Feeding soybean meal

Does anyone feed soybean meal to their young horses? My vet has recommended it several times and I just started using it. My boys are still growing, and he said the extra protein will give them a boost. Previously I was feeding alfalfa cubes, Pro Form Step 2 feed and a mineral supplement mixed with ground flax. He told me to feed about a pound per day for growing horses, so I am slowly working up to that. I am wondering whether to split it up between their feedings, or just soak it with their cubes in the evening. It is quite coarsely ground so I'm thinking the soaking might help. I'm interested to see if it makes a difference, but not sure how I'll know!

I have used it and really like it. I did not soak it, just added a cupful into the grain mix. There are two kinds of soybean meal. The kind with the full oil, and the leftovers from the oils extraction. The full oil will have a really oil soaked looking bag (it was paper back then). I was able to find the full oil meal in Colorado and used it with great success. It made the horse's coats gleam and helped keep weight on.

When I moved to NC, all I could find is the meal with the oil extracted. It didn't have the same result, so I stopped using it.

I'm not sure which mine is- I'll have to check. It did come in a paper bag but I didn't notice it to be oily. The meal itself looks and feels quite dry, but I was feeding it for the protein content rather than the oil anyway- they already get ground flax daily and have super-shiny coats, but the vet felt that they could use some more protein as the pasture and hay in our area is quite low in protein and some trace minerals due to the amount of rain we get. He seemed to think that my horses were a bit small for their age, but he is used to working with Hanoverians and Warmbloods and I have Morgans. I decided to follow his advice anyway as I would like to advantage my horses' growth as much as possible but I found his statement interesting. My boys are in no way underweight or under-developed, in my opinion- they are typical Morgans- compact and not overly tall. The young one who is almost 2 is already well over 15.2hh and still has some growing to do before he fits his legs, so he may well end up at 16 hands or so, which I believe is already quite tall for a Morgan.

Soybeans are rich in lysine an essential amino acid which is important in growth and development. I feed whole roasted SB over the meal. It stays fresh longer and has all the fat (20%).
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