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Feeding beet pulp pellets? And hay feeding questions...

9K views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  Peggysue 
#1 ·
I picked up some beet pulp pellets today when I went out to get Lacey some hay (first time ever buying a horse hay! I'm proud. However it cost me $26 for 2 bales of alfalfa, I was not so pleased with that) and I'm not sure how much to feed her when the time comes that she might need it.

I'm not inclined to feed it right now because she's at a pretty good weight right now. Perhaps a little "skinny" but probably a solid 4.5 on the Henneke scale, maybe even a 5. I prefer her at a 6 or so, just because she seems to build muscle and keep it better when she's there. But anyway, I'm not inclined to start feeding her beet pulp right now since I feel like she really doesn't need it currently, especially since the amount of alfalfa she's eating is going to be increasing significantly and she's a pretty easy keeper.

But, I basically got the beet pulp right now since I had the money and I don't always and I know that by January/February she's probably going to be thinner since her pasture will probably all be gone by then and I want to be prepared.

So I know I should soak them, but how much is reasonable to feed? Like I said, she's an easy keeper so I don't want her ballooning but I do want her weight to stay more consistent throughout the seasons. So no getting down to the 3's, like last year, this year for her and then getting up to a 7 or so in May. Silly chubby monkey.

Also, any ideas about how many pounds of alfalfa to be feeding? The bales I got were pretty large, maybe 60-70 pounds each? The plan is that she'll be getting pretty much free fed grass hay (not high quality grass hay, btw) and then having some alfalfa on top of that... She's about 950 pounds in the spring when she's muscle "rawr" woman, probably like 900/875 right now.

Bear with me, I'm a total newb at this "feeding your horse, yourself" thing and I want to do it right! Only the best for my girl.

Also, on a random note, do you think human glucosamine/condroitin supplements would work on horses? My parents have a huge bottle of glucosamine pills that they don't like and and they've offered them to me if I wanted to make cookies for Lacey myself and crush the pills up and put them in there... Instead of buying them for now... I dunno. :lol:
 
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#2 ·
Don't have an answer on the glucosamine. Seems to me that it wouldn't be a high enough dosage for a horse, but I really couldn't say. We feed soaked beet pulp pellets to our horses. We give them each about a pound to a pound and a half (dry). We soak the pellets in a five gallon bucket filled with water. We use hot water in the winter and cold hose water in the summer. We also drain off the water in the summer, but use the little bit of extra hot water in the rest of their feed mix. They get a nice hot breakfast and dinner in the winter, and they really chow down. Neighbor thought we were being cruel the other day when he drove by and saw steam coming from their buckets. It was just so cold that morning that the feed looked steamy!
 
#3 ·
THey can have up to 40% of their fiber in beet pulp so on average about 6 lbs

They NEED 1 to 2% of their body weight per day in roughage so you need to be feeding a total of alfalfa/beet pulp of 10 to 20lbs a day so if you are feeding 6lbs of beet pulp then 14 lbs of alfalfa
 
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