Beet Pulp? With molassas. (SP)?

Hello.


I just bought some beet pulp for my skinnier than normal horse. I have heard through several people and on here it is a good thing to use to add some weight on your horse.


How much should I give him? He isnt really skinny, but you can see his ribs. I would say he is 1100 lbs. He is 15.3 hands if that helps. He fattens up using sweet feed, but as I am sure you all know sweet feed tends to make them a little uncontrollable sometimes.


What should I mix it with? I still have three bags of sweet feed and some cracked corn.(I have never fed my horses cracked corn, so is it ok to give them?


Please let me know your suggestions. I need to get him fattened up before winter comes and honestly he could be so much prettier if he had weight.





I am attaching a picture of him so you can see how skinny he is. Maybe it will give you a better idea on how much to give him.


http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z176/...


http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z176/...

Beet Pulp? With molassas. (SP)?
He is underweight, and it'll probably get worse with the winter. Is he a Thoroughbred and do you live in a climate with cold winters?





I'd give him a 10 or 12% protein grain. I like Country Acres, or something like it. It has a nice mixture of pellets. Three cups of that, and two cups of soaked beet pulp - both twice a day. I'd try that for a few weeks.





Mazola oil is good for weight gain also. About an ounce a day. Also, you might want to look into BOSS. (Black Oil Sunflower Seeds)





Does he get free choice hay? My horses get unlimited alfalfa mix hay. He wouldn't be able to tolerate straight alfalfa, though, so make sure it's mixed if you give it to him.





And of course, I'm sure your vet would have great ideas too. Next time she's out, ask her! Hope I helped.
Reply:for one dont feed them cracked corn! for 2 with the beet pulp give him 6 quarts of it and mix with it 4 pints of sweet feed and mix with some senior feed about 6 pints and mix im pretty sure if he is not a picky eater he will eat it email me and i will tell u more. Ps with the scoopes u can get them in pints and that will help but u have to soak the beet pulp in water over night
Reply:Beet pulp is a good source of fiber and it will not make a horse hot. They can have lots of it. But you need to to soak it in warm water first before feeding it.


Put about half a feed scoop in with warm water let it soak and then feed him that you can top dress it with some sweet feed. Some horses do not like beet pulp and will not eat it very well. Some do not care for the wet feed. i have one that we feed about two cups top dressed dry over her grain. We use a pelleted grain and put the beet pulp over that.


To add weight you can also feed stabalized rice bran or liquid oil. You start samll and ork up to about one cup per feeding with theliquid oils and with the rice bran read the bag.


The rice bran and oil add fat to the diet and fat will not make the horse hot or hyper but adds calories to their diet.


They also make a few suppliments like Weight builder and things like that.


Good luck with him. He is a pretty horse, I love bays.
Reply:we feed beet pulp too. we give them about 1/2 of a coffee can of soaked beet pulp. make sure you soak it because when the horses eat it the moisture in their stomach can cause the beet pulp to expand in their stomachs, which is bad. Go ahead and feed the cracked corn too. 1 pint should be good for your horse but call your vet and see what they have to say:)


i hope this was helpful
Reply:Your horse needs good qualiy protein to build muscle. If you can get a good quality probiotic a few doses of that will also help ensure his gut function is good so he can process his feed properly. I assume you know his teeth are ok. (Giving him a big willow branch to chew on helps with floating the teeth and also stops them chewing fence posts.)


Too much protein is not good - but you need a balance of it in feeds for muscle building. What you DON'T want too much of is carbohydrate or fat - and sugar is a carbo.


I never feed anything with added sugar; feeds with molasses added disguise the taste of the things in it - either food they wouldn't normally eat or moulds on the grain.You are best to make up your own - it works out cheaper as well.


I use shredded beet pulp (which has no molasses), straight oats and lucerne chaff (alfalfa hay chopped) and intermittently I'll add some ground linseed, sunflower seeds and succulents.


For my big horses in winter (these are all resting thoroughbreds or TB crosses) I give 250 grammes of oats, handful of sugar beet (measured dry), 100g flaxseed and 50g seeds and a big handful of chaff. In Spring and autumn when we get a flush of grass I halve that amount and if they're getting too fat I cut it out completely. None of them is ever rugged; they have access to field shelters and although I like them to drop off a little in winter as its natural for them to do that, I never have a problem keeping condition on them.


I feed meadow hay pretty much so they always have some if they want it even when the grass is growing (it provides bulk and they'll always eat it as well as the sweet grass) and they graze brome, cocksfoot, timothy, rye mix pastures.


Small feeds, fed often are always better than one big feed - if you can manage it.


Generally I avoid mixing supplements into their feeds as greed sometimes overcomes their natural tendency to be cautious about what they're eating.


If you need to feed supplements, get a good mix (not one with salt or anything palatable in it) and let him decide what he wants. Always let him have access to a plain salt lick.


If you board with other people, see if you can get them to work the same way and share the costs and the work.


Hope this helps.


PS. I'm sure you know but make sure you soak sugar beet thoroughly; the product I use says it needs 10 minutes only but I always leave it for an hour at least; the normal stuff should always be soaked overnight.


BUT - remember, the horse's staple diet is grass so there's no substitute for good hay and Dr Green.
Reply:I would start with a 3 lb coffee can, plus add water to soak it. But, if you have a problem with him getting hot on sweet feed, you might look into Purina Ultium if it's available in your area. It's formulated to provide energy without making the horse hot, designed for endurance horses. It's pretty high calorie. I've used it on some of my harder keepers, and I really liked the results I got.
Reply:He is definatley not an ideal weight by the looks of things but thats ok, he certainly doesnt look ill by any means.





My suggestion, give him about a cup of soaked beatpulp in the AM and a cup in the PM (a cup might not seem like alot, but beatpulp expands like crazy). Dry beatpulp has been known to cause choking and you certainly dont want that. I would also add in about 1/3 - 1/2 cup of oil with it, and about 1 1/2 cups of a 12% feed and just a handful of sweet feed to make his tastebuds happy (and so you dont waste it if you already have it there). See how this treats him, and go from there if you dont see weight within about a month, up his beatpulp slowly. This might be plenty for them. Just keep a close eye on his weight and you'll eventually find a happy median with his diet.





As far as hay goes, I would amost consider getting a round bale (of good quality, preferably a timothy blend for weight maintenance) for the winter season. If it doesnt get cold, throwing out flakes is fine, and in my opinion unless you'[re riding alot and competitive, alfalfa isnt necessary for weight maintenance. Alfalfa, if good quality can sometimes give them the runs and doesnt always digest well with them, it can be very VERY rich and sometimes doesnt provide them with the adequate nutrition, I know my TB gelding doesnt get alfalfa due to its high energy content and it giving him bad runs. It also makes him a little hott. The best for nutrition and weight maintenance I find, over the winter is a Timothy blend. Preferably, a round bale (again, of good quality hay) and let him go to town on that plus his grain 2X a day. Hard weight keepers can definatley be a challange.





Good Luck! :)
Reply:if you are going to use beet pulp as the main diet staple (not counting hay and grass) you need to feed oats along with it. otherwise you can knock their calcium/ phosphorus ratio out of balance. 3/4 beet pulp: 1/4 oats is a good ratio.