets stay hard or turn into mush.
- Look at the dust at the bottom of the bag. Screened bedding pellets leave almost none.
- Watch the price. Saving 10–20 euros per tonne on a heating pellet is quickly lost in higher consumption – and in a coughing horse.
We make both – and we label them
BaltPellet produces bedding pellets and heating pellets in separate lines. You always know which one you are buying, and we will never sell you the one for the other. See our products or ask for a sample.
