Explain Sugarbeet to me

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Morgan123

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Sorry if this is a really stupid question. My elderly mare has only six teeth so chewing is obviously not very easy for her. Like many people on here I'm getting a bit worried about her weight going into winter as the grass isn't amazing right now. At the moment, she gets speedi-beet and a high-fibre coarse mix, and that's it - then in winter, I come up with some sort of plan usually involving fibre nuts, normal sugar beet, oil etc.

Obviously with the lack of teeth, feeding chaff isn't an option so I've usually been using the speedi-beet as the roughage/fibre portion of her feed - then if i swap to proper molassed sugar beet in winter i feed fibre cubes instead. Is that right, though? Or if she was on her usual hihg-fibre coarse mix is it OK to feed molassed sugar beet?? I assume the difference between that and speedi-beet is simply that normal sugar beet contains sugar and molasses while speedibeet doesn't? Which would mean that the levels of fibre would be the same and therefore ok to feed alongside mixes etc....?

Any thoughts appreciated.
 
She probably finds the mmix quite hard to chew, have you thought bout just feeding soaked fibre nuts? You can do them with hot water in winter so its warming for her too!
You can also get alfa nuts from dengie with again you can soak, they always smell lovely but they are too bitter for my girl :(
 
I've got an older horse and was just looking at him today thinking about increasing his feed as the longer nights approach.
If I were you I would be ringing round various feed companies for advice - they are all very helpful even if you don't use their feeds.
Things you might like to look at if you are looking to keep her weight up in the winter and need something easy to eat/digest are micronised linseed and straight grass pellets. Vegetable oil (I use supermarket veg oil)is also very good, most horse will take to it if you start on a small amount and it adds valuable calories. I assume she is otherwise well and that she gets her precious 6 teeth looked at regularly.
 
I would stick to the unmolassed sugar beet I think its better for them, I agree that the soaked fibre nuts will be easier to eat for her, how about adding some micronised linseed or grass nuts they are fed soaked.
 
Thank you - yes the mix is soaked prior to feeding and I had planned to add in the linseed and oil later - but what about the amount of fibre and roughage in the molassed sugar beet, does anyone know the answer to that?
 
you could use alpha beet ,its easier to get the amounts right and you can give a huge tubtrug full if you needed to replace hay because of lacking teeth
 
thank you - but what I don't understand is this thing about the amount of fibre she's getting from these different types of sugarbeets and whether each type (especially molassed sugar beet as nobody seems to know the answer) are an acceptable alternative to chaff therefore?I know it's ok if it's unmolassed but as I want to give her the max number of calories I can, if molassed sugar beet IS ok in terms of being relatively balanced and fibre-y, then that would be preferable as much more calorific....

Unfortunately she won't be stabled so leaving her with a large feed instead of hay isn't an option - she does fine, I just want to make sure I'm doing the best by her so am interested in the answer to this sugar beet question.
 
As far as I understand it, molassed sugar beet has no more fibre than unmolassed. Molassed is basically the equivalent of giving your horse a mars bar in a feed, it's def more calories, but it's really quite bad for them. If you are looking for extra fibre, high fibre cubes go to a nice mush.

I've fed this stuff http://www.stanceequine.co.uk/uk/product-coolstance-copra alongside dengie alphabeet over the winter for extra energy for the horse, it's great stuff for horses with compromised teeth.
 
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Beet is high in pectin a highly digestible fibre/energy source. It is also high in calcium I believe so I would get some independent advice about feeding a balanced diet.

I would use un molassed beets or soak and rinse sugars out of molassed myself.
 
sarahann1 said:
As far as I understand it, molassed sugar beet has no more fibre than unmolassed. Molassed is basically the equivalent of giving your horse a mars bar in a feed, it's def more calories, but it's really quite bad for them. If you are looking for extra fibre, high fibre cubes go to a nice mush.

I've fed this stuff http://www.stanceequine.co.uk/uk/product-coolstance-copra alongside dengie alphabeet over the winter for extra energy for the horse, it's great stuff for horses with compromised teeth.
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Mollassed Sugar beet is still only 5% Sugar. It is NOT like feeding a Mars Bar to your horse. To answer the original question, Speedibeet and normal sugar beet will have a comparable fibre profile. Good advice given to contact the feed companies. There are feeds available for veterans that soak quickly to form a mash, are fully balanced, high fibre (with fibre included from beet pulp) and in my experience are far better than mixing and matching lots of different products. Good luck with your mare x
 
The only difference between mollassed and unmollassed sugar beet is that mollassed has had mollasses added back after all of the sugar has been extracted from the beet.

Speedibeet is micronised then extruded to make it a fast soak rather than a 12hour soak.

