Equine Pelletized Bedding

I gotta say WOW. Holy moly, why are they not marketing these for pellet stoves.

I bought a bag at TSC. Just to see how good they would burn. 100% pine no additives. These things burn great and HOT.

The size of the pellets are mostly small. Halfway between a somerset average size.If they were not $6 a bag i would be buying a couple of tons of these.

Funny thing, these burn better than all other pellets ive tried and seem a bit hotter than the somersets.

I did read somewhere a softwood pellet burns hotter than a hardwood. So i assume thats the reason.

The flame is so orange and lively. Really clean burning.

Pine charcoal is what got man into the iron age!

The pellets I burn are 100% red pine saw dust produced from sawmill operations...

Funny you mention the horse bedding. I was at my local TSC and saw the same thing and had the same thought. I looked at the bag and to no real big suprise it is made by MWP. I suspect it maybe their stuff that either didn't make density or whatever.

I just got done with my testing with mine. Very small pellet, very light colored, and very HOT

Are they the TSC brand? All Pine and no additives??

Hey Dex,

Yes those are the same im burning now. Its a shame people using those as horse bedding.

I think they were just under $5 a bag ($4.67?-$4.97). So its less than $250 a ton for a good softwood pellet.

They make my Burn pot almost completely white.... They are beyond Hot.

A buck higher here at my store. Yeah, the heat is crazy. Im still getting alot more heat on one feedrate lower than what i burn my somersets at.

The wife actually complained it was getting hot in here. And thats never happened before. So i know i was not hallucinating.

Was that the price they quoted based on a per ton price, or is that just the regular per bag price?

Thats price per bag. Everything is higher here in my area compared to what others are paying.

Im dropping in tomorrow to see what deal i can get if i buy several ton.

Thanks a lot!

Now I have to hit TSC tomorrow and get some. Monkey see Monkey do.

Let us know what you think.

You get those from sawmills local to your location? Whats the name brand?

Interesting - the TSC web site claims they're southern yellow pine.

"Manufacturers Number: 54400
Brand: Tractor Supply Co.®
Material: Southern Yellow Pine
Overall Color: Light Yellow
Warranty: Limited
Product Type: Pellet
Scent: Pine"

Doesn't seem likely that MWP would make them out of that. I wonder if TSC gets them from different plants in different parts of the country but they're pine of some kind no matter where they're made.

$5.99 per bag at my local too...

If Labrat is in Maine, its likely to be a different brand Horse pellet.

There are numerous different brands out there. Me and Jdempsey are only a couple hundred miles apart. From Ohio to Kentucky, same brand. From Ohio or Kentucky to Maine? Different story ?

Stove Pellets are cheaper here. Lot of folks use them for horse bedding vs the pellets made for horse bedding.

Right - my thought exactly. Might have to go to my local tomorrow and see where theirs happen to come from. Pretty close to Maine here so maybe MWP too. Burning Vts now - white pine, and a very good pellet, if a little sticky. I'd be interested in burning some southern yellow pine - hard enough to make decent flooring but also high in flammable resins so high octane... Best of both worlds?

Though, as conventional wisdom has it, the btu content for a pound of wood is "about the same" for all species, the differences because of resin content can be significant:

Misc. Btu/oven-dry lb

Douglas-fir 8,800-9,200
Lodgepole pine 8,600
Ponderosa pine 9,100
Redwood 9,200
Sitka spruce 8,100
True firs 8,300
Western hemlock 8,400
Western redcedar 9,700
White pine 9,600
Yellow pine 10,380
White birch (bark alone) 10,310
Red oak 9,360
White oak 9,510
Poplar 9,630 (!)
Rock Maple 8,426
Pitch pine 12,230 (don't try this at home)

Isabella Pellet in the lower peninsula of Michigan.

How about using these as an octane BTU booster to lower burning pellets?
If they are cheap enough, I am sure that some lunatic here has attempted it somewhere along the line!

Bill

I've never heard of anyone actually making pellets out of pitch pine - but I'd like to try some .

FWIW, I tried the TSC bedding pellets - not impressed. The are yellow pine and the bags I got had no indication on them that they were made by MWP. They burned fairly hot but left a big black spot on my glass - maybe from high resin content, but if so, it wasn't burning that cleanly. Oddly for a pellet that's as short as the are, they didn't feed very well in my stove - I thought they'd run through like BBs, but no. For sure a significant cut below a good softwood stove-designed pellet and not worth the price, IMHO. It was $5.99 per bag on the site, the pile in the store was tagged at $6.46 but rang up at the online price. They quoted me 5% off on a ton or about $285. I'll stay away from them.

Running a bag of these through right now. Pretty impressed. These are one of the hottest pellets I've burned. Maybe not quite as hot as Somersets, but I'd say they're on par with Magic spark/Pro pellet. Wish they weren't $5 per bag. $250/ton is steep when I can run to Menards and get a ton (usually Somersets or Magic Spark) for $179. Love the pine aroma in the hopper. Wish the house smelled like that.

Interesting side note...While I was at TSC, I noticed a ton covered in plastic that had an AWF shipping label on it. Looked under the plastic, expecting to see bags of AWF...Nope. Equine bedding pellets. Wonder if these are related to the new AWF softwood?

They may be...?

I know the TSC brand Equine bedding pellets were hotter than ANYTHING I burned!

But again, they were $250 a ton. The extra $75 isn't worth it. IMHO. (That's a half ton!!)

Somersets are $175 often at Menards. So the Equine pellets would have to hit $200 (or a outs) to make them worth while!!

I know that when equine bedding pellets are made by Pinnacle Renewable Energy they are not pressed as hard (lower bulk density) through the mill so that they are more absorbent. They are 100% pine. Their stove pellet (Dragon Mountain) is a spruce pine fir blend. They also make a 100% Fir pellet.

Does it say that the horse bedding can be burned in a stove? Just a thought maybe they have something in them that is bad for the stove. not sure just asking.