Feeding Goats Beet Pulp?

[Goatgirl47]

I just did a Google too. A good many people feed it dry. But I'll stick to soaked beet pulp. Clover will be happy either way!

I have to go outside now and stanchion-train Kendall/feed Clover before they start yelling.

 

[Bunnylady]

I'd heard that the shreds can be fed wet or dry, but the pellets should always be soaked because they are compressed and they do expand. I feed beet pulp and alfalfa cubes to my horses (soaked, of course; seems like you can never get too much liquid into a horse . . . "lead a horse to water, " and all that), and my goats get a handful of each. They'll clean up anything the horses spill, too.

 

[saje]

The biggest problem with BP fed dry to horses is that they can choke on it. They don't suffocate, but it blocks the esophagus and a long term choke can cause pneumonia and other horrible things. It can be fed dry if your horse is a nibbler and not a greedy pig, but generally it's not recommended.

I'm a relative newbie to goats, can they choke like that? God knows they get all sorts of other things wrong, so what's one more on the list!

 

[Goatgirl47]

The biggest problem with BP fed dry to horses is that they can choke on it. They don't suffocate, but it blocks the esophagus and a long term choke can cause pneumonia and other horrible things. It can be fed dry if your horse is a nibbler and not a greedy pig, but generally it's not recommended.

I'm a relative newbie to goats, can they choke like that? God knows they get all sorts of other things wrong, so what's one more on the list!

I don't know if goats can choke on beet pulp, I just thought that you weren't supposed to feed BP dry because it swells up to 2 (or 3) times it's original size. I'm sure goats can choke on it if they are, like you said, greedy pigs.

Do you feed beet pulp to your goats?

 

[newbiekat]

I feed it to my girls wet. I usually put it in a 5 gal bucket (about 3/4 full of dry pulp) and fill it to the brim with water, it usually fills the whole 5 gal bucket in about an hour of soaking. I've never had an issue with them choking on it.