Shredded Beet Pulp

[MikePA]

Have any of you horse owners fed your animals shredded beet pulp with molasses (even though it has molasses, it is very dry)? Our riding instructor recommended it as an alternative to sweet feed because; (1) It's better for our one high strung horse and (2) In the summer it will reduce the fly population.

Any experiences with this feed?

 

[cowboydoc]

Mike,
Beet pulp is not a bad feed by any means but it isn't necessarily going to accomplish the 2 things that you pointed out. The main reason that horses are high strung is not because of feed but because of lack of exercise. It's like saying that children are hyperactive because they eat lots of sugar. Well it's been proven time and again and again just recently that sugar has no effect at all on the hyperactivity of kids. It's the same with horses. When people feed horses alot of food it's just like us it doesn't make you more aggressive it makes you less aggressive.

As to fly control that's also a wives tale that your fly pop. will be reduced. The only way to do that is with external fly control of by feeding your horse a supplement that kills the eggs and flys in the manure.

I mean you want your horses to feel good which they will with a good diet. Once they are feeling good you need to channel that energy into plenty of turnout time and training. Most horses I have ever worked with and seen with people are not the result of the specific breed or of feeding it's how the horses are handled and trained. I'm a quarterhorse man but I can take arabians and make them act like a quarterhorse with the proper training.

Unless it's something that you can get cheaper and that meets all the req. of your regular feed I wouldn't even bother with it. There's nothing wrong with it it just isn't going to make alot of difference in the areas you mentioned.

 

[MikePA]

Thanks for the insight, doc. That's kinda what I thought, now all I have to do is figure out how to explain this to my wife /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Perhaps I will just let her find out for herself. As you said, the beet pulp is just as good a feed as the sweet feed, it just wont accomplish the objectives mentioned by the trainer.

Also, have you used the feed supplement that reduces flies?

 

[cowboydoc]

Mike,
I used to use it and yes it does work. It just got to be too cost ineffective for as many horses as I have. You have to have them all on it or it doesn't do much good. I think it's called Rabon. Also you need to start feeding it before the fly season actually starts and continue until fly season is over. I think you only have a few horses don't you? If that's the case it wouldn't be too bad for you to feed it. I think the blocks are around $5-7 a piece and usually last one horse for a couple months. You can't put it out in rain though or it will just fall apart. Also they have to be able to lick on it most days. It does work though.

What I use now is the little wasps. They work really well if you do it right. It costs me about $40 a month during the fly season to use it but I rarely have many flys with it.

 

[gerard]

Little wasps? Please elaborate cowboy doc, I never even heard of the rabon stuff but sounds worth exploring. re beet pulp my wife has used it but I think it was to help put on some weight. Had to put some water in it first and let it soak a while first before it got fed, she never fed it dry ( I think because it would absorb water from the intestinal tract like a sponge and then colic would be a concern)

 

[MikePA]

We've ordered the wasps through the mail from Jeffers.

You're right, my wife soaks the beet pulp before feeding the horses.

 

[cowboydoc]

Gerard,
They are little wasps that can't sting you. They work by burrowing into the larvae of the fly eggs and stop the reproduction cycle. They work well but you have to have enough for your area and you have to start before the fly season starts.

 

[Molerj]

<font color=blue>It's like saying that children are hyperactive because they eat lots of sugar. Well it's
been proven time and again and again just recently that sugar has no effect at all on the
hyperactivity of kids.
<font color=black> Well, I don't know about that./w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif Just watch my two kids after they load up on some
junk food./w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

Ron

 

[MikePA]

Here's a link to a WebMD article. Like cbdoc, I just heard on the radio (NPR I think - Is it legal to own a tractor and listen to NPR? /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif) about the most recent study.

 

[webbmeister]

Hmmm ... most folks just don't know what a sharp bunch of cookies we tractor people are! ;-) ... and yes, NPR for tractor people is legal in all 50 states, although in a few it is forbidden to actually ride a tractor and listen to NPR (or classical music) simultaneously. (I would have written "at the same time" but "simultaneously" made me feel so much smarter ...)

Time for a little Masterpiece Theater, then off to bed. Ta Taa!

James