Reasons for not feeding sugarbeet.

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djlynwood

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Looking through some older threads about feed, I noticed a few users who said that they will not feed sugarbeet.
I always thought it was an excellent feed for horses but is there something I don't know about?
 
If your on about normal sugarbeet it could be to do with the sugar level due to the amount of molasses added to it. Unmolassed beet is a fab feed and no reason not to feed that at all in my mind.
 
I don't feed it. When it first arrived in NZ, and everyone got very excited about it for endurance. A Canadian vet that was here commented he couldn't think why - it was cattle food back home. Horses got the good stuff - best hay and grain.

I also don't like the fact that it is imported from the other side of the world and very processed. I would much rather feed my horses best quality, locally grown, unprocessed food. Like I eat. But that's just me.
 
It can be very useful to feed, locally grown in UK. When I had a severely intolerant of cereals and refined sugar mare, unmolassed SB was one of the few things she could eat. But I've known of other horses who react badly to it. It's another example of needing to know your horse.
 
I always found with my TB he tended to drop weight while on it, not sure the reason for this but he always did better on chaff. May have read somewhere the pH level wasn't great.
 
I wouldn't feed normal sugar beet anymore because of the sugar levels. I noticed a big difference in my old boy when I switched him onto Speedi-Beet.
 
Match the feed to the horse! There are no "rules" about whether sugar beet is good or bad. Or any other type of feed. Its just a matter of knowing your horse, accommodating your yard routine and understanding the purpose of the different types of feed. These things do go in fads - I grew up brewing linseed jelly to improve condition for hunting ponies. No-one does that now. Doesn't make it a "bad" feed - just old fashioned. We all used to feed straights - then everyone fed mixes, now a lot of people seem to be going back to straights. It just is what it is. As long as you understand the basic rules of feeding and the reasoning behind what you feed it doesn't matter what other people do.
 
I feed the unmollassed beet pulp for several reasons. It is a slow release energy source which prevents sugar spikes and acts as a buffer for hind gut acidosis and digestive problems.
It also helps to keep horses hydrated and is an easily digested high fibre, low starch feed.
For horses that need a non heating, good source of energy, its useful addition to their diet.
 
I don't where I am because calcium levels in my forage are so high I try and avoid calcium rich feeds but have in other places. Unmolassed only though.

I also have a few concerns about pesticide levels due to how beet in particular is farmed.
 
I'm currently feeding Fibre Beet (which is unmollassed) to my oldie as she can't eat hay any more. She doesn't like Speedi beet for some reason but loves Fibre Beet and it makes a good basis for her 'soup' to which I add high fibre nuts etc.

I completely agree with Shay. It may not be a good feed for some equines but might be perfect for others.
 
I don't feed it as I have had problems with ponies choking on it, as it tends to clump into balls when mixed with a soft chaff type feed. Fortunately mine are all good doers & all drink well so I don't have to worry about keeping them hydrated, and adding weight.
 
I don't feed regular sugar beet because of the high sugar content but rely on Speedi-Beet in the winter for slow release energy and maintaining weight.
 
I feed speedibeet, mine no get any hard feed but in winter they have speedi beet and chaff with their vits/mins. A query though - I have a small fat pony this winter, who in her previous home had molasses chaff and molased mix. Her owner says she can't have speedibeet as too fattening - surely less fattening than processed molassed food?
 
Clodagh said:
I feed speedibeet, mine no get any hard feed but in winter they have speedi beet and chaff with their vits/mins. A query though - I have a small fat pony this winter, who in her previous home had molasses chaff and molased mix. Her owner says she can't have speedibeet as too fattening - surely less fattening than processed molassed food?
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Off course it is less fattening, molassed has too much sugar, that is why unmolassed is a better food. ditto chaff.
 
I feed my old boy high fibre cubes and speedibeet for fibre as he cant eat hay. Although I do have to mix a bit of 'normal' sugarbeet in, he wont eat the speedibeet on its own with the cubes.
I notice such a difference when he has mostly speedibeet, He keeps weight on much better.
Mind you he has such a buffet to graze on during winter Id be shocked if he didn't keep his weight on !!!!
 
NZJenny said:
I don't feed it. When it first arrived in NZ, and everyone got very excited about it for endurance. A Canadian vet that was here commented he couldn't think why - it was cattle food back home. Horses got the good stuff - best hay and grain.

I also don't like the fact that it is imported from the other side of the world and very processed. I would much rather feed my horses best quality, locally grown, unprocessed food. Like I eat. But that's just me.
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Unfortunately you obviously don't know a thing about the processing of sugarbeet

Being English and having fed Sugarbeet for decades it is an excellent food. We fed it to everything in place of chaff which was impossible to get unless you had your own chaff cutter. I've worked in yards of 100 or more horses - ALL eating Sugarbeet and competing at International level.

It is not very processed! The beet is washed on arrival at the factory and shredded into fine pieces and dropped into vats of hot water and limestone where it continues through several baths that soak out the sugar.

If being sold as Molassed sugarbeet it will be sprayed with a small amount of Molasses. Both types are then rolled very thin and dried.

