Equine Fresh Shortage Reported
Posted by Bill on Jan 21 2007 at 12:06 am | Tagged as: Horse News
If you use wood pellets for horse bedding, you may have heard of the brand Equine Fresh. There are many brands of wood pellets out there and I suspect there will be many more since wood pellets are quickly becoming the preferred bedding for horse owners around the U.S. But the reason I’m writing this note about Equine Fresh is because it’s the brand carried by Tractor Supply stores. Until recently Tractor Supply also carried Woody Pet, perhaps the most well-known wood pellet bedding brand. But we have it on good authority that Tractor Supply decided to stop carrying Woody Pet in favor of the less expensive and larger-portioned Equine Fresh bags. As I recall, Woody Pet was in the neighborhood of $7 a bag for 35 lbs. while Equine Fresh is around $6 a bag for 40 lbs. We’ve tried both and haven’t noticed any difference in the two, so we’ve been buying Equine Fresh exclusively…until today. It seems all of our local east Tennessee Tractor Supply stores are completely out of Equine Fresh and, of course, Woody Pet. Turns out the Equine Fresh people lost their sawdust supplier and are frantically looking for another one. In the meantime, their inventory is almost depleted, which means no more shipments to Tractor Supply (or anyone else, for that matter). Of course, Tractor Supply sort of burned the bridge with Woody Pet, so they simply don’t have any wood pellets in stock at all now. Rumor has it there is a small shipment of Equine Fresh coming in to one of our local Tractor Supply stores (and I’m not telling which!) that is expected to be sold out practically before the pallets hit the pavement. Drama in the wood-pellet industry! Who knew it could be this exciting?
So why all the fuss over wood pellets? Well, I’m not sure I’d go stand in line for some, but I will say we’re converts. Without rehashing all the benefits, allow me to refer you to our post about using wood pellets for horse bedding from last year, entitled “Serta or Tempurpedic?“, referring to the relative luxury of the soft pellets versus some of the alternative bedding choices. You can see pictures of the wood pellets in detail in that post.
We managed to find an alternative supply of wood pellets locally at Co-op but they were more expensive. We paid around $6 per 35 lb. bag. Hopefully Equine Fresh gets their raw material supply problem worked out soon. The source of information for this article sounded ominous, though: “If they don’t find a supplier soon, they’ll probably go out of business.” He did assure us, however, that if Equine Fresh goes under, they’ll find another company to fill the need. I’m rooting for Equine Fresh, though, they have a good deal going.
So if you use Equine Fresh and your local Tractor Supply or other farm supply store still has some, you might consider heading down there asap to buy all you can. We’re seriously thinking of stocking up on wood pellets by buying a pallet or two next time. We could probably get a price break, too.
One more thing…Equine Fresh is made in Canada. So is Woody Pet. And all the other wood pellet horse bedding manufacturers we’ve ever seen in these parts. I wonder why wood pellets only seem to come from Canada. Do any of you know? Just curious.
Most of the timber cutting happens in Canada. Sawdust is a byproduct of construction and since the market is flooded with houses, construction is down which means no sawdust for the pellets. I work for ABC news and we have been doing lots of stories on this because many people converted to pellet stoves to heat their homes and are completely out of luck getting the pellets. I enjoy your blog and good luck in your search for pellets.
Thanks for the info! We wondered what the Canadian connection was. And I didn’t even think about the wood stove thing. Those darn people are using up all the pellets! Down with wood pellet stoves!
Just kidding. Kind of.
Sleep Tight…
A useful report on horse bedding and supplies…….
everyone is in short supply in wash state of pellets and shavings.. 2 mills locally burnt down and one has moved to a new facility and has not started back producing yet.
Shortages of shavings and sawdust for animal bedding are a result of: 1. a slowdown in housing construction, 2. reassignment of waste wood (wood flour, fuel for ethanol effluent dyers, pressed materials, etc.), 3. fuel pellets for heat. There are several other minor reasons for the lack of product but these are the primary three.
