Beet Pulp

[njfarmer]

So I have a question for yall in reguards to beet pulp. I am feeding beetpulp as part of a twice daily grain ration on an underweight belgian mare we rescued. My question is how much are folks soaking there beet pulp? Its a pelleted form with no added molassas. Currently i soak 1 lb in three solo plastic cups worth of warm water. This causes the pellets to expand greatly. Along with the bp she gets 1 lb hay pellets, 2 lbs purina senior grain (recommended by my vet to add weight) and 1 cup oil. She gets this twice a day along with half a bale good quality hay twice daily. Any thoughts?

[Big Horses]

We cover ours with hot water (pelleted, not shaved beet pulp) by about 2″… That’s using 4 cups of beet pulp in a 5 gallon bucket. Makes enough to provide about 27 cups of soaked pulp total. It’ll soak up alot of water, and I always figured I’d rather have a bit too much water than not enough.
John

[Jay]

We have used beet pulp to help weight gain as you are doing – we always make sure there is plenty of water. You don’t want the pulp to be trying to take on any more water from the horse – that can lead to “choke” the feed plugging up the throat and that’s no fun for anyone. As long as we add enough water, we’ve had no trouble and are happy with it. Jay

[Ellen Anderson]

I always soak beet pulp. If you do it with most beet pulp you will see how dirty it is and you will probably want to rinse it. I now buy
organic, GMO-free beet pulp called “Speedi-Beet” because I also soak and feet it to my dairy goats. It is very clean.
My belgian cross mare is an easy keeper and she doesn’t get it in the summer. In the winter I give her about 4 cups each night in
about 2.5 gallons of warm water with chopped carrots, apples, one cup of carb-safe complete and a scoop of Focus Hoof. She really
loves that on a cold winter night!
Speedi-Beet is super expensive. I wish we produced something like that in the US. This is being imported from England, I think!

[near horse]

@Ellen Anderson 32030 wrote:

organic, GMO-free beet pulp called “Speedi-Beet” ….. Speedi-Beet is super expensive. I wish we produced something like that in the US. This is being imported from England, I think!

Thank Monsanto for that one.

[goodcompanion]

I am actually doing a gmo-free sugar beet trial this year for small-scale sugar manufacture. You can read the grant description here:

http://www.nesare.org/Grants/Get-a-Grant/Farmer-Grant/Farmer-Grant-Examples/2011-Farmer-Grants/From-seed-to-sugar-A-vertically-integrated-model-for-small-scale-turbinado-sugar-production

I was to do it last year but the seedlings washed out. Now going to try again in 2012. I am curious about the market for the likes of “speedi-beet.” Ellen, maybe you can tell me what you pay for it, or maybe even who carries it and how popular of a product it is?

Sugar beets yield usually 15 tons to the acre and up. About 10 % of that weight is dry beet pulp, a by-product of making sugar or alcohol. I have no idea what it’s worth. One Vermont feed mill offered to pay me $250 per ton for dry certified organic pulp, but maybe a farmer could get a lot better selling direct.

[njfarmer]

I was wondering if loose stool can be a side effect of all the water the beet pulp absorbs. My belgian mare doesnt have diarrhea but the stool most of the time appears loose in soft. But generally formed. I am also feeding vegetable oil and have heard this could be causing it too.

[mink]

eric in the mother earth news magazine this month it says mangel beets can grow anywhere from 5 to 20 pounds each…..thats an awesome beet.

[Author]

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