Just curious about beet pulp in feed programs...

[chandab]

I think I covered all the bases for the poll. I'm just curious how many use beet pulp in their feed program. I like to feed it soaked in winter to help with hydration. I don't show, so don't feed it in the summer, as mine go out on pasture part of the day.

If you wish to share why you do or don't feed it, feel free.

 

[Leeana]

I feed shreds, always soaked (i drain the water too) during show season only to the horses i am showing. Start March (or so) and go all the way through show season and then wean them off from it.

 

[horsehug]

Hi Chanda,

I feed pelleted soaked year round. I like it because it does help them not to have as much of a belly as they do on just grass hay, and also it is easy to mix their Horseguard in and they eat the horseguard better in it than by itself.

I have also heard it helps to prevent sand colic even though so much of the year sand is not a problem since the ground is snow covered!!

Oh and I also feed it because it is more resonably priced than so many feeds Especially after it soaks......... to about 5 times the amount dry!

My beet pulp is back down to $11.50 for 50 lbs.

Susan O.

 

[End Level Farms]

I feed it all the time. To all my horses.

I never have a problem giving them anything they might need because if sickness hurt or anything. They never suspect anything. Plus I have never had colic issues or sand problems.

In the winter I like to serve it warm in the summer they still like it warm.

My stallion never things dinner is complete until he has his beet pulp. I got sick and had to have someone else feed while I was in the hospital a year or so ago and he didnt eat and kept banging the door. Luckily the girl who was feeding for me listened when I told her to call the hospital and tell me what they were doing that was out of the ordinary. And She hadnt gotten to my house on time to make the beet pulp. SO there was no beet pulp and Sam sulked and sulked. She felt bad went home and came back and fed him beet pulp. HEHE.

 

[targetsmom]

I feed it year round, shreads, always soaked and rinsed (I can't get it without molasses). I started feeding it to show horses, then decided to keep feeding in winter to help with hydration, and just recently added it to my big horse's diet. He is 23 and has had 30 feet of his small intestines removed (2 colic surgeries) and seems to love the beet pulp. The surgeon thought he would be "nutritionally compromised" after his second surgery in 2001, but he seems to be doing well. I try to serve it warm in the winter, but some days it is so cold I have to feed very quickly!!!

 

[wildoak]

I feed the shreds daily, year round and dry. I also will feed it soaked on especially cold days/nights, and sometimes soaked in cold water in the summer. Wonderful stuff I believe, incidence of colic here dropped way down when I went to feeding beet pulp.

Jan

 

[Becky]

I feed the shreds year round and dry to my show horses. I was feeding it to my breeding herd as well, but last year when there was a shortage, I quit. It's now doubled in price over last year, so I haven't gone back to feeding it to my breeding herd. If it drops in price, I definitely will.

 

[Joanne]

We feed it for a variety of reasons.

We soak it in warm water using the water from our hot water tank at the bathing rack. We mix in psyllium, cob, and/or alfalfa pellets depending on who it is going to.

Mares after they foal now get this instead of a bran mash for the first few days after they foal.

Any horse low in weight gets beet pulp mashes.

We do not drain the water off.

 

[Sandee]

I feed it year round for hydration (winter and show season) and to have something that I can hide and meds or addivtive in.

 

[chandab]

Thank you for the votes and replies, so far; very interesting, I didn't realize how important beet pulp was to many owner's feed programs. I hadn't really even heard of feeding it til I got into the minis 4 years ago, and I've had my saddle horses for over 20 years (I've always been in charge of their feed program, and hadn't come across anyone feeding beet pulp to their saddle horses, even while boarding).

 

[Stef]

I use pelleted soaked. I have all my horses on beet pulp it really helps with hydration in winter and summer.

 

[RockRiverTiff]

I feed the shreds soaked year round. It's been a great way to safely give our two chronic founder mares some extra calories, and it also makes it easy to ensure the horses get all of their psyllium (because the powder sticks to it instead of falling to the bottom in just the dry pellets). When I've got a horse on a diet, I occasionally add a little bit of dry shreds to their feed to slow them down.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I have used BP all my life with horses, over fifty years now!!

Gosh how time flies when you are enjoying yourself!!

Anyhoo, I now use pellets, merely because they are what I can most easily get, I used to use shreds, I always soak, usually overnight, and in summer I drain the excess water, in winter I incorporate it in the feeds.