It is an excellent fibre source, its carbohydrates are slow release and as Calcium has been added during processing to clarify the liquid it is a great balancer to feed with grains that are naturally high in phosphorous.

I was so glad to see it when it arrived here in NZ
 
I feed my horses a quick-soak unmollassed beetpulp once a day as a mineral and linseed carrier, because it hydrates them, gets their vitamins and minerals into them and they love it and look amazing. Because they love it and look amazing, it's the stuff of choice for me :)
 
Shay said:
Match the feed to the horse! There are no "rules" about whether sugar beet is good or bad. Or any other type of feed. Its just a matter of knowing your horse, accommodating your yard routine and understanding the purpose of the different types of feed. These things do go in fads - I grew up brewing linseed jelly to improve condition for hunting ponies. No-one does that now. Doesn't make it a "bad" feed - just old fashioned. We all used to feed straights - then everyone fed mixes, now a lot of people seem to be going back to straights. It just is what it is. As long as you understand the basic rules of feeding and the reasoning behind what you feed it doesn't matter what other people do.
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As above, well said.
 
For those stressing about the molasses in Sugarbeet.

Molasses contains 58 calories per tablespoon - 20grams
It is a moderate Glycemic sugar with a load of 55

The quantity of molasses your horse actually receives per feed is minimal.

Molasses also contains Iron, Calcium and Magnesium, Manganese, Potassium, Sodium, Zinc, Copper and Selenium.

Along with Vitamins B6, Thiamine, Niacin, pantothenic acid and Choline.
 
Tnavas said:
For those stressing about the molasses in Sugarbeet.

Molasses contains 58 calories per tablespoon - 20grams
It is a moderate Glycemic sugar with a load of 55

The quantity of molasses your horse actually receives per feed is minimal.

Molasses also contains Iron, Calcium and Magnesium, Manganese, Potassium, Sodium, Zinc, Copper and Selenium.

Along with Vitamins B6, Thiamine, Niacin, pantothenic acid and Choline.
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In the UK your bog standard molassed sugar beet is usually at least 20% sugar, so owners are quite right to be cautious about feeding the molassed version in any significant quantities to animals that are laminitic, or show any signs of being being at risk of laminitis.

However, I do agree that beet has lots of useful qualities as listed in various posts above, so it is great that the unmolassed kind exists for those that have to be careful with limiting sugar levels.

As said above, it all depends on the individual animal - know your horse, know your feed and match them appropriately!
 
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TGM said:
In the UK your bog standard molassed sugar beet is usually at least 20% sugar, so owners are quite right to be cautious about feeding the molassed version in any significant quantities to animals that are laminitic, or show any signs of being being at risk of laminitis.

However, I do agree that beet has lots of useful qualities as listed in various posts above, so it is great that the unmolassed kind exists for those that have to be careful with limiting sugar levels.

As said above, it all depends on the individual animal - know your horse, know your feed and match them appropriately!
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I agree with the above.

I also am not sure why people happily feed Fast Fibre but jib at feeding unmollassed sugar beet.

Fast Fibre is a sugar beet based feed, but it also contains wheat feed, and soya which more horses would react to than just plain unmollased sugar beet.

My own horse gets silly on fast fibre and absolutely loopy on Spillers Fibre Cubes, but is less silly (although not normal!) on Speedibeet.
 
Clodagh said:
I feed speedibeet, mine no get any hard feed but in winter they have speedi beet and chaff with their vits/mins. A query though - I have a small fat pony this winter, who in her previous home had molasses chaff and molased mix. Her owner says she can't have speedibeet as too fattening - surely less fattening than processed molassed food?
Click to expand...

Calories come from more than just sugar alone - can come from starch, oil, digestible fibre and protein. Molassed chaffs are usually straw based, straw is mainly indigestible fibre so low in calories, but also not very tasty so molasses added to make it more palatable. One of the common molassed chaffs, Mollichaff Original, has not many calories (only 7.5MJDE/kg) but is 16-21% sugar. Speedibeet, by contrast, is high in digestible fibre (supplying 12.4 MJDE/kg) but much lower in sugar (5%). So if you fed a lot of Speedibeet to a fatty pony it could quite likely cause weight gain, even though it is low in sugar. However, even though the Mollichaff is low calorie I would not feed it to a fatty pony as such ponies are at greater risk of laminitis and high sugar levels are thought to be a laminitis trigger in such ponies. Experts usually suggest not to feed anything over 10% sugar/starch to lami risk animals.

Obviously the amount you feed makes a difference, a couple of spoonfuls of watery Speedibeet isn't likely to cause weight gain, and a small handful of molassed chaff isn't likely to increase sugar levels by much if you need to use it to mask medication or such like.
 
Tnavas said:
I must have misread the bag as I thought it said 5% molasses added! whereas I see on one site is that it is 18% sucrose.
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Perhaps you have a bag of unmolassed beet? Most unmolassed beets here, such as Speedibeet, are 5% sugar whereas as molassed ones such as Supabeet are at least 20% sugar.
 
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