There has been a lot of talk on FB recently about the toxicity of beet pulp in the US. From the limited reading that I have done, there are concerns with Round Up as well as arsenic related issues in processing. Also, many have mentioned a propensity for gas colic. Can we discuss this?
Haven’t seen any rational sources warning about it.
Arsenic is not used in processing beet pulp.
OTOH, I have seen a peer-reviewed paper in a reputable journal that finds no difference in digestibility of glyphosate-treated vs. non-glyphosate treated beet pulp in ruminants.
If you want anecdotal reports, my horses have been fed a BP-based “concentrate” portion of their diet for years, and everyone, including the 31 y.o., is doing fine on it.
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What are the symptoms and evidence of this alleged toxicity?
I tend to be pretty active in all things equine nutrition related online and have not seen any of these conversations or allegations, apart from the usual glyphosate debates pertaining to any and all feed stuffs.
Meanwhile, I also have two seniors on large quantities of a beet pulp-based senior feed with no issues…
Oh, you haven’t seen the “warnings”? They’ve been making rounds on FB :lol:
Here you go: https://www.bioequine.com/beet-pulp-warning.html
Nevermind that it just so happens that you can totally cure your horses from this toxicity with a product that website sells! Isn’t that an amazing coincidence? 
eta: a response from a veterinary nutritionist, Susan Garlinghouse, is here: http://www.traininghorses-naturally.com/beet-pulp-warning/ @Jillofalltrades that bit might be useful for you 
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Beet pulp is high in pectin and digested in the hind gut. These are both good things.
It is true that many? Most? All? Commercial sugar beets are now GMO to be glyphosphate resistant, meaning glyphosphate can be used instead of weeding.
It is also true that beet sugar is used as human table sugar now. Therefore if you eat any baking you are eating beet sugar.
Honestly I think it’s twisted priorities to get into a panic about going totally organic/non GMO for your horse if you are not totally organic for yourself and the humans in your life.
And it’s twisted priorities to go organic for yourself if you haven’t already established a baseline whole foods healthy diet. Eating organic non GMO junk food is just as silly as eating regular junk food.
Anyhow, glyphosphate has a fast half life. It breaks down fast. I haven’t seen any scientific proof otherwise.
I dislike the use of Round up and scorched earth methods of farming but I don’t think 2 cups of beet pulp in a mash carries any risk to my horse, and has many benefits
Niche feed marketers are certainly promoting hysterical and untrue claims about glyphosphate use. We have one locally that is charging $700 a ton for organic hay delivered, and $50 for a bag of organic alfalfa pellets (regular would be under $15).
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Very interesting links :). The bioequine links sent me to an anti glyphosphate crusader local to me said to be a horse nutritionist who I’ve never heard of. His website had all the hallmarks of unreliability including eccentric punctuation, very long rants, and factual errors. He linked to another author who had a self published book on glyphosphate.
Just a rabbit hole of unreliability.
I would be very interested to see any reliable data about glyphosphate residues in food.
I do dislike its use environmentally.
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Yeah, I just can’t even, with this comment :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes
"The second is that sugar beets are sponges for arsenic which is a problem in the Taber area where the refinery is. "
Think about that.
I would love to see valid tests of high glyphosphate residue in beep. Much testing has found otherwise
https://www.equisearch.com/HorseJour…-pulps-bum-rap
"The second claim is that beet pulp contains high levels of pesticides. This statement is an exaggeration. We found no reported pesticide residues in beet pulp in the appropriate database maintained by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization.
By comparison, residues of 13 pesticides have been found in alfalfa, 17 in barley straw and hay, 25 in barley, 28 in whole dried soybeans and 22 in wheat straw, among others."
How’s that for all the COB and alfalfa proponents who denegrate beet pulp for glyphosphate?
I mean, think about it - glyphosate is water-soluble. How is beet pulp created? With a whole lotta water involved.
Gas - does beep make some horses gassy? Absolutely. They are the minority. If it makes your horse gassy, don’t feed it. There are literally tons of beep fed to 1000s of horses a day, without any extra gas production.
I read that link to “Bio Equine”, and just skimming, it seems that this supplement is mainly Diotomacious Earth, an inert silica product from fossilised invertebrates. Not sure how an inert substance “detoxifies” a creature but there you are… I think the benefits of feeding BP far outweigh the theoretical risk.
