Speedi-Beet compared to regular beet pulp

[Pico_Banana]

I have been giving my air fern mare Speedi-Beet as a carrier for her VMS and other supplements. It’s great and I really like it. She only gets a cup AM and PM so the cost is negligible. Very quick to soak and I don’t rinse.

However, I am now trying to add some weight to my two hard keepers. Neither are great hay eaters (one is a senior with little chewing ability left). Neither love alfalfa cubes but both like the Speedi-Beet. But when I compare the cost of Speedi-Beet to their regular grain - Triple Crown Senior - it’s cheaper to just give them more grain. The TCS is $30ish per 50 lb bag but the Speedi-Beet is more like $50ish for I think a 40 lb bag. And they already get three meals so I can spread the volume of grain out so that’s not a concern. My pocketbook is wondering whether I should just try regular beet pulps shreds rather than the Speedi-Beet. Are they really that different? Or should I just give them more TCS? Thoughts?

[Simkie]

YMMV of course but I’ve never found beet pulp to put weight on any of my hard keepers. It’s just so much volume for the calories. I’d up the TCS, add alfalfa hay and/or add oil.

[ToN_Farm]

It’s been a while, but I recall the speedi beet being much more fine and not as much fiber as the regular. I also had one senior that didn’t like hay and had dental issues. I was concerned about him getting enough fiber. He wasn’t so keen on beet pulp either. I choose to just feed mostly TC Senior moderately soaked. The problem with that is that, even though it is low NSC, it still has a lot of calories which isn’t good for the air ferns which he also was. It’s a real challenge with special needs horses.

[PonyApocalypse19]

How much grain are they getting now? If they’re getting the recommended amount (check the bag instructions), you may need to add a fat supplement instead like Amplify or Ultimate Finish (UF is a easier on the pocket but some horses don’t like the taste of the pellet).
That being said Speedi-Beet and shreds will put some weight on. It’ll just take time and as previously stated you will have to feed a lot. We feed both shreds and Speedi-Beet at our barn as a 4th meal for some horses. I like the SB for the quick soaking time. I also think it carries the powdered VMS and supplements better since it almost turns into a mash. The shreds just kinda fluff with water. To me the SB absorbs more water and you know when it’s fully hydrated.
Do you have to worry about IR with any of your hard keepers? That may change your strategy with respect to NSC levels.

[JB]

There are some other factors to take into consideration

Beet pulp in general has highly fermentable pectin, which helps create a healthy hind gut, which can help a horse get more out of what he’s eating, which is what helps some horses actually gain weight just beyond the fairly small calories provided. But that really only applies if there’s some compromise there to begin with.

On a per-calorie basis, a regular feed is cheaper, and especially comparing TC Sr to SpeediBeet.

It will help to know how many pounds of TC Sr you’re already feeding. If it’s the bare min of 5-6lb, then I’d go to 10 first (yep, it sucks cost-wise!). You COULD try maybe 2lb of regular beet pulp, total, divided into those 3 meals, and see what happens by the time you finish a bag (so 20 days if you use 2lb/day). It’s hard to say with the older guys what will do the trick.

[Pico_Banana]

Thanks all. More info:

My 29 year old QH mare with the limited chewing ability had been getting 6 lbs TCS, fed in 2 lb portions over 3 meals (breakfast, dinner, night check), with timothy/alfalfa cubes at dinner and night check. Out on grass 7am-6pm, free choice hay in her stall. As I’ve been experimenting with changes in the last two weeks since my vet was out, I’ve upped her to 9 lbs over those same 3 meals, in addition to more cubes. I feel like I’m already seeing some weight gain. She’s never been tested for IR. We have tested her for Cushing’s fairly recently and she came out on the equivocal band. Given some symptoms (struggles to heal, the weight loss, some inappropriate lactation), we just added half a Prascend tablet a day. She is fully retired.

My 22 year old Dutch warmblood gelding (4th level schoolmaster I have had since May) has been getting 6 lbs TCS fed in 3 lb portions over 2 meals (breakfast and dinner). Out on grass 7am-6pm, free choice hay in his stall. This is what he was fed before he came to me but I will admit that he was pretty lean – looked more like a TB than a WB. We’ve been working on building a better topline and it’s improving slowly, but he’s definitely put on more muscle than he had when he first arrived. He is admittedly in very light work - 3 days a week still mostly at the walk (but active, working walk) as we’re trying to get him to relax and work over his back more. Even before the vet was out and decreed him too lean going into the colder months, I had recently added SP’s muscle building supplement to see if that might help him put on more muscle. After a month of that, switched to a pure gamma orzanyol supplement and he’s been on that maybe 3 weeks. He basically refuses to eat any hay cubes. No IR or other concerns for him. He is a mild cribber.