I do not feed the mares in summer but the show horses and the stallions and, amazingly as they "lurve" it (!) the new foals as they first start eating.

I do not feed as part of the roughage diet, all my horses get hay as well, but I really do love this feed, it is the best all round additive I have ever found.

 

[Sterling]

In the past I have used beet pulp in shredded form, always soaked. I don't feed it anymore because my one little gelding hates it. He ate it for about a month...grudgingly and then totally turned his nose up at it. I tried to get him to eat it again...but he just went on strike....so I stopped feeding it.

Edited to add - So I thought I could get away with feeding it to him via Triple Crown Senior....he started turning his nose up on that and eating bits and pieces here and there...not a good appetite. A few weeks ago I changed him back to his favorite Omolene 200 and he is a happy camper....licking his little bucket until he can no more.

 

[normajeanbaker]

We feed soaked beetpulp shreds all year. Its great for hydration in the winter. And during show season it allows me to cut down a bit on hay to help with keeping their midsection tighter looking and avoid hay bellies. My horses love it and it has also worked well to sneak in meds in the past

I have tried pelleted in the past, but they prefer the shreds. It has also helped my yearling fill out alot on his top line and also helped our 3 year old gelding put some weight on his top line without having to pump more grain to him(hard keeper...he works and plays hard).

Jen

 

[Boinky]

Sterling.. if your guy was eating it up until fairly recently it may be because the beetpulp wasn't good! there was a post on here a week or two ago about "bad" beet pulp. it was funny because a few days later a good friend in maine said hers were having a problem eating it and that it was "different" than usually it would make a goe when she mixed it up unlike normal and had an odd smell. I showed her the post and Low and behold it had the R on the tag so it was made at the same factory.

That may be your guys problem. sounds like it's a factory that covers a large percentage of the sales nationwide.

 

[Field-of-Dreams]

I feed the shreds year round and dry to my show horses.

Ditto here. Dry mixed in with their feed to the show horses and youngstock. We tried feeding it wet but they wouldn't eat it and then it would sour on us.

Lucy

 

[Margo_C-T]

Year-round here, beginning about 2-3 years ago-though some get a lesser amount in the summer.

Can't get shreds here, so it's pellets; buy from the store whose bag tag DOESN'T include molasses, but some have said that it ALL has molasses, so ???? I don't rinse it. I use warm water to fix it, year round, but lukewarm in summer, hot in winter, because it cools off fast in our winter temps! Feed it in the evening, concentrate in the AM, and of course, hay at each feeding.

I am sold on the benefits of beet pulp. I do feed Triple Crown Senior(alone)to my 28 YO mare; and mixed w/ TC Lite to several of the others...Senior has shredded beet pulp also, but I don't feed a LOT of it, and credit it with helping keep the Old Gal in excellent flesh!

Cost has escalated MIGHTILY here in the past year; last I bought was $18.95/50 lb.; when I began using it, it was @ $8.95/50 lbs.! Still, I believe it is a benefit to the horses in several ways, so will keep using it as I have been.

Margo

 

[Katiean]

I feed shreds always soaked. I feed 1 cup shreds to 2 cups water. It usually soaks all the water up in 15 min. Then I add all the other grain and stuff they get and I mix it all up and plop in it the feed pan. They love it.

 

[Sterling]

Sterling.. if your guy was eating it up until fairly recently it may be because the beetpulp wasn't good! there was a post on here a week or two ago about "bad" beet pulp. it was funny because a few days later a good friend in maine said hers were having a problem eating it and that it was "different" than usually it would make a goe when she mixed it up unlike normal and had an odd smell. I showed her the post and Low and behold it had the R on the tag so it was made at the same factory. That may be your guys problem. sounds like it's a factory that covers a large percentage of the sales nationwide.

Hi Boinky,...actually this happened a couple of years ago. This one little guy is somewhat of a picky eater I've found out, unlike many of the horses I've had. If I have a picky eater usually after a few days they will fall into the groove and pick up where they left off, but this one little guy will actually go off feed if he does'nt like it...same with the hay. My other horses ate the beet pulp...same bag no problem. But since Junior was so adamant about not eating it...I stopped feeding it in that form and thought I could tempt him with in in Triple Crown. That did'nt work either...

I tried it another time after his snubs...and nothing doing, he wanted no part of it. Thanks for that info about the bad beet pulp too...I'll let my friends around here know just in case they've run into problems.