Poppys Nannan
Well-Known Member
As in title - which do you prefer and why if possible 
fast fibre v speedibeet
- Thread starter Poppys Nannan
- Start date
Holly Hocks
Well-Known Member
Neither of my horses will eat Fast Fibre - even my barefoot trimmer likened it to us eating salad all the time! Mine will eat Speedibeet but only in small quantities. So although I like the nutritional value of Fast Fibre, there is no chance of my horses eating it!
StormyMoments
Well-Known Member
fast fibre as it soaks quicker then speedibeet
Lotty
Well-Known Member
My speedibeet is nearly finish, probably about a month left. I may swap over to fast fibre only because it seems better for good doers.
lara b
Well-Known Member
Fast fibre proving very popular having just introduced it to feed!
Tinypony
Well-Known Member
Mine love Fast Fibre, they hoover it up with great enthusiasm. Maybe they like salad...
little_critter
Well-Known Member
I've never fed Speedibeet but I feed Fast Fibre - I like the fact that in the summer when they don't need much feed the Fast Fibre is a complete feed.
Soaks quickly and I'm thinking of making it up with warm water when it turns really cold.
Soaks quickly and I'm thinking of making it up with warm water when it turns really cold.
majors
Well-Known Member
Never tried speedibeet, but my two luv the fast fibre. To be fair the connie cross will eat anything, but the ginger one can be fussy but he eats it all up.
sparkeypony
Member
Hi love the fast fibre - used last winter as hay replacer and it cost way less then the nearly £6 a bale for hay did half amd half. Both my horses love it and i do use warm water in the really cold spells. Fab stuff wouldn't go back to beet again.
Daytona
Well-Known Member
I spoke to the company that makes it and they told me it's ment to be used as a hay replacement for older horses, so I don't think you can compare it to speedy beet. They said it was not suitable to be used as a feed for my 4 year old WB, who I was looking for something to help keep weight on over the winter. It's for old horses to be fed in large amounts, they said a bag last 4 - 5 days, you make it up in large buckets and put it in as you would hay.
PooJay
Well-Known Member
not really comparable, i've fed both. She likes both....not had any problems with either.
BeckyCandy
Well-Known Member
I feed my babies a bit off both with some fibergy chaff and a feed balancer from feedmark. But they get plenty of hay as well. It's to bulk up there feeds without putting on lots of weight I also don't want to feed sugary and starchy feeds so the fast fibre is perfect.
TGM
Well-Known Member
Depends what you are feeding it for! If you are feeding for weight gain then Speedibeet is significantly more calorific than Fast Fibre, with 12.5 MJDE/kg compared to FF's 8 MJDE/kg. So to get the same amount of calories as in 1kg of Speedibeet, you would have to feed just over 1.5kg of Fast Fibre (both measured dry weight).
Another difference is that Fast Fibre is supplemented with vitamins and minerals whereas Speedibeet isn't.
One advantage of Fast Fibre is because it is low calorie and bulks up well when soaked it can make a greedy horse feel it is getting a 'proper meal' without it getting too many calories and therefore getting too fat!
Another difference is that Fast Fibre is supplemented with vitamins and minerals whereas Speedibeet isn't.
One advantage of Fast Fibre is because it is low calorie and bulks up well when soaked it can make a greedy horse feel it is getting a 'proper meal' without it getting too many calories and therefore getting too fat!
Monkers
Well-Known Member
Fast fibre is barley, mollasses and alfalfa free...... so what is actually in it? Is it just grass fibre?
TGM
Well-Known Member
From the Fast Fibre leaflet, the ingredients are:
Cereal Straw
Oat fibre
Unmolassed sugar beet
Grass
Linseed
Limestone flour
Soya oil
Salt
Vitamins and minerals
Mint
Yeast
Fenugreek
Garlic
Cereal Straw
Oat fibre
Unmolassed sugar beet
Grass
Linseed
Limestone flour
Soya oil
Salt
Vitamins and minerals
Mint
Yeast
Fenugreek
Garlic
cm2581
Well-Known Member
Hi love the fast fibre - used last winter as hay replacer and it cost way less then the nearly £6 a bale for hay did half amd half. Both my horses love it and i do use warm water in the really cold spells. Fab stuff wouldn't go back to beet again.
Eh Fast Fibre is £10ish a bag here!! So def not cheaper than hay!!!
sparkeypony
Member
Hi, between my two ponies lasted nearly 2 weeks and only used 4 bales of hay so overall it came out cheaper for the winter months when they were only out 4 hours a day (bout £4 a month) and that's an extra lesson. Both mine are very very good doers so nets are tripled and suspended from the ceiling.
