I recently switched my horse on to Tribute Senior Sport. I always soak my grain, but despite this, I had a terrible choke incident with this grain. There are large twisted pieces that are very hard, but don’t exactly resemble beet pulp. What are these so I can avoid these in other grains? I picked these pieces out and soaked them for an hour with hot water after the fact and they barely softened. I’m mad at myself for switching to this grain and surprised that it is offered with these large coarse pieces.
Anyone else had issues with this grain?
It looks like big pieces of beet pulp to me. I haven’t fed that particular feed, but several bags of TC Senior had those a couple of years ago. I contacted the company and they sent me coupons for new ones and I picked out the big pieces and threw them away. They never would get soft.
The new bags were okay.
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It looks like beep shreds to me too. I imagine it’s possible that certain sections of the whole process could cause shreds to harden. Your first call needs to be to Tribute to ask them to investigate. They only mill in one place so that shouldn’t be difficult.
I had a quick response from Tribute, and they confirmed the pieces of beet bulp are larger than their acceptable size. They explained that the supplier is supposed to screen to a certain size and Tribute does core samples of truckloads to confirm. Tribute said they will reach out to their supplier based on this info. They asked for bag information and offered to comp some feed for me (which I declined. An offer to pay the vet bill, I may have considered.) I was actually pleasantly surprised by the professionalism and candidness of the response. I think it’s interesting that they would use beet pulp shreds as a component of a hard feed. Never again for me.
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A pretty large number of “hard feeds” use beet pulp shreds. They are a very good way to increase fiber, add some protein, helping keep it all fiber-based.
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I have been feeding this feed for about six months to six horses without issue. I just had a mare with a severe choke on Saturday. I have had this horse ten years and she had never choked before. I will be contacting Tribute tomorrow.
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I thought beet pulp was always supposed to be soaked prior to feeding?
Beet pulp doesn’t have to be soaked any more than any other feed (barring rock-hard hay cubes/pellets)
Anything should be soaked if the horse’s way of eating increases the risk of choke. This means - poor dental health, poor chewing habits, huge bites, bolts food. If he’s choked before, feed should be soaked, beet pulp or not.
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I fed both TC Senior and Tribute Senior Sport to my choke prone gelding before he passed. I remember being surprised by the difference in texture between the two feeds. The Senior Sport seemed much drier and “harder” than the softer, stickier TC Senior.
I fed both soaked to mash because we knew he was a frequent choker, but I would be hesitant to feed Senior Sport dry to any horse. Maybe it’s just me being paranoid, but something about the texture of the Senior Sport concerns me. The oversized beet pulp shreds certainly don’t help that, although I’m sure it was a milling error that will be corrected in the future.
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I have been feeding this for a year with no problems but had a couple of chokes on TC Senior before. I am careful not to feed these kinds of feed to those horses.
I did speak with a Tribute vet and sent her pics of the large pieces of beet pulp that I found. One piece was two inches long and there were many that were an inch long. I was given the same info as MapleLeaf. It is a supplier problem and I was told Tribute would be contacting them with proof that they are not supplying what they are contracted to supply.
I am not sure where I will go from here for feed. I really like what this feed has to offer. But the mare that choked has never choked in ten years. I have 15 horses on the farm and I haven’t had a horse choke in over ten years. Horses are stressful enough, I really try to minimize the stress. And right now, this feed makes me nervous.
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I talked to my local store and I’m returning my unopened bags. I am going to switch to Proelite feeds I think.
I was told that if the ingredients are on the tag (instead of on the bag), you are more likely to get variances in ingredients, etc. Proelite has them printed on bag and I know some folks who are happy with their feeds.
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ProElite’s Senior looks like a good option. And it has an even lower NSC. Any idea on price comparison?
I’ve been feeding senior sport for about a year now. I’ve been feeding it to two seniors that are 28+ with bad teeth and to a gelding in his late teens. It’s fed in relatively high quantities and when it’s above freezing we’ve had no issues with choke. But when fed dry below freezing, the senior mare has choked on it twice. Now, whenever it’s below freezing it gets hot water poured in and it breaks apart in only a couple of minutes. When it’s above freezing it’s much softer and they can all eat it comfortably without being soaked. I haven’t seen any chunks that large in the year I’ve been feeding it.
Welcome! I am truly glad that you have not had a problem with it except when it is freezing.
Maybe I had a bad couple of bags. It doesn’t freeze where I am. There were very long, hard pieces in the bag I opened. My mare had never choked before in her life. I asked her last owner and I have had her ten years. Her teeth are fine and were done a few months ago.
I am not comfortable feeding this grain. It is a supplier problem, and until that is remedied, I am steering clear.
I am sorry to be leaving Tribute, I really liked this product up until now, but I just can’t risk another choke.
Ditto. The pieces in the above picture are just what I grabbed from the top of visible grain. Lots of too large/too thick pieces. It definitely doesn’t soften like normal beet pulp (which, regardless of prevailing opinion, I don’t feed dry).
I think Proelite runs somewhere around $23-24 per bag. I am only switching one horse who does not eat much so the price difference is not problematic. I actually like the kalm n ez, so I’m keeping another horse on that tribute product.
The PE Sr is a nice feed. Triple Crown Sr is very nice as well if that’s an option.
That’s not true though. What matters more is how the formula is set. Fixed formula (fixed amounts of all ingredients, with fairly tight requirements of nutritional content