Beet pulp?

[Mini-M Ranch]

Is anyone feeding beet pulp as a supplement? If so, are you soaking it first? How much do you give per feeding? And, where in the world do you get it?

I have read a lot of good things about the high nutrative value and ease of digestion for beet pulp. One of the breeders where I got my girls was using it in the feed she gave to her does in milk. She was using dry pellets, so much of a percent ratio to their grain. I can't remember how much.

I think one of my does might be pregnant, and am interested in tweaking her diet a bit (she is also the one that everyone says is too thin, although she is starting to fill in a little).

 

[ksalvagno]

I have used beet pulp for alpacas but not so far with goats. One of my girls is a great milker and her crias gain weight like crazy but it takes a toll on her. I buy the shredded beet pulp at the local feed store and I don't soak it. It is shredded small enough that it isn't a problem. I did buy a bag at TSC one time but really didn't like the way it looked and smelled. It is never a huge part of the diet but it does seem to help keep weight on my girl.

 

[kimmyh]

I have used it for goats (added to goat grain) for years, and I do not soak it.

 

[CathyK]

I use soaked beet pulp. It's in pellets here and I think too big to let them have unsoaked.

I use about 1 part beet pulp to 4 parts water (i use hot water, but I don't think it really matters). I also put a scoop of oats/barley in it for them.

I use it to mix their minerals in with so I know everyone is getting minerals. I've had issues in the past with copper defiency so this way, at least I have a better chance that they are getting their minerals (plus they can't poop in the mineral bucket this way as there isn't one).

They get about a cup of unsoaked beet pulp each.

I also mix in, every other day, about a 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar and some nutritional yeast.

They get beet pulp twice a day, early morning and later after dinner. They only get minerals in one batch of the beet pulp.

Have never had a problem with feeding it.

(I have toggenburg and pygmy goats; the jersey cow gets beet pulp too)

 

[freemotion]

I feed beet pulp to my dairy girl. I do soak it, because I need to slow her down when she eats on the milking stand....we race to see who will finish first. If she does, she is naughty! So I make sure I always win.....hey, wait a minute......she is winning, because I give her more food now!!!

I give her a half cup of dry crumbles soaked in about a cup of warm water, mixed with her grain and alfalfa pellets, twice a day.

Someone posted an article somewhere recently that showed the safety of feeding it dry. I don't, because she would be able to beat me in our twice-daily race to the finish line!

You should be able to find it at any feed store.

 

[kimmyh]

I have never seen my goats gobble it, even the dairy girls (in the old days) didn't wolf it down, go figure. I feed the shredded beet pulp, I tried the pellets, and my goats didn't like them.

 

[helmstead]

I used to. I would never feed the pelleted version dry - but I did feed the shreds dry. I only ceased because beet pulp had a terrible year, and it became VERY hard to find and doubled in price. I can't have a component of my feed mix suddenly unavailable, so I phased it out. I couldn't tell any difference at all when I stopped using it, actually...because I crunched the numbers and made up for it with other feedstuffs.

I love beet pulp and rice bran for supplemental use in all animals. Top notch.

Today, I supplement with alfalfa pellets and Calf Manna, BOSS if needed (altho the calf manna has pretty well made the BOSS a treat, it works wonderfully).

 

[mdoerge]

Not to change the subject - but what is Calf Manna? I've seen it mentioned several times, but never with an explanation of what it is and why you would use it.

 

[kimmyh]

Calf Manna http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_library...667CC8-F772-432A-A5C6-32B4237AB606&showText=1

 

[currycomb]

use the beet pulp here also. wet and dry shredded. dry mixed with a bit of sweetfeed and goat pellets, wet mixed with alfalfa cubes, soaked in a bucket for a couple hours and then we "slop the goats". it is very messy, but they love it. when hay was hard to find, went to this method and the goats looked great and had strong healthy babies, and more milk than we knew what to do with. found at most all the feed stores in our area, so.ill.