Sugar Beet how much do you feed?

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humblepie

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I looked at the recommended feed levels for Speedibeet the other day and horse in medium work 1.75 kgs (obviously depending on size/weight of horse). I took the kitchen scales up the yard and weighed what i feed. It was on 300g dry. Was amazed. Other feeds are already weighed but hadn't done that exercise with sugar beet. 300g dry makes quite a lot when soaked.
 
It depends on your horses weight I wouldn't feed that much to a horse that basically doesn't need it, it has no vitamin or minerals added so its not like you have to feed the recommended amount to get those.

My thinner one gets about half a stubbs scoop when soaked the other one gets a quarter a scoop once a day with grass chaff.
 
Pinkvboots said:
It depends on your horses weight I wouldn't feed that much to a horse that basically doesn't need it, it has no vitamin or minerals added so its not like you have to feed the recommended amount to get those.

My thinner one gets about half a stubbs scoop when soaked the other one gets a quarter a scoop once a day with grass chaff.
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Yes that is about the amount I normally feed. I was just surprised at how much it said you could feed and wondered if people do feed that much.
 
I never fed that much even when I had my draft horse. Once its soaked that's an awful lot of food in a bucket and when he needed to gain / maintain weight I didn't really want his gut full on something with a high % of water.
 
I have fed that much as a hay replacer mixed with grass nuts for an elderly pony mare. (Not speedibeet, unbranded unmollassed beet pellets)
I don't think many people feed anything close to the manufacturers recommended amount, otherwise you'd be using multiple bags per week!
 
humblepie said:
Yes that is about the amount I normally feed. I was just surprised at how much it said you could feed and wondered if people do feed that much.
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I never really feed what the company recommends because it's a huge amount and unless your feeding a really under weight horse or one that can't eat hay, I just go by what I think they need I feed a separate vit and min supplement in powder form so it's not affected.
 
It can be used as a ‘fibre replacement’ for those with dental issues, or for whatever reason cant have standard hay. The max amount recommended on nutritional websites, if i remember correctly, was 20% of the normal daily feed weight of hay.
E.g, if horse usually has 10kg hay per day based on bodyweight, then 2kg of dry weight beet pulp *could* be substituted, and horse given 8kg hay instead.
Obviously with speedibeet that would equate to a 20 litre bucket full of soaked beet. Which could be divided in feeds throughout the day, mixed with chaff etc.

To mix powder minerals/supplements in, i use 1kg soaked to split in half to feed 2 horses their minerals. Its half a 20ltr bucket when soaked, about 3 double hand scoops per bowl. It seems to be a good amount to dilute the strong taste of minerals in.

If feeding a substantial amount of beet, it’s best to add some phosphorus, as beet is high in calcium (higher than calcium in hay) Phosphorus traditionally is given via straight grains - oats, soaked cooked barley etc. but you could also add phosphorus powder mineral if carbs/sugar from grains are unsuitable for the horse.
 
Beet is classed as a succulent and fed as an addition to hard feed and is part of their fibre ration. I currently soak a handful and mix with chaff & supplements. I will feed more of it in the winter but have never fed more than about 500g (before soaking) a day even when I was hunting regularly.
 
We feed about a quarter of a kilo (dry weight) per day between our four, and about the same again in chaff mixed with rolled oats. They get that split over two feeds, with a sliced up carrot and maybe some apple.
 
It was too long ago to remember the amount but I fed my 600kg warmblood the biggest trug you can find (the tyre rubber ones) almost full of beet and a certain amount of alfalfa, the proportions depending on whether we needed more condition or more muscle. He had it in the stable when he had several hours to eat it.
 
I feed I mixed with grassnuts and alfalfa nuts in winter as additional fibre and energy.

When he was going it was for growing and healthy weight and now it will be for light competing in winter as he only gets baileys lo cal balancer and hifi lite as a staple everyday all year round.

I feed half a round stubs scoop of this mixed soaked daily in winter. A Stubbs scoop of this mix dry fills a 15lt bucket and lasts me about 5days in winter.
 
I feed Speedibeet along with chaff as a partial hay replacer for my oldies. It’s by far the cheapest way to feed extra fibre. It swells to something like 5 x its size so one round stubbs scoop makes a black bucket full.
 
i put a stubbs scoop between 4 feeds - i only feed it to mix supplements/balancer with and make it a touch more interesting for them, and get a bit more water into them. although i feed fast fibre, not speedibeet.
 
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