The majority of pellet products are produced in Canada because of the large amounts of available sawdust material from sawmills. This material, because there is so much of it, is essentially free to anyone willing to haul it away. The US doesn’t have as many sawmills as Canada (due mostly to the Canadian government subsidizing their timber industry) so obviously there isn’t as much sawdust produced. What sawdust is produced in the US has a value of $30-50/ton in bulk plus freight. Right now (02/2007) the most any retailer is willing to pay for a 40lb bag of pellets is about $3.00 FOB. Doing a bit of math, there is no or very little profit for any manufacturer to consider producing pellets. Adding in the price of a bag, labor, pellet dies (very expensive and an expendable), preparation of product for shipment, etc. puts most manufacturer costs near the $3.00/bag FOB.
I wouldn’t expect to see a flood of pellets on the market any time soon………..if fact, I would expect to see them disappear for a short period before returning in smaller bags or similar size bags for way more money. Shavings are in short supply and mainly only available from shavings manufacturers (very few). This correction (shortage) will last about 2-3 years but once the mills are back running again, you can count on only a percentage of sawdust surfacing back into the bedding market. Many primary manufacturers are doing more value-added things with their sawdust; like veneer covered mouldings, etc.
Troy, that is great information, but really depressing! We have really come to depend on our pellet bedding, and I know we’re not the only ones. If you’re right, it looks like we’ll have to find another alternative.
You might look around locally for mills, construction sites, etc… in order to get sawdust. I actually prefer sawdust to the pellets for bedding. If a horse eats some sawdust I don’t have to worry nearly as much about it, compared to if he eats wood pellets, the bulk quantity between the two in ingestion would have me worrying a lot about the pellets. Not only where the horses are concerned but the other barn animals and visitors too. I have to shoo the dogs away from the wood pellets inside for the pellet stove because they like the taste of them.
I don’t remember where I read it but I came across a description for stall bedding using primarily sand with a layer of straw overtop. Still soft and it had layers to it so it drained. I think you wound up digging down a few inches and then layering gravel/stone, lime, sand, and whatever you wanted on top. It might have been in HI a few yrs ago, well mid to late 90’s.
We had shredded straw at one point that worked OK. Better than normal straw ’cause you don’t have a huge clump of straw sticks going everywhere and it’s less waste. Trick is getting it.
I do love shavings though. ;P Just need a grood drainage system underneath. But, to do that you have to start the barn all over again! LOL
Good luck in your bedding quest!
~Amanda
Take a look at Guardian Horse Bedding. We’ve been using it for 8 years. They have 6 or 7 plants in the U.S. They are reasonably priced at our dealer ( 40# bag for $5.79) and really good quality.
Forget about Guardian. They lost one of their manufacturing plants according to the info I had been given and the last 2 pallets of bedding have been horrible. I am using twice the amount of bedding and it is like walking on cobble stones for the 1st week. It is dustier and just does not have the quality that it did. I have been VERY disappointed as I was a HUGE fan.
Susan, that’s a shame. It sounds like it might be a regional issue, though, because Sylvia is pleased with the pellets she’s gotten. Your information is that it was “one” of the manufacturing plants, so if that’s the case, perhaps it was the quality in your area that was compromised. Such a shame for you, and others in your area. I hate when that happens, when you find a product you love and they go and change it for one reason or another.
I have been interseted in becoming a pelletized horse bedding dealer. Upon contacting the very nice Canadian rep., he informed me that Tractor Supply did NOT drop them. Woody Pet canceled the account with Tractor Supply for TS did not pay their bills to their suppliers and were not nice to deal with. I am currently evaluating Woddy Pet, having purchased a half pallet from a local Vet. Now, with the change in our dollar purchasing power against the Canadian dollar and the fuel costs, a US manufacturer would be preferable. I’m so sorry to hear that Guardian does not have a quality control assurance in place. Pelletized bedding is awesome to work with. My horses had a nasty cough when I used shavings that has disappeared with the pellets. What now?
Great info…thank you. Does anyone know if I can put pellets and shavings on top of my sand in my stalls?
I think Guardian must have gotten their problems with that plant worked out. I have been using their bedding for a while now and absolutely love it. I talked to someone in their office not too long ago and they had to shut down one of their plants because of raw material problems. but they just opened one in Virginia and another in Texas. I got the bedding out of Virginia and it is the best ever!