TGM
Well-Known Member
I still don't really see how that shows that Fast Fibre works out cheaper than hay? Unless you are buying it much cheaper than the rest of us!
dilbert
Well-Known Member
I used to feed fast fibre but didnt really want all of the extras. I now feeding speedibeet (think its lower starch too) but I miss how quickly the FF soaks
TigerTail
Well-Known Member
Why are you all talking about ''bulking'' out feeds so they feel they are getting a ''proper meal'' ?!?
Horses arent humans! They dont get meals in the way we do! They should be trickle feeding 24.7. 1 or 2 massive buckets a day is the surest way to induce colic ever!
I feed a small meal, but everything in that bucket is DOING something, non of its is fillers or binders so I dont worry that she hasnt got all she needs calorie wise. Why feed extra and pay for extra that they dont need or isnt giving them any benefit!?
Horses arent humans! They dont get meals in the way we do! They should be trickle feeding 24.7. 1 or 2 massive buckets a day is the surest way to induce colic ever!
I feed a small meal, but everything in that bucket is DOING something, non of its is fillers or binders so I dont worry that she hasnt got all she needs calorie wise. Why feed extra and pay for extra that they dont need or isnt giving them any benefit!?
touchstone
Well-Known Member
I feed a large bucket of fast fibre and chaff, it is essentially the same as giving a haynet in a bucket and I use it as a parial hay replacer along with horsehage. Done this for many years now with no colic.
superted1989
Well-Known Member
I started using it for my old sec d as he needed 'feed', but not calories. Also, for warmth as he really felt the cold during the winter months. Markie has a bit during the summer, to damp his balancer and chaff, but has a kilo (dry weight) split over 2 feeds for the winter to supplement his hay/grass intake.
My friend's mare has it as she can be fussy over hay (won't eat it off the floor for longer than half an hour and refuses to touch anything that's fallen out of a haynet, she is chestnut!!) but needs the extra bulk over the winter. She goes a bit wappy with sugarbeet and has to be on a cereal free diet. She only has it during the winter months though.
My friend's mare has it as she can be fussy over hay (won't eat it off the floor for longer than half an hour and refuses to touch anything that's fallen out of a haynet, she is chestnut!!) but needs the extra bulk over the winter. She goes a bit wappy with sugarbeet and has to be on a cereal free diet. She only has it during the winter months though.
TGM
Well-Known Member
Because many good doers are fed alongside horses with higher calorie requirements, so need to be kept occupied whilst the others are fed, so that they don't nick the other's feeds, bang stable doors etc.
Also, you have to take into account that many owners have an emotional need to feed. Yes, in an ideal world it shouldn't happen, but it does! I recently had to convince the owner of a laminitic shetland to stop feeding it pony mix and molassed chaff. If I had suggested a regime of a miniscule portion of brewers yeast and selected herbs and minerals she would have ignored me - at least by recommending Fast Fibre she was able to change her ways and feed a low sugar/starch diet, still feeling happy that she was feeding her pony (even if much of the ration was actually water), and best of all resulted in a return to soundness for the pony.
Such an approach may not please the Gillian McKeiths of the equine community, but sometimes you have to consider practicalities in an imperfect world!
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sparkeypony
Member
Hi so without fast fibre i would spend at least £36 for 6 hay a week for 2 ponies
fast fibre £10 a bag lasts 2 weeks and only 4 hay so
£24 for 4 bales and £5 for half bag of fast fibre = £29
So a saving of £6 a week
*Spider*
Well-Known Member
Yes, I agree, horses should not have their feeds bulked out, they should eat small quantities. 'Little and often' as they are trickle feeders.
Soaked feeds however allow for longer chewing time so they do not gulp is down in one go, and as they're soaked, the gastric juices can not expand the feed anymore, unlike other unsoaked cubes. What looks more, will not be.
I have never used Alfabeet, only Speedibeet so can not really compare, but I believe Alfabeet is only unmolassed sugarbeet (speedibeet) with added Alfa. I add the Alfa myself so I can feed it accordingly.
Soaked feeds however allow for longer chewing time so they do not gulp is down in one go, and as they're soaked, the gastric juices can not expand the feed anymore, unlike other unsoaked cubes. What looks more, will not be.
I have never used Alfabeet, only Speedibeet so can not really compare, but I believe Alfabeet is only unmolassed sugarbeet (speedibeet) with added Alfa. I add the Alfa myself so I can feed it accordingly.
TGM
Well-Known Member
But half a bag of Fast Fibre isn't anywhere near the equivalent feed value of two bales of hay!
Fast Fibre comes in 20kg bags and has a calorie content of 8 MJDE/kg. Small hay bales weigh between 20 and 25kg and average hay usually also has a calorie content of 8 MJDE/kg. So for a like for like swap you need to feed at least one bag of Fast Fibre to replace one bale of hay. So at £10 for a bag of Fast Fibre and £6 for a bale of hay, the hay is obviously much cheaper!
sparkeypony
Member
I do understand your quote however i did feed as stated and did save around £6 a week, this was not a gestimate -