Feeding sugar beet in winter

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Lottiexloo

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Hi all,
Would feeding sugar beet benefit my pony in winter? She is a 14yo 13.2 Welsh A cross Dutch Warmblood. She is usually fed Dengie Hi-Fi original and Baileys Lo Cal Balencer however the grass quality in her field is quite poor and I can tell the horses are beginning to get hungry, Hay is put into the field in winter and she is brought only a few nights a week as she is not keen on staying in. She is quite fine but relatively hardy.
Have tried googling the pros and cons of sugar beet but nothing helped, thanks😊
 
There's not much in sugar beet, it's mostly just fibre with a lot of added sugar if it's molassed.

If you're trying to ensure her tummy's nice and full you'd be better off giving her plenty of hay, even now if there's not much grass and she's looking hungry. If you can do it the field, great, but if not you might have to get her used to coming in every night.

If she needs more calories to keep weight on her, you'd be better of with a low sugar and low starch feed that will give a slow release of energy. You could up the Hi-Fi to Alfa A, introduce high fibre cubes or cool mix, or add some oil to her feeds.
 
Ah thanks, this helps😊 I'll scrap the sugar beet then. I'll try to get her used to being in more with the other horses. She's a rescue pony and was abused in her past, I suspect something must of happened in a stable/confined space. I'll look into the Alfa A and other oils/supplements.
 
annagain said:
There's not much in sugar beet, it's mostly just fibre with a lot of added sugar if it's molassed.
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That's not strictly accurate - it might be 'just fibre' but it is highly digestible fibre that actually provides the horse with a significant amount of calories. (I think some people forget that horses are efficient digesters of fibre, unlike humans). I agree that molassed sugar beet contains excessive amounts of sugar for many horses (being usually about 20% sugar) but unmolassed sugar beet (such as Speedibeet) can be a very useful feed. It contains 12 MJDE/kg (dry weight) which is the same calorie count as Spiller's Conditioning Cubes, so can be a useful source of safe, slow-release calories for those that need more condition. It is significantly higher in calories than Spiller's Cool Mix, which only contains 9.8 MJDE/kg, yet much lower in sugar/starch. Cool Mix has 20% starch alone (doesn't state sugar % on website) whilst Speedibeet has 5% sugar and negligible levels of starch. Speedibeet is a 'straight feed' however, so not supplemented with vits and mins like Cool Mix, however if the OP continues to feed the Lo Cal Balancer that will provide the vit/mins anyway.

However, the OP doesn't indicate whether her horse actually needs more condition, and perhaps the fact they are using a Lo Cal Balancer indicates that the pony is a good doer. If that is the case and the OP is more worried about the pony being hungry than losing weight, then a more chewy, lower calorie fibre source might be more appropriate. I agree that hay is probably the best and most cost effective solution, but if yard rules don't allow hay to be put out until the real winter months, then increasing the amounts of HiFi is another good option (although will work out more costly than hay).
 
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I use speedibeet in the winter. Along with normal feed of baileys local and hi fi light. He drops a little in winter now he is older the beet give's him more without the fizz.

I used to add baileys top line on top of normal feed but sussed it did nothing when I did not use it last year.
 
TGM said:
That's not strictly accurate - it might be 'just fibre' but it is highly digestible fibre that actually provides the horse with a significant amount of calories. (I think some people forget that horses are efficient digesters of fibre, unlike humans). I agree that molassed sugar beet contains excessive amounts of sugar for many horses (being usually about 20% sugar) but unmolassed sugar beet (such as Speedibeet) can be a very useful feed. It contains 12 MJDE/kg (dry weight) which is the same calorie count as Spiller's Conditioning Cubes, so can be a useful source of safe, slow-release calories for those that need more condition. It is significantly higher in calories than Spiller's Cool Mix, which only contains 9.8 MJDE/kg, yet much lower in sugar/starch. Cool Mix has 20% starch alone (doesn't state sugar % on website) whilst Speedibeet has 5% sugar and negligible levels of starch. Speedibeet is a 'straight feed' however, so not supplemented with vits and mins like Cool Mix, however if the OP continues to feed the Lo Cal Balancer that will provide the vit/mins anyway.

However, the OP doesn't indicate whether her horse actually needs more condition, and perhaps the fact they are using a Lo Cal Balancer indicates that the pony is a good doer. If that is the case and the OP is more worried about the pony being hungry than losing weight, then a more chewy, lower calorie fibre source might be more appropriate. I agree that hay is probably the best and most cost effective solution, but if yard rules don't allow hay to be put out until the real winter months, then increasing the amounts of HiFi is another good option (although will work out more costly than hay).
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Thanks for this, it was really interesting to read and yes, I'm more worried about her being hungry (completely forgot the mention this at the start) have decided she will put on weight with Alfa A, going to look into Speedibeet.
 