For the benefit of the feet, feeding unmollassed sugar beet is better, and add micronised linseed for weight gain.
 
debbien said:
Mollassed Sugar beet is still only 5% Sugar. It is NOT like feeding a Mars Bar to your horse. To answer the original question, Speedibeet and normal sugar beet will have a comparable fibre profile. Good advice given to contact the feed companies. There are feeds available for veterans that soak quickly to form a mash, are fully balanced, high fibre (with fibre included from beet pulp) and in my experience are far better than mixing and matching lots of different products. Good luck with your mare x
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All the common brands of molassed sugar beet I'm aware of are about 20% sugar (things like Supabeet etc) whilst Speedibeet is only 5% sugar. Supabeet has a calorie count of 12.5 MJDE/kg whilst Speedibeet is actually very similar at 12.4 MJDE/kg. Personally I would stick to Speedibeet as similar calorie levels but much lower sugar. Many veterans are in the early stages of Undiagnosed Cushings so wise to limit sugar consumption if you can to lower risk of laminitis. This is particularly important if you are feeding high levels of beet to maintain fibre consumption.
 
My advice would be to contact the veteran horse society - they were brilliant to a friend of mine; giving her allsorts of feeding advice for a thin oldie. She had to feed hay substitues to her mare and they had good suggestions and the mare gained weight.
 
I have an interesting book called the Nutrition Bible by Ruth Bishop. One chapter on 'feeding myths' discusses sugar in the equine diet - bascially more sugar in spring and summer grass than in molassed s/b. The s/b I buy in France is not molassed and as it is the by-product of sugar production i.e. the sugar has already been taken out, it is imo a good addition to the feed.

I never feed dry mix and chaff, it is always wetted anyway.

Here is what my book says about s/b, energy per kilo compares with oats, barley. Protein 9-11%, Calcium 6%. Again protein levels equivalent to oats and barley.
 
Thanks all! Great help. That's really good to know about the veteran horse society thank you!

I trawled through the feed websites trying to extract the actual information from the marketing for certain feeds, and seems that actually the amount of sugar in molasses sugar beet isn't that much especially when taking into account that most of what you actually feed is water not food anyway. So I think I might stick with normal sugar beet for the extra calories since haven't seen an argument against that (though am tempted by alfabeet but need to understand why tHe alfalfa is a good next step) and then up the mix and fibre cubes, adding linseed when it gets colder. Thanks all!
 
Hmmm just re read your response Tgm - interesting about the actual levels of Calories v sugar. She's never been lami and isn't looking like she's on the brink of cushings but I guess I should still be thinking about that.... Hmmm. Thank you!
 
debbien said:
Mollassed Sugar beet is still only 5% Sugar. It is NOT like feeding a Mars Bar to your horse. To answer the original question, Speedibeet and normal sugar beet will have a comparable fibre profile. Good advice given to contact the feed companies. There are feeds available for veterans that soak quickly to form a mash, are fully balanced, high fibre (with fibre included from beet pulp) and in my experience are far better than mixing and matching lots of different products. Good luck with your mare x
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Molassed sugar beet from Trident is 19% sugar http://www.tridentfeeds.co.uk/uploa...sed sugar beet feed for horses and ponies.pdf

From GP feeds, it's 23% http://www.gpfeeds.co.uk/analysis/beetpulp.htm

From KW it's 20% http://www.kwalternativefeeds.co.uk/products/view-products/molassed-sugar-beet-nuts/

I stand by my comparison.
 
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i worked on a yard with 6 horses overt he age of 33yrs, one could not eat hay or chaff, he used to get very excited about a hay netof hay and if he grabbed some he would chew for ages then spit it out.

he was fed soaked grass nuts with his mix quota mixed in to it-he had 2.5 stubbs scoops of grass nuts a night (measured when dry) which was soaked for 6-8hrs, he also had 2 stubbs scoops of speedi beet (dry measure) per night. he was a 38yr old 16.1 TB-he could manage grass fine and he was always on a field with plenty of grass and always had at least 8hrs turn out in winter and 20hrs in summer. if he ever ate everything over night the next day he would get and extra half scoop. he looked really well till the last month then he went down hill fast it turned out he had cancer-he lived on this diet for 9yrs.

the other were all on hay and veteran nuts/mix.
 
twiggy2 said:
i worked on a yard with 6 horses overt he age of 33yrs, one could not eat hay or chaff, he used to get very excited about a hay netof hay and if he grabbed some he would chew for ages then spit it out.

he was fed soaked grass nuts with his mix quota mixed in to it-he had 2.5 stubbs scoops of grass nuts a night (measured when dry) which was soaked for 6-8hrs, he also had 2 stubbs scoops of speedi beet (dry measure) per night. he was a 38yr old 16.1 TB-he could manage grass fine and he was always on a field with plenty of grass and always had at least 8hrs turn out in winter and 20hrs in summer. if he ever ate everything over night the next day he would get and extra half scoop. he looked really well till the last month then he went down hill fast it turned out he had cancer-he lived on this diet for 9yrs.

the other were all on hay and veteran nuts/mix.
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I would agree that grass nuts (which you soak ) would be what I would look at. My 8 year old has Simple Systems Blue Bag grass nuts which are the summer value equivalent. He gets choke, so soaked feed is the way forward for him, and alfalfa makes him very over the top.
 
Bless her, 6 teeth! I would agree with Casey 76 and TGM in that you'd be better adding calories with oil or micronised linseed rather than sugar. It's safer for veterans due to the IR/Cushings/EMS risk. I hope you work something out for her, there's just something so touching about oldies with no teeth!
 
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