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Barnyard Buddies:  Beet pulp for horse and donkeys??  |
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Luzy
True Blue Farmgirl
922 Posts
Luanne
Pueblo
Colorado
USA
922 Posts |
 Posted - Mar 23 2013 : 12:28:23 PM
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Howdy, I have a mini horse, 2 mini donkeys and a old grandpa, standard donkey. Just wondering if they can have beet pulp and how to feed them? I'm looking for something to add to their hay that's not too expensive, but still good for them. Feed prices are just awful, as I'm sure you all know. A guy at the Big R store told me that some people are buying straw and adding molasses to feed their cows. Just breaks my heart! Anyhoo, if anyone knows anything about beet pulp, please let me know. Thanks, Lu
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May I always be the kind of person my dog thinks I am.
http://luzy.etsy.com- My etsy store! |
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queenmushroom
True Blue Farmgirl
985 Posts
Lorena
Centerville
Me
USA
985 Posts |
Posted - Mar 23 2013 : 2:32:02 PM
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Becareful of beet pulp. Minis can easily founder. If you have standard size mules /donkeys you can feed beet pulp. Not if you have pasture pets, you can get away with feeding only a little bit. If you'really working them then you'll have to feed more.you can always supplement with forge feed or hay stretcher. Just make sure that you feed accordingly.
Patience is worth a bushel of brains...from a chinese fortune cookie |
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crittergranny
True Blue Farmgirl
1096 Posts
Laura
Lindrith
NM
USA
1096 Posts |
Posted - Mar 23 2013 : 5:22:45 PM
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We feed 7 cups of beet pulp and 7 cups of alfalfa pellets to each of our 18 horses twice a day. SOAKED NEVER DRY. If beet pulp is fed to horses dry it can swell up in their gut and kill them and if alfalfa pellets are fed to them dry it can cause choke. We soak the mixture about 6 hours. It has been a Godsend to us. It is more uniform in consistency so we don't have to worry about getting crummy hay or fluctuating prices. It saves us about $1000 a month than if we fed hay. We do also give each of them a flake of alfalfa hay every other evening because they need to chew and because we get a LOT of sub zero weather in the winter. Our horses are fed together out of an old stock tank about 5 together. The beet pulp is high in fat and is a pretty complete food and the alfalfa provides protein and calcium. About half of our horses are average pretty easy keepers and the other half are high powered racehorses and we also live in a very cold harsh climate. And some are also pregnant, growing or nursing babies. What I'm saying is you need to take it all into account. A racehorse eats about 1/3 more than a regular horse and I have been told by mini breeders that a regular horse eats about 5x what a mini eats. Full sized horses eat more if the weather is cold. I dont mean 30 degrees cold I mean below 0 cold. And not much more. Also if you switch your stock over you will want to do it gradually over a period of about 2 weeks. Decreasing what you feed and increasing the mixture a little more each day. My daughters feed some horses for some other people and they have 2 minis. They feed their minis 5 cups of safechoice and a flake of grass hay once a day so they don't get too fat. One of the minis was foundered from a previous owner. Too much of any feed can harm a mini. Even too much pasture grass. And high protein from the alfalfa and high fat from the beet pulp may very well set them up for founder.
Laura
Horse poor in the boonies.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/CrittergrannysLair
www.creamofthecroptrailrides.webs.com |
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Calico Hen
True Blue Farmgirl
146 Posts
Meg
Middle Tennessee
USA
146 Posts |
Posted - Mar 25 2013 : 08:56:21 AM
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| We are planting mangels and sugar beets this summer to help with the winter feed bill for our Dexter cows. Any words of caution in feeding those? |
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Luzy
True Blue Farmgirl
922 Posts
Luanne
Pueblo
Colorado
USA
922 Posts |
Posted - Mar 25 2013 : 09:34:49 AM
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Thanks for the info! I really appreciate it. This is all so tricky, trying to not upset their digestive systems and still give them feed that's good for them and at the same time help out with this ever growing feed bill. After reading your answers, I've decided not to go the beet pulp route. I just don't want to chance it. Thanks again! Lu
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May I always be the kind of person my dog thinks I am.
http://luzy.etsy.com- My etsy store! |
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AliciaNak
True Blue Farmgirl
405 Posts
Alicia
Elko
Nevada
USA
405 Posts |
Posted - Mar 28 2013 : 10:56:46 AM
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I feed soaked beet pulp to my dairy cows with their grain ration at milking and upon reading about crittergranny feeding it to her horses decided to add some for my 3.
They don't like it! They were wasting more than they were eating (even mixed with safe choice and alfalfa cubes). Eventually they nibbled most of it, but I was finding too much thrown out of the feeder to get to the "good stuff".
Alicia
Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.~Ralph Waldo Emmerson
www.blondenak.blogspot.com
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crittergranny
True Blue Farmgirl
1096 Posts
Laura
Lindrith
NM
USA
1096 Posts |
Posted - Mar 28 2013 : 12:12:43 PM
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Some horses dont like it at first because it is bland. I have mixed it with a little sweet feed at first. I had one mare that wasn't too interested for quite some time but she loves it now. She is coming 26 yrs old now and I started her on it about 3 yrs ago. I think she was pretty set in her ways..lol. I gave her half sweet feed and half beet pulp and a full ration of hay for one entire winter. She gets beet pulp and alfalfa pellets like the others now, but I do throw in a scoop of senior pellets. She is a very big massive mare, and is pretty much on her last leg. She doesnt keep weight on very easy any more. I give her extra alfalfa hay and blanket her too. This winter was very hard on us all. We had about a month straight where it never even into the teens during the day...ugh. We were so happy when the daytime temps finally reached a balmy 16.
Laura
Horse poor in the boonies.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/CrittergrannysLair
www.creamofthecroptrailrides.webs.com |
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Barnyard Buddies: Beet pulp for horse and donkeys?? |
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Beet pulp for horse and donkeys??