Feed grass nuts and micronised linseed, I agree. I hate sugar beet after reading about all the rubbish they put on fields to produce it .....
 
waste by-product of the manufacture of sugar comprising dried sugar-beet pulp, to which molasses have been added back. Unmolassed sugar beet is not sugar free – it contains approx 5% residual sugar in the pulp. In addition to ammonium nitrate fertilisers, sugar beet crops in the UK receive on average 5 herbicide sprays, 1 fungicide and 1 insecticide spray. The sugar beet pellets are derived from the residual pulp remaining in the vats once the sugar syrup has been extracted for human consumption.
It also has arsenic.
 
Hay would be better than any hard feed, unless the horse is under weight. If she is under weight why are you feeding a lo cal balancer.

You can't feed anything more satisfying or healthy for the horse, than simple good quality hay!
 
No no she's not under weight! She's more of a good doer hence the Lo Cal, I was more worried about her going hungry as the grass quality is poor in her field at the moment. And they do get hay in the field in winter but the yard owner doesn't like it in until the proper winter months.
 
I feed my 22yr old sugarbeet in winter but she lives out 24\7 and is partially clipped as gets so sweaty when ridden! I add more sugar beet to give energy if I'm riding more or if she looks skinny (which does happen in winter). Plus she is really fussy and pretty much picks the sugarbeet out and leaves the rest of the feed. At least I know the supplements get eaten if I bury in the sugarbeet!
 
I also use sugarbeat although when i looked into it the one I purchase was only 2% more sugar than speedibeet and I prefer to leave it soaking. My 8 yo and the oldie get it in winter. I've always fed sugar beat but I never had anything lami prone. It keeps the weight on mine without sticking loads of cereals in them
 
I imagine that beet will be sprayed with the same chemicals as most other crops that end up in horse feed. I love Speedibeet, it's a great carrier for additives and most of all, my horses thrive on it.
 
Achinghips said:
waste by-product of the manufacture of sugar comprising dried sugar-beet pulp, to which molasses have been added back. Unmolassed sugar beet is not sugar free – it contains approx 5% residual sugar in the pulp. In addition to ammonium nitrate fertilisers, sugar beet crops in the UK receive on average 5 herbicide sprays, 1 fungicide and 1 insecticide spray. The sugar beet pellets are derived from the residual pulp remaining in the vats once the sugar syrup has been extracted for human consumption.
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Ah, but are the pesticides stored in the pulp?

Achinghips said:
It also has arsenic.
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Well, yes, but so does grass.
 
annagain said:
There's not much in sugar beet, it's mostly just fibre with a lot of added sugar if it's molassed.
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It's mostly just fibre! That ia what makes it an excellent feed. Fibre is what the horse needs more than anything else.

OP Sugarbeet would be an excellent addition to your horses feed this winter, it's digestion will help keep her warm.

You can also include Copra which will help with condition, fibre and oil in one.
 
Achinghips said:
It also has arsenic.
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So do Apple pips!

Where do you get the idea that Sugarbeet has arsenic in it?

Sugarbeet has been fed for decades. We used to feed it to everything instead of chaff. The Molassed sort too. Never had a single problem with it, and I'm talking of hundreds of horses and ponies.

Just about everything has been sprayed at sometime!

Sugarbeet is washed, shredded, then soaked in vats of hot water with Calcium added (purifies). It's soaked over and over again until the majority of sugar is out. Then it's dried off and either left as dried shreds, pelleted or flaked. The Molassed Sugarbeet has molasses sprayed over it and then dried.
 
Apple pips don't contain arsenic but Cyanide -

And Sugarbeet does NOT contain arsenic
read the following from Bioequine off facebook