I historically have fed my 29 year old ground flax when the grass dies so just bought a bag of that. And I was thinking I would do that for the 22 year old, as well. (My easy keeper is also super bug sensitive so I have her on the KER omega 3 oil, even though she certainly doesn’t need any extra fat.)

I also am open to feeding hay pellets to either of them. I guess my underlying concern was whether more than 6 lbs of the TCS was too much so I was looking for non-grain alternatives, hence the initial experiments with the hay cubes and SB.

[JB]

6lb of TCS is the minimum for horses that size, so you definitely have room to go up

Can you get TC Sr Gold? If so, that’s almost 300 calories more per pound

Will they eat any oil? Canola is a cheap source of fat calories, but there are certainly other, tastier options, like Cocosoya, for a cost of course LOL

Rice bran contains gamma oryzanol, more calories than a GO supplement, so that’s another option as well.

[Pico_Banana]

I tried the TCS Gold for the super senior a while ago for exactly that reason and she did not approve. My gelding is also a bit picky (grain moistened more than the minimum amount for supplements to stick? egads!) so I suspect he would similarly disapprove of that transition.

And I have very limited space for grain so it would be best if I could have one that would work for both.

The rice bran is intriguing. Add calories and get rid of the separate (and $$$!) supplement. Looks like I could get the Manna Pro Max-E-Glow rice bran from Tractor Supply (and my local place may have other options). Do you know how to calculate how much GO is in rice bran? It’s not on the guaranteed analysis. The supplement I have him on is the Hygain Anazolic, which promises 1.2g of GO per serving (at almost $2 a serving).

[JB]

I feel you, my 33yo doesn’t like the Gold either His order of preference is Complete, then Sr, then Sr Gold, so at least the Complete is 1700 cal/lb (Gold is 1800), so even though I’d prefer him not have that level of NSC, he’s 33, and he needs to eat, so he gets what he’ll eat LOL

I wouldn’t bother worrying about how much GO is in 1lb of rice bran (and I don’t know offhand lol). There’s limited evidence on what supplementing with it actually does - how much is needed to make what effect.

[MorganMaresVT]

Of all the beet pulp options, I love SpeediBeet for its ease of use and how nicely it can mix in with other feeds while getting a lot of moisture into a horse. For the past few years, when all my horses were on a simple ration balancer, I’d also add SpeediBeet all winter as a little extra.

This spring my coming 30 yr old mare suddenly looked horrible and wasn’t holding weight with the feeding approach that had worked for years. After a bit of trial and error, TC Senior has worked wonders and I am confident she is going into winter looking good. As of now, she’s getting 8lbs TC Senior total (split into 2x day). Since the TC itself is getting so much beet pulp in her, I’ve stopped with the SpeediBeet.

I still have a bag of SpeedieBeet that I use when I take one of my younger mares to endurance/CTR rides, and that same mare will get a couple handful added to her ration balancer in the winter - always looking for ways to keep water going in throughout the winter. All of my horses have always really liked it.

You’ve gotten good suggestions for adding weight back, and based on my experience this year I’d agree that sources other than a straight beet pulp will probably get you there faster.

[Simkie]

@Pico_Banana

Do you know how to calculate how much GO is in rice bran? It’s not on the guaranteed analysis. The supplement I have him on is the Hygain Anazolic, which promises 1.2g of GO per serving (at almost $2 a serving).

A quick Google turns up that the gamma oryzanol content in rice bran oil is only 1-2%, so it’s probably negligible in rice bran.

[Gamma-oryzanol: an important component in rice brain oil] - PubMed

Two bucks a day is ouch Do you think it’s doing anything?

[Pico_Banana]

@Simkie

Two bucks a day is ouch Do you think it’s doing anything?

I know, I thought I would try it as a short-term thing to see if it would help and then hopefully I could maintain without it. No discernible difference so far so I may just bag it. It may be he just needs more calories.

[Simkie]

One “scoop size” thing I’ve found pretty effective is whey isolate. Maybe the only scoop size thing that’s made a big difference for me! It can also be $$$ but this company pretty regularly has good sales:

https://slickdeals.net/share/android_app/fp/870703

Aww bummer, looks like it might be over, but if that’s something you might like to explore, it’s worth setting up an alert on slick deals. I don’t ever pay full price for it.

[DMK]

As JB said, beet pulp isn’t a calorie thing. I do feed mine bp, but they are all on ration balancer and it’s mostly the way to get them to think there’s more than a handful.

But in winter when I am trying to maximize calories, my budget friendly option is canola oil. It’s cheap(ish), the 6:3 ratio is ok and it can add the weight… if your horse will eat it, but all oils tend to have that issue once you get to a cup (960 cal).

I used to soak mine in beet pulp pellets for a few hours and add the pellets to breakfast and soak overnight. Shreds would also work, I just like pellets since they take up less space.