Beet Pulp

[5StarRanch]

OK.....carefully planned new diet for new horse I brought home. He is a breeding stallion, paces his fenceline all day long and is being worked 3+ days a week as well. Beet Pulp was a main thing that was to be a part of his diet. He won't eat it, refuses completely. I tried 1 1/2 cups of soaked pellets. Hasn't touched them for two days. Any ideas?

 

[Sixstardanes]

Maybe add some thin slices of apples and/or carrots to it in the beginning??

 

[disneyhorse]

Some horses won't eat it at first... but all eventually WILL eat it.

You have to start with just a TINY HANDFUL at first. If he is getting other type of grain that he will eat, you can mix it in so he can develop a taste for it. Slowly increase the amount.

You will have to mix up new, fresh beet pulp each day, even if he doesn't eat it. Once soaked, it will go sour fast and then he definitely won't be interested in it.

Don't worry, he will grow to love it.

My Shetland stallion is pretty picky, he will eat soaked beet pulp but only up to one pound of pellets (before soaking). Any more than that, and he won't eat it. So I give him what I know he will finish, since it does go bad.

Have patience,

Andrea

 

[minih]

As mentioned above start out slowly with just a little then increase it. What we do here is mix it in with everything else they get into their feed bucket, ex- Omalene 200, beet pulp, chopped alfalfa, BOSS, and what ever vitamins and minerals or meds they need all in the bucket. During hot weather or when needing to add more water to their diet I will wet the whole thing or if in a hurry or early spring we feed it all mixed up dry. We feed their hay at different times during the day since when the feed is wet it can be quite filling for them.

 

[Fanch]

I started beet pulp on one of my geldings, a rally hard keeper and picky, and he would only eat 1/2 cup dry before I started adding apple sause to the mix. I bought it in a big can for about 4 bucks and add a couple of spoons to the beet pulp and mix, hes eating almost 2 cups dry now. If you do this, make sure its JUST apple sause, and doesn't have gluetose/frutose in its ingredients.

 

[Sterling]

One of my little guys started out liking it when I first put them on beet pulp. I would give it to them soaked and shredded. He ate it for a while (couple of months?) and then absolutely refused to eat it anymore. The other horses had not a problem with it...same bag no changes, he just decided he'd had enough of it. I watched him and kept offering it to him, but he just said no. So I decided it was not worth him not eating, just to try and get him to eat the stuff. Fast forward....down the road I changed feeds to Triple Crown Senior...it has shredded beet pulp in it. Well he ate it good and proper for a while, until I noticed him leaving more and more of his feed each day until he was just walking away from it altogether when I'd set it in front of him. Here again, nothing wrong with the bag itself or feed as my other horse was eating it fine, and this was a bag that he had been eating from. (I'm a stickler about freshness in both my horses and dog's feed bags.) Long story short......have since changed over to Omolene 200.....this little boy is now again whinnying each time I go into the barn to give them their grain...something he quit doing when he knew I had the beet pulp. So IMO, not every horse will eat it. They have pallets and I believe they too know when they don't like one thing or it doesn't go down well for them. I tried to hand feed him a time or two making him think it was a snack, by giving him a handful of it and as soon as he got a lip full he'd turn his face and walk off. Then he'd look back at me as if to say "Oh no you dih-ent!"

 

[5StarRanch]

Thanks to all of you for your replies. He definately is not a fan of the beet pulp. I am going to try some shredded on him today and see if that helps. He will eat the alfy pellets, so may mix some in with those as well. Picky little begger.

 

[chandab]

My Shetland stallion is pretty picky, he will eat soaked beet pulp but only up to one pound of pellets (before soaking). Any more than that, and he won't eat it. So I give him what I know he will finish, since it does go bad.Have patience,

Andrea

I have a full-size senior gelding like this... He does not care for soaked feeds, but all I can get is beet pulp pellets, so has to be soaked. He will not eat more than one pound dry measure, then soaked, any more and he'll walk away.

Then, there are the minis, any one of them would happily eat as much as I put in front of them (they get 1/3# dry measure then soaked), and then some.