Sugar Beet speedibeet or fibrebeet

[Murphy’s Gauntlet]

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone has done some digging around these 3 feeds.
Currently feed sugar beet, alongside conditioning mash and lots of linseed. When I say I feed sugar beets to friends they all ask why not speedibeet or fibrebeet! Obviously I’d like it for conditioning, so which one out of the 3 is more calorific? Per the scoop?

Tia

 

[meleeka]

Firebeet is a great feed for conditioning, much more so the Speedibeet, I wouldn’t feed sugar beet anyway as mine are natives and I’d worry about the sugar, but it’s probably the most calorific.

 

[Hobo2]

I swapped from speedibeet to fibrebeet because I wanted to add calories. By the scoop fibrebeet would have many more calories than speedibeet because it is denser. So weigh what you feed I like that fibrebeet has alpha in it as I had to take it out of horses diet because of her teeth.

 

[Birker2020]

Speedibeet is approved by the Laminitis Society and they used to quote on their packaging that there was more sugar in a medium sized carrot than in a whole scoop of speedibeet.

Speedibeet is a really good food source of fibre and its low in starch, easily digestible and non heating.

It's particuarly good for ulcer prone horses and it's great for getting horses dehydrated.

I'd have said sugar beet is more calorific than fibrebeet.

 

[Flowerofthefen]

I changed to fibre beet this year for my 2 aging boys and they both look great on it. I add salt and linseed. Havnt used sugarbeet in years. I used speedi beet but it was the calories I was after so changed to fibre beet.

 

[little_critter]

Speedibeet is approved by the Laminitis Society and they used to quote on their packaging that there was more sugar in a medium sized carrot than in a whole scoop of speedibeet.

Speedibeet is a really good food source of fibre and its low in starch, easily digestible and non heating.

It's particuarly good for ulcer prone horses and it's great for getting horses dehydrated.

I'd have said sugar beet is more calorific than fibrebeet.

I’m assuming you meant to say it’s good for getting horses rehydrated.
Unless you feed it dry of course, then it might help with dehydrating
(Before I get jumped on, that was a joke. DO NOT feed dry sugar beet folks)

 

[little_critter]

OP, if you are after conditioning, how about copra instead of sugar beet?

 

[ihatework]

On a dry weight basis, molassed sugar beet pellets have the highest DE (12.5), then fibrebeet (12), then speedibeet (11). So fed in the same dry quantity then sugar beet most conditioning and speedibeet least conditioning. However I’d prefer fibrebeet if choosing between the 3.

 

[Birker2020]

I’m assuming you meant to say it’s good for getting horses rehydrated.
Unless you feed it dry of course, then it might help with dehydrating
(Before I get jumped on, that was a joke. DO NOT feed dry sugar beet folks)

ha yes sorry! to be fair in was at 3.47am this morning so wasn't quite awake.

 

[mini-eventer]

I just feed the molassed pellets, its so much more cost effective in this current climate and the rest of my horses feed is extremely low suger so I dont worry about the molasses content in half a scoop too much - you can make it watery and scoop it out with a sieve which reduces the molasses content somewhat. I feed it to a TBx and a native with no issues. The TB can fiz up on some feeds but this seems ok

 

[criso]

Depends what you mean by sugarbeet, there are lots of brands. They split into molassed and unmolassed. I don't see Speedibeet being any better than other unmolassed. Some pay for the laminitus trust certification but it's a straight and they are all about 5% sugar

Then you have long soak (24 hours ) or quick soak which Speedibeet is.

I use Trident Equibeet which is long soak and unmolassed. It's £8.99 a bag compared to £18.75 for Speedibeet and for that saving, I can be organised to soak the day before.

Fibrebeet is sugarbeet and Alfalfa. You could just add Alfalfa pellets yourself.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Depends what you mean by sugarbeet, there are lots of brands. They split into molassed and unmolassed. I don't see Speedibeet being any better than other unmolassed. Some pay for the laminitus trust certification but it's a straight and they are all about 5% sugar

Then you have long soak (24 hours ) or quick soak which Speedibeet is.

I use Trident Equibeet which is long soak and unmolassed. It's £8.99 a bag compared to £18.75 for Speedibeet and for that saving, I can be organised to soak the day before.

Fibrebeet is sugarbeet and Alfalfa. You could just add Alfalfa pellets yourself.

Basically this I feed the unmolassed 24 hour soak stuff so much more economical than speedibeet.

 

[Murphy’s Gauntlet]

Many thanks for your replies!!

I also use the Trident sugar beet, I use that as it is good on the pocket… I also require the calories so by the looks of it I’m doing the right thing by feeding that rather than the fibre beet itself.
Thank you for clarifying what I thought I was doing is right!!

 

[criso]

Just bear on mind Trident make different products, Equibeet unmolassed and Sugarbeet which is molassed and for some reason more expensive.

 

[katie_southwest]

I either feed Trident unmolassed sugar beet, or speedibeet (sometimes the feed store don't have the Trident one in)
TBH I do like the fact I can make speedibeet up quickly if I haven't quite got enough. But I do try and get the Trident because of the cost difference!
My mare has cushings so needs low sugar feeds, and also can't eat hay anymore. So given the fact she has trugs full of beet/chaff etc for hay replacers, I always make sure its a low sugar version, whether it's long or short soak.
I've never fed Fibre beet, but know lots that have.