Beet pulp good sheep supplement?

Blue Sky

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Any thoughts on the shredded or pelleted forms? Thought I'd add a little to sheep evening feed of allstock.
 

norseofcourse

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When we had sheep our sheep vet recommended it.
We had the shredded. Some say to wet it but we fed it dry. :hu
I don't know about feeding it to sheep, but I've fed it to horses. The shredded can be fed dry (as long as the horse doesn't gobble it down fast and choke), but the pelleted needs to be soaked first. There's a good article about beet pulp pellets here:
http://www.dressage.com/humor/2001/0330beet.htm

Worth the read ;)
 

SheepGirl

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Beet pulp is 75% TDN, 11% CP, 0.65% Ca, 0.08% P
At TSC, Beet Pulp is $13.99 for a 25 lb bag.

Whole corn is 88% TDN, 9% CP, 0.02% Ca, 0.3% P
At TSC, whole corn is $8.79 for a 50 lb bag.

AllStock feed is 72% TDN (?), 12% CP, 1.5% Ca, 0.4% P
At TSC, AllStock is $9.99 for a 50 lb bag.

It seems to be Beet Pulp is very similar to AllStock in terms of nutrients. Usually when people want to supplement, they want to add calories (energy) because their animals are looking thin. If that is the case with you, I would ditch the beet pulp and mix in some corn. I would say 1 weighed part of corn to 2 weighed parts of AllStock. That would give you 77% TDN, 11% CP, 1% Ca, 0.36% P. Which again is roughly the same as the AllStock, but with 5% more TDN.

If you are looking for adding protein, then neither Beet Pulp nor corn will help you there--in that case you would need soybean meal.

In addition, beet pulp is VERY expensive on a per-nutrient basis, and I do not see any advantage to it as it already is very similar to AllStock... Beet Pulp would be $55.96 per hundred pounds vs AllStock at $19.98 per hundred pounds.
 

Sheepshape

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We use beets (whole, the vegetable) in the winter as a source of calories in addition to silage/hay when the grass has stopped growing. Nearer to lambing (about 6 weeks from due date) we supplement with 18% protein feed and molasses/minerals/vitamin lick.

I agree with SheepGirl beet pellets/pulp are an expensive way of giving extra calories.
 

Blue Sky

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Thanks everyone. I moved to a grass only environment from a grass/brush acorn forage. They used to chow down on acorns this time of year with no problems. After a couple of years here on grass only they don't seem to have the same condition. Pasture is mostly coastal Bermuda. Hay is the same. I've been feeding Allstock and a little sweet feed.
 

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