Follow up on pelleted bedding in the stalls

Three months ago I switched from pine shavings to pelleted bedding. The farm used 93 bags of the bedding.  I decided to do a cost analysis to see if I was saving money in the switch. The cost for pellets turned out to be $177 per month and the shavings averaged out over the year (2012) to be $123 per month.  So at $54 more per month I am not seeing the cost savings.  However there are factors in there that I can’t quanify:

  • Time savings: the stalls are a lot easier to clean.  
  • The 3 months we used pellets were during the winter when the horses are in a lot more
  • Now all the stalls have horses in them: 8 stalls using the bedding,
  • Last year we had times when not all the stalls utilized and the donkeys had one stall. They don’t use much bedding at all. 
  • When I switched to pellets the cost of shavings from my provider doubled, so if I did the analysis based on that I would definitely be saving money

So bottom line I will keep using the pellets and try again maybe in 3 more month to see if the monthly usage cost has gone down.