I agree in preferring non GMO foodstuffs for ecological reasons, and I really dislike the environmental effects of Roundup, esp as Monsanto has been less than truthful in reporting safety studies. The cancer risks seem to be mainly related to significant exposure of glyphosphate while handling the stuff though. The amount ingested is pretty small and given how ubiquitous it is, unlikely to cause major health risks
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I suppose it’s possible for DE to “detoxify” by similar mechanism to activated charcoal. (Not saying it does.) DE is proven to work fairly decently as a dewormer. It’s frequently used as a caking agent for pelleted feeds. I would be wary of top dressing a horse’s feed with any kind of DE in it’s basic, powdered form due to the potential of lung irritation. I like to apply it around the perimeter of barns and under the bedding in chicken coops. I wear a fine particle mask and safety googles when I handle it.
I somehow ended up getting added to a FB group run by a whacko mom that believes the dinosaurs are a government conspiracy, etc. She posted once advocating feeding DE to pets, infants, etc. I pointed out that it’s safe to invest but you need to be careful that it can’t be inhaled when feeding it to babies and pets. She gave me a snotty, “That’s only for non-food grade DE.” I was feeling sassy, so I went out into the poultry barn and took a pic of the warnings on the back of the 50 lbs (very much food grade DE) bag and posted it. I think they threw me out of the group.
DE unfortunately isn’t particularly effective as a wormer.
Activated charcoal is a very particular antidote to poison and there is no reason to think DE would work in the same way.
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I’m not sure it’s even possible LOL Bentonite clay, sure. DE? I’d need really hard proof of that.
DE is proven to work fairly decently as a dewormer.
It’s a totally useless internal dewormer for horses. Not only is there no proof it does work, there is proof it doesn’t.
No real harm feeding it, but yes, it MUST be wet, as that is not something you want in the lungs. Non-food grade shouldn’t be in the body at all.
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Why be snappy about it? I stated that I have no clue if it would work as a detoxifying agent. I’m not a biologist. I also made no assertion that I works as a dewormer in horses. IME, it helps to decrease general parasite levels in poultry. It works by causing fissures in the exoskeletons of insects crawling through it.
Regarding the OP’s question - if a horse eats pelleted feed, chances are there’s DE in that feed. No reason to supplement.
I didn’t see snappy. Some people just don’t use a lot of smileys.
JB is one of the more rational folks here, IMHO.
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Having grown beets myself (sugar beets in particular) they are pretty pest resistant. I don’t use any pesticides on them and I wonder if commercial farms would either? Just a random thought…
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Oh that website checks all the boxes doesn’t it? Use DE to fend off GMOs and Glyphosate! No there is no real risk to round up in beet pulp. But I’m happy that this forum is a place to have a reasonable discussion about it
I question the use of DE in poultry production as well but many people swear by it. I haven’t used it once and I’m on my third flock of pasture raised 800 layers. But anecdote /= science.
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There is some use for DE topically as it scratches the exoskeleton of parasites/insects and they dry up. That’s why it works sprinkled around doors etc and around plants but from my understanding it doesn’t work when wet . Hard to eat it without wetting it! Activated charcoal absorbs certain compounds but DE just sits there, doesn’t absorb anything. It is highly irritating to the lungs because it is abrasive, not because it is toxic in itself.
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Sugar beets are now GMO to be roundup resistant which means that you can spray glyphosphate (roundup) to kill weeds instead of weeding or hoeing the fields. Apparently this saves a lot of labor. So its a herbicide rather than an insecticide. Same idea as with canola oil and roundup ready alfalfa.
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I wasn’t being snappy. I was pondering the idea alongside you. I do use smileys if I think the words I say could too-easily be taken the wrong way, and I never for a second thought mine there would.
I also made no assertion that I works as a dewormer in horses. IME, it helps to decrease general parasite levels in poultry. It works by causing fissures in the exoskeletons of insects crawling through it.
You stated “DE is proven to work fairly decently as a dewormer.” without any context of poultry. On a horse forum. In the context of feeding DE to horses. I wasn’t the only one who took your comment to imply “in horses”.
Poultry aren’t horses, and while DE may have some beneficial parasite control properties in horses (and it does, no doubt about it, including IIRC sheep), it doesn’t in horses.
Regarding the OP’s question - if a horse eats pelleted feed, chances are there’s DE in that feed. No reason to supplement.
A few feeds to have it, there is no real harm feeding it as a rule, and the amount in feeds is tiny. I just don’t subscribe to the safety of it being fed in terms of cups a day for days and days, and there is some evidence that can be harmful in a contact sort of way.
Thanks for this. When I asked questions about it on FB, it launched huge rants. Good to see this thoughtfully discussed.
