beet pulp & alfalfa cubes

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beet pulp & alfalfa cubes Moderators: luluwhit, gotothewhip, cindyt, crossspur, ForumAdmin Jump to page :	Last activity 2014-05-03 7:42 AM 6 replies, 4051 views View previous thread :: View next thread
General Discussion -> Barrel Talk


Barrelhorsehelp1 Reg. Jan 2014	Posted 2014-05-02 5:38 PM Subject: beet pulp & alfalfa cubes
	can you use beet pulp and Alfalfa cubes as a forage instead of hay? if so, how much should be fed? would it be better in the long run?
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Bibliafarm Reg. Jul 2008	Posted 2014-05-02 6:20 PM Subject: RE: beet pulp & alfalfa cubes
Warmblood with Wings Posts: 27846 Location: Florida..	you can if needed (horse cant eat hay) but they are grazing animals so hay and pasture is for that reason .. I wouldnt substitute it unless horse cant eat hay.
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SG. Reg. Sep 2003	Posted 2014-05-02 7:44 PM Subject: RE: beet pulp & alfalfa cubes
Blessed Location: Here	Bibliafarm - 2014-05-02 6:20 PM you can if needed (horse cant eat hay) but they are grazing animals so hay and pasture is for that reason .. I wouldnt substitute it unless horse cant eat hay. I agree they still need forage but you can substitue some of the hay with alfalfa and beet pulp
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Fairweather Reg. Jan 2004	Posted 2014-05-02 7:48 PM Subject: RE: beet pulp & alfalfa cubes
Twin Sister to Queen Boobie Posts: 13315 Location: East Tennessee but who knows?!	Horses needs between 1.5% - 2% of body weight per day in forage -- so a 1,000 pound horse needs a bare minimum of 15 pounds of hay or forage per day of top quality forage. From all the literature out there that I've read you can use beet pulp to replace up to 30% of their total forage. Alfalfa cubes you can use to replace hay pound per pound. So if you feed 15 pounds of hay per day, you'd feed 15 pounds dry weight of cubes. A 3QT scoop holds 3.5 pounds of cubes. Beet pulp holds around 3.25 pounds. I have one mare that I have to pull off of hay every spring due to severe coughing and allergies. Twice a day she gets 2 scoops of alfalfa cubes and 1 scoop of beet pulp - measured dry. I soak it for a few hours. She actually does better on that than when she's on hay. Univeristy of Colorado actually did a study on cubes and found that horses will pick up weight when they're on cubes only. The attributed it to the consistency of the quality of the hay. I agree that if you can feed hay, that's a much better option. I've used cubes and alfalfa to replace at least 3 pounds per day of forage for all of mine for several years. That seems to be a good balance. I've also found they get slower on their hay with beet pulp than just cubes.
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Bibliafarm Reg. Jul 2008	Posted 2014-05-02 8:16 PM Subject: RE: beet pulp & alfalfa cubes
Warmblood with Wings Posts: 27846 Location: Florida..	I feed soaked beet pulp and cubes as well. love that it helps with weight and also to get fluids in gut..it does cut down on hay as well..
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lexyy12 Reg. Apr 2010	Posted 2014-05-02 8:39 PM Subject: RE: beet pulp & alfalfa cubes
Expert Posts: 2276 Location: ohio-in my own little world with pretty ponies :)	I was just giving beet pulp and alfalfa pellets to my guys that needed a little help but I've started everyone on it too. Not a lot but it cuts a little out of hay and I think they look better and I like they get a little more water thru it. Plus they love it!
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Lmichaels Reg. Feb 2007	Posted 2014-05-03 7:42 AM Subject: RE: beet pulp & alfalfa cubes
Expert Posts: 1218 Location: South MS	Barrelhorsehelp1 - 2014-05-02 5:38 PM can you use beet pulp and Alfalfa cubes as a forage instead of hay? if so, how much should be fed? would it be better in the long run? This is what I feed - I feed 1/2 scp oats and 1/2 scp beet pulp 2x daily and I do a small feed bucket of alfalfa cubes soaked overight during the winter while we have no grass - I cut back on that during the summer I usually have a round bale out too but sometimes I cant get them - I increase my beet pulp to 3/4-1scp as needed as that helps keep the weight on You may need to feed a good quality all round supplement if you cant give hay
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