Horse won't eat sugarbeet

N

niagaraduval

Well-Known Member
Joined
26 June 2008
Messages
3,033
Location
Picardie France
Visit site
My horse has never eaten sugarbeet before, I have owned him for 8 years and he has never had any in that time so I assume he has never had it (Was 3 when I got him) have been buying my feed and shavings in England (Wayyyy cheaper) for the past couple of months and have been building up his food (started with pony nuts, then added course mix etc.) and have now got to the stage where I would like to add bran and sugarbeet.

I added a small amount of sugarbeet to his feed tonight for the first time and to my dismay ate everything but the sugarbeet.. He could def. do with the extra calories..

Is there any way of getting him to eat it or do I just sling the brand new bag (What a waste !!!) and find another option ?

I have left it in his stable tonight in his wall manger so am hoping he might decide to have a go at it...

I'm hoping the next step (bran mash) will go down better.. What horse doesn't dream of a lovely big bran mash full of molasses and carrots ?!
 
A lot of animal won't eat food they are not used to. Try adding smaller quantities (start very small and work upwards over several days) and mixing it in throughly so he can't separate it out. There's an old saying, "Hunger is the best source!"
 
niagaraduval said:
My horse has never eaten sugarbeet before, I have owned him for 8 years and he has never had any in that time so I assume he has never had it (Was 3 when I got him) have been buying my feed and shavings in England (Wayyyy cheaper) for the past couple of months and have been building up his food (started with pony nuts, then added course mix etc.) and have now got to the stage where I would like to add bran and sugarbeet.

I added a small amount of sugarbeet to his feed tonight for the first time and to my dismay ate everything but the sugarbeet.. He could def. do with the extra calories..

Is there any way of getting him to eat it or do I just sling the brand new bag (What a waste !!!) and find another option ?

I have left it in his stable tonight in his wall manger so am hoping he might decide to have a go at it...

I'm hoping the next step (bran mash) will go down better.. What horse doesn't dream of a lovely big bran mash full of molasses and carrots ?!
Click to expand...

Does he have to have it? could you try speedy beet or calm and condition? and sell the sugar beet to someone else?? failing that why not introduce mega small amounts like a cup of beet to water and add carrot express or apple express in????
 
I don't understand how the horse lefthe sugar beet, surely that's nigh on impossible if it's mixed in, ours would not be able to avoid it!
 
You're soaking the beet, aren't you? Not that you have to but I always would. You might need to experiment with the consistency, some like it really sloppy, some don't.
If he heads for his hay before he finishes his bucket feed, then just wait until he's eaten up before you give him his hay.
 
It's speedy beet I am using (soaks in 5 mins)

I would never ever feed my horse dry sugarbeet !

For the bran I meant a bran mash occassionally might do him some good for his digestive system and give him some extra calories, shouldn't it ?
 
niagaraduval said:
It's speedy beet I am using (soaks in 5 mins)

I would never ever feed my horse dry sugarbeet !

For the bran I meant a bran mash occassionally might do him some good for his digestive system and give him some extra calories, shouldn't it ?
Click to expand...

Bran is useful to have in case of colic or possibly after a hard day hunting but other than that I can see no purpose in having any in a modern feed room, the calorie value will be low, the amount you would be feeding to make any difference would unbalance the calcium/ phosphorus ratio and do more harm than good, if they would even eat it, adding molasses to make it tasty is again no good for them, hence speedibeet being unmolassed.

Try soaking the beet in warm water, it will soak better in the winter, 5 mins is not really long enough when the weather, water is very cold, it may be that it was still clumped together so he could avoid it.
 
If you think about it, it makes sense for a horse to be suspicious of new feeds, it might mean that food is tainted or poisonous. I have one that tries anything new but I worry that one day he'll eat something that really disagrees with him.

My latest horse took a while to get used to what I fed but now wolfs in down happily.

BTW I feed bran, my calcium levels are so high that it makes a tiny dent but helps pad out the feeds and disguise the minerals I'm adding.
 
Tinselface said:
I don't understand how the horse lefthe sugar beet, surely that's nigh on impossible if it's mixed in, ours would not be able to avoid it!
Click to expand...


I have one who wont eat beet, he would pick everything out of it he could and leave a very neat pile of beet on the floor of his stable. Nothing would make him eat it and turns out he wouldnt eat anything soaked. Nightmare!
 
They say not to feed bran unless its required, I would only feed on vet advice.

The more different feeds you are adding the diet will be more unbalanced

Bran mash will do nothing for him apart from shocking his system.

How much is he ridden etc is he sharp or relaxed ?

My horse just gets Spillers high fibre cubes and I've recently started giving him Equi Jewel for some added calories as he is very fussy and won't eat oil in liquid form
 
I have fed sugar beet for many years and never had one horse that failed to eat it. I bought one bag of speedi beet and could not find one horse in a yard of 20 that would touch it!! It is the only complete sack of feed (less a few scoops!) that I have ever ditched - normally I can find something to eat it!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top