Beet Pulp

[zyndyna]

Who use's beet pulp in their feeding program? Also how much do you give? We have one mare that we have been adding weight to and we got some molasses mixed beet pulp but I wasn't sure how much would be appropriate to feed to her and then what to give to the others?

 

[ohmt]

I do! How much does she weigh? Beet pulp can be used to replace up to 30% of horse's hay, but it is low in protein (about 9%) so make sure she has something to offset it. It is also high in calcium so if paired with alfalfa then talk to your vet about a phosphorous supplement. If I can't find any without molasses then I rinse it to get rid of all of the sugar. My yearling colt last year loved his beet pulp so much that he wouldn't eat the rest of his feed until I gave him it (in a separate pile, of course). A little bit spoiled....

 

[Jenny]

Just make sure it's non GMO. Almost all beet pulp is, which is why I probably won't ever feed it.

 

[zyndyna]

GMO? You will have to forgive me I am new to this. I would say she weighs about 230 right now. But her hip bones are still kind of prominent

 

[shorthorsemom]

My horses hated it.

 

[Jenny]

GMO's are genetically modified organisms. They are plants or animals created by merging DNA from different species. This concept was created to make plants that were resistant to pesticide and herbicide. It's messing with nature and it's very, very wrong. The most popular GMO products are corn, soya, sugar beet (a.k.a. beet pulp) and canola. I encourage everyone to do some research on GMO's as it's a very important issue. Please make sure to check if the food you buy for yourself as well as your animals is certified Non-GMO, it's hard to eliminate GMO's completely as they're in a LOT of products but try your best.

Here is a good website for information: http://www.nongmoproject.org/

I'm going to stop now as I could go on about this for a while.

 

[shorthorsemom]

Not to start a GMO debate here, but in all honesty if you want to try some beet pulp for your horses in my opinion I don't think the GMO or non GMO debate should stop you from trying beet pulp and I don't think you should worry you are doing anything bad or that your are not being a good horse mommy by considering feeding beet pulp to your horses.

Of one concern I have is that world wide the average age of farmers is over 60 and young folks are not going into agriculture. It is a sad thing when folks can't make a living growing food. When your non GMO corn blows down with the smallest puff of autumn wind and you pay 8 bucks a bushel for purchased corn to feed your cows over the winter, only to have your milk prices drop and you find that sending a gorgeous 110 lb per day milking cow to slaughter is more profitable than processing the expensive feed through her for the milk, and your government allows imported weird milk product into your cheese and allows the big name cheese folks to still call it american cheese instead of american cheese product... ... well.... anyway...Even amish are quitting farming and dairy farming in record numbers. My question from a farming standpoint is... "who is going to grow our food?" I think it is most important to protect our USA grown food sources. USA farmers do a great job. I tip my hat to anybody surviving by farming and by growing food for us.

My horses did not like beet pulp, but I have friends whose horses love it. I have mostly heard of folks soaking it to remove the molasses and then feeding it. My guys chucked their feed tubs on the ground and maybe I should have tried easing them into the new feed. I mostly feed enrich 32 and some really fine grass hay and my chubby boy gets some Quiessence on his feed.

best wishes folks...PS, I am NOT knocking those of you who are concerned and do not feed GMO feed... That is the beauty of having a CHOICE. Please do not fry me or turn this into a debate and get us deleted... I applaude those of you who are aware of what is in your food and are concerned, but I also think there is more to be learned. I avoid MSG, Aspartame, weird milk products... hydrogenated stuff, but on occasion might be seen eating poptarts or oreos LOL...., we all have our individual things we avoid or do not like seeing in our food. What does scare me is the high cost of food and would like to see more effort put into making it affordable for farmers to bring us the food we want to buy and feed and eat. cheers.. please don't fry me folks. I am not knocking the other poster and I enjoy all views and enjoy reading different view points. If everybody agreed with each other we would sure live in a very boring world... just tickling a hopefully polite other view and awareness in the spirit of this wonderful forum.

 

[shorthorsemom]

Be sure her teeth are floated and your worming program is up to date...I am great at making horses fat but get frustrated by hard keepers trying to guess how much and what to feed. I once tried corn oil added to the feed. that was one of the more yucky ideas as I got corn oil horse kisses on my jacket that stayed there for quite some time...

. How old is your mare? Depending on her age might differ what you feed to try to put on the weight. I am always trying to take weight off my mini, however I did once get a rescue horse that was emaciated and I did a few things to help him put on weight. I never fed beet pulp to him, however I did soak him alfalfa/timothy hay cubes into a slop for him to eat out of a bucket. He was old and had worn teeth and that was how I got extra calories into him without him chewing them.

My guys always have done good on a fine clean grass hay and maintained decent weight. I had a youngster once that got alfalfa pellets, and a friend of mine recently told me she was soaking timothy pellets she got from TSC to feed to her horses during this cold snap so she could get moisture into them and add to her feeding program for extra calories too.

I have only had one horse that was a hard keeper and during grazing months, he went out to graze and everybody else got a muzzle and pretty soon he was in decent weight. Hope this helps. Nothing wrong with feeding one horse differently than the rest.

.

 

[Marty]

I feed it as an "extra" feeding (lunch) if I have a reason and one of my reasons would be to make sure they are being hydrated enough during extreme cold or extreme heat when they are being kept inside. I use it as an extra vehicle to provide hydration but there are other reasons too.

Presently during this awful cold, and this is approximate measurement - - - I'm soaking about 1 cup dry per horse in warm water which will double in size in less than an hour. If the water sucks it too dry, I'll add more water because the point of me feeding it is hydration which will keep things moving along. They do not like the smell at first and I think it stinks too, but once they are used to it they suck it up like crazy. Sometimes I'll chop up carrots in it or add a handful of oats.

 

[Maple Hollow Farm]

We do not feed it and never plan to. It really doesnt serve that much purpose for us as we have access to good hay and grain so dont need the extra filler. As long as the rest of your feed program is well balanced and being fed in the appropriate amounts, it is unnecessary to use. Exceptions are as someone else stated....if your horse isnt drinking enough it can help to feed it soaked for that purpose. JMO

 

[MiniNHF]

I know the farm I board my boy at uses Beet Pulp in their miniatures show barn. I have always used it with my big show horses and especially our broodmares.