Hello, I was contacted by Dr.Rebecca Larson who works for a large sugar beet producer group in the US. She had the following to say about the warning that I passed on in our note of February 24th. As I understand it, scientists have created a genetically modified sugar beet that is resistant to Roudup. This enables producers to spray their fields once per season instead of several times with other herbacides. This is Dr.Larson's comments:
Dear Lynne,
Thank you for your time this morning on the phone. I appreciate your openness and willingness to hear our side on this issue. I tried calling Ross Buchanan and left him a message and hopefully will get a return call sometime soon so I can discuss this with him as well.
Ross makes three claims about beet pulps safety and here is why they are in error:
1) There is glyphosate in the beet pulp. Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, is applied to sugar beet foliage during the production season to kill weeds in the field in a much more environmentally friendly approach than conventional sugarbeets. This herbicide is not taken up by the sugarbeet and therefore can not be present in the beet pulp. So you need not worry about the safety posed to your animal. Furthermore, even if this statement were correct (which it is not) glyphosate is an extremely benign chemical. There have actually been over 70 people who have tried to kill themselves ingesting concentrated forms of glyphosate. Only 7 people actually have died and that was not as a result of the chemical, but rather the surfactant carrier irritated their esophagus and they died chocking on their own vomit. Many animals have inadvertently gotten into concentrated forms of glyphosate on the farm as well, with only minor irritation as a result of the surfactant as well. A very thorough report can be found in the following peer reviewed scientific journal article:
2) Arsenic is found in all foodstuffs, sugarbeet is not a sponge for arsenic. I have a friend who works at Lantic Sugar in Alberta who will be providing me with a comprehensive chemical analysis of their pulp conducted by a neutral third party which shows arsenic levels are “at the faintest and non-biologically relevant levels”. Further information on arsenic in food can be found in the scientific publication: Kabata-Pendias, A and Pendias H. Trace Elements in Soils and Plants. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL 1985, p171. As the report comes from Taber, I will forward those results to you as well.
3) Disodium cyanodithioimidocarbonate may be hard to pronounce, but it is not a banded pesticide, it is a fully FDA approved food additive. The FDA found this product to be safe for human consumption. Extremely trace amounts of this are used in sugar refineries (both cane and beet- less than 3 ppm) to keep microbial growth at bay. Insignificant and non-active amounts make it into the final products. However, even if the full 3 ppm made it into the final product, the additive has been extensively tested and proven safe for consumption. This is clearly spelled out in The Code of Federal Regulations of the United States of America
Please feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss any of these items any further.
Kind Regards,
Rebecca
Rebecca L. Larson, Ph.D.
Research Agronomist
Western Sugar Cooperative
303-304-3982
My objectives with our comments here and our newsletter is to pass on information that I feel is important to our clients who are obviously wanting to provide the very best in nutrition to their horses..otherwise they would not be buying our BioEquine products. What each reader decides to take from each post is up to them...we are merely trying to help with information. I truly hope that beet pulp is a healthy alternative for topdressing our products. Am I happy about GMO's or trace amounts of Roundup? No...but what is our supermarkets full of??
 
A very interesting discussion. Tnavas, would you mind if I copied this response to the barefoot owners UK Facebook page as we are having this same discussion?
 
My own experience is that whilst I have fed and had confidence in sugar beet for decades as a winter feed, cutting it out of our current herd's diet has resulted in much better feet with no event lines at all (even during summer) on all of 6 very different horses, and with one particular horse a total elimination of gut sensitivity. I feed grass nuts instead, soaked to provide a mash in the same fashion as quick soaking beet. I don't know why beet no longer seems such a good feed but it doesn't work for us any more and I don't plan to use it again. Perhaps it's because the methods of producing it have changed in recent years or the legal pesticides/herbicides etc used just don't suit horses so well. Also, bear in mind that as a root crop, it's not actually a natural feed for horses. To me it makes sense that grass and hay are the best basis of a winter (or any) feed.
 
I have fed beet pulp for over 30 years without any obvious problems. Originally it was mollassed but now I use speedy beet. I soak it and add grass nuts before I feed. My horses all have good feet and seem to do well on it, not to mention there is never any left in their bowls. As someone else has said most of the feeds given to horses will have been sprayed at some point including the grass and therefore hay in some cases. You can soak the beet and discard the water and wash it if you are concerned about the sugar but I don't.
 
It's worth washing it as someone I know of extracted a cup of sand over one bag of it, which would have gone into her horse.
I think there are only two companies I know that claim to have all their Feeds pesticide and chemical free.
 
Achinghips said:
waste by-product of the manufacture of sugar comprising dried sugar-beet pulp, to which molasses have been added back. Unmolassed sugar beet is not sugar free – it contains approx 5% residual sugar in the pulp. In addition to ammonium nitrate fertilisers, sugar beet crops in the UK receive on average 5 herbicide sprays, 1 fungicide and 1 insecticide spray. The sugar beet pellets are derived from the residual pulp remaining in the vats once the sugar syrup has been extracted for human consumption.
It also has arsenic.
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I thought this was common knowledge that it was a sugar waste byproduct. The treatments are I imagine are the same for most crops that those of us who feed straights are exposed to. The important thing is surely whether you actually get carry over into the product. Given the growth pattern of beet and the post harvesting treatment I'd think it might well be less likely than on the oats I also feed? Is there any data saying what the residues are?

Also, given how long a bag lasts if there was any sand in it (never found any!) I imagine that my horse ingests much more dirt and grit from other sources than a cupfull per sack.
 
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