alpha-beet

[cobface]

Looking into feeding alpha-beet for weight gain for a very poor doer, shes a TB rising 5 and is impossible to mantain a good weight. Shes currently in from 4pm till 930 am and has ad lib good quality hay and is fed twice per day and per feed has: 1 lg scoop hifi, 1 lrge scoop speedibeet and 1 lrg scoop barley rings.
She is turned out in the day and goes out with half bale of hay which she shares with 2 ponies (the ponies are a very healthy weight) seperating her off from them is not an option as is keeping her in all day as she goes loopy.
She is exercised 4/5 times per week and does mainly hacking.

Does anyone feed alpha beet? do you find it better than speedi beet for weight gain?
And most importantly will it hype my mare up as alfa-a does!

 

[TGM]

Alfabeet contains 10.5 MJDE/kg so doesn't contain as many calories as Speedibeet which is 12.4 MJDE/kg, so if you swapped to Alfabeet you would need to feed more of it to get the same weight gain effect. Whether she would hype up on it depends whether she was reacting to the alfalfa in the Alfa A. If you were feeding Alfa A Original then it is molassed so she could have been reacting to the molasses. Alfabeet is not molassed.

I would definitely consider swapping the Hifi though as it is a low calorie chaff. Highest calorie chaff I have found is Alfa A Oil which has 12.5 MJDE/kg, and is unmolassed. However, if you don't want to risk a pure alfalfa chaff then you could consider Spiller's Conditioning Fibre which is 11 MJDE/kg.

You could also think about either swapping to haylage at night, or giving a slice or two of small bale haylage alongside her hay. Another option is a big tub of a grass chaff (such as Readigrass) or soaked grass nuts overnight.

 

[cobface]

Thanks for your reply

I have had a look at the alfa-a website and feeding guide lines and it recommends alfa-a oil, which maybe okay in smaller amounts - i made a huge mistake by putting my trust in someone who advised me to feed alfa-a as a hay replacer so she was eating a huge tub of it every night for 3 nights and she was nuts!! so going on that do you think if i just fed a scoop of the alfa a oil per feed she wouldnt turn into a nutter again??
And maybe keep to the speedi beat and the barley rings as usual??

 

[TGM]

There are no guarantees with feeding horses as they are all individuals, but the chances are that a scoop of Alfa A Oil is far less likely to send your horse loopy than a whole tub of Alfa A Original, firstly because the Original version is molassed and secondly because of the large quantity you were giving! You are already feeding some alfalfa because it is present in the Hi Fi, albeit mixed in with chopped straw.

To be honest, most horses are more likely to go loopy on barley rings than they are on alfalfa products!

 

[cobface]

Just spoken to dengie feeds and they have recommended a feeding plan:
PER FEED - MORNING
1 lrg scoop alfa-a oil
1 lrg scoop speedi beet
1 lrg scoop conditioning cubes

1 scoop of yeast supplement - yea-sacc

EVENING
1 lrg scoop alfa-a oil
1 lrg scoop speedi beet
1 lrg scoop conditioning cubes

She is having her teeth done tomorrow, so fingers crossed!

 

[cobface]

[ QUOTE ]


To be honest, most horses are more likely to go loopy on barley rings than they are on alfalfa products!

[/ QUOTE ]

They told me to cut the rings completely

 

[lastphoenix]

I use alpha-beet and alfa oil chaff with conditioning cubes for my TB, I cant use sugar beet as not only does he get fizzy but he cant have a high sugar diet because he colics.
My TB has come out of this winter looking the best he ever has out of any other winter

i would also recommend pink powder to anyone for condition and helping to keep your horses gut healthy so he can make the most of the food/nutrients he's gettin

 

[maxapple]

I feed my pony alfa beet. Its fantastic for weight gain / maintaining weight, and doesn;t fizz him up at all (he's an arab x so prone to it)