Question on beet pulp

[jake&kiwi'smom]

Does anyone feed beet pulp to their horses??? Or can you explaine to me about it please and thank you? Like the pros and cons

 

[stephwin]

The only time I've seen it fed around here was to older horses who had lost teeth and couldn't eat grain, or for horses that had issues keeping weight on. You have to be careful and make sure it is hydrated enough otherwise it can be a choking hazard. I would ask your vet before switching over to it. I don't think it's recommended for really young horses or horses with some diseases (like Cushing's) due to the sugar content.

 

[SallyQZ]

I've fed beet pulp in the past. If you buy the shredded beet pulp, there is no need to soak it first. People used to think that if a horse ate dry beet pulp, it would expand in the horse's stomach and cause colic/death/etc. This isn't entirely true, and it depends on how much beet pulp you are feeding. But, just to be on the safe side, I only ever fed shredded beet pulp, and not very much (one typical feed scoop in the morning, and one at night). Back in the day, we'd soak the beet pulp in a giant bucket and keep adding water until it was mush. My skinny TB would eat it wet, but it made such a mess and was always full of flies and bugs - blecch!

I was feeding it to my elderly horse because he was looking ribby and he wouldn't eat large amounts of hay. It did put the weight on very quickly, but he lost interest in the taste just as quickly.

What I'm feeding now is a mixture of Ultium (simply because my gelding likes the taste - it's a high performance feed, which he doesn't need but my other horse needs that level of nutrition) and stablized rice bran pellets. The rice bran pellets do the same thing as beet pulp, but are much safer with regard to choking, etc. The horses seem to like them too - I've never had a horse that refuses to eat them.

Stephanie is right re: sugar content. My friend's horse was insulin resistant (pre-Cushings) and she was getting beet pulp before she was diagnosed as IR. She ended up foundering before my friend's vet made the diagnosis.

Why would you be feeding beet pulp? To put on weight? To replace the amount of hay fed? There are a variety of situations where horses get beet pulp - one barn I was at fed all the horses beet pulp, whether the owners liked it or not.

 

[jake&kiwi'smom]

Yes to keep weight on and save on hay. He is kinda a hard keeper...

 

[Yoshi]

We fed beetpulp during a drought to stretch out hay. With the high fiber content you can replace up to 30% of the hay but not all of it because they still need long stem fiber.

Beet pulp being high in sugar is a myth. Straight beet pulp has a pretty low sugar content since it is what left after they process sugar beets for the sugar. The sugar removal process is quite efficient and that is why what is left is mostly fiber. The problem is some companies add sugar and molasses back in thinking that is what is needed to get horses to eat it. That is when it is bad for IR horses.

Veterinary Care by All Creatures Animal Hospital, Montclair, San Bernardino County, California with Dr. Susan E. Garlinghouse / Home

Scroll down to the article called "The myths and realities of beet pulp" An excellent read for any horse owner considering beet pulp. Also might want to check out the squirrel story also linked on there - its hilarious.

 

[Welshanne]

We are feeding our 44yr old palamino with it at the moment. She has no teeth left but we feed her on soaked beet pulp three feeds a day and it is keeping her healthy and young looking.
It has to be soaked for awhile so we prepare it the night before to make sure it is well soaked and does not have the chance to swell up inside her then. We mix a nutritional mix of horse food in with it and it keeps her well fed and covered.
Will give a younger horse a lot more energy but would have to watch the weight and also feet for the start of laminitis should you overfeed on anything. Good luck.