EQUUS

If you are thinking of adding beet pulp to your horse’s diet, check the labels of your feed bags to make sure it isn’t already there. Beet pulp is often found in high-fiber, low-sugar feeds.

-

factor” of beet pulp may not be high enough to safely replace all the hay in a horse’s diet. “You need to take into account the physical attributes of longstem roughage,”g she says---“the fact that a horse has to chew it and that it provides bulk in the gut. We know this is all-importan all-important in ruminant digestion. We need more r research into that in horses, but it stands to reason it would be.”

Of course course, says Coverdale, there are always e exceptions. “In many older horses, part particular­ly those with dental problems,probl hay isn’t even an optionti any more,” she says. “In those cases, the rules go out the window and you do whatever you can. Beet nutritiona­l benefits, and it shows up in all sort of places.”

Specialty feeds are particular­ly reliant on beet pulp. “Beet pulp is a major component of the high-fiber, lowsugar feeds that are so popular right now,” says Wagner. “It’s really the perfect ingredient for those---a good source of ‘cool’ energy. And if you look at senior feeds, you’ll see it’s a primary ingredient; that’s the reason those feeds soak up water so well. I think there are plenty of people out there who don’t realize they are already feeding beet pulp. And there are probably people thinking they’d never feed beet pulp, for whatever reason, but their horses are already thriving on it.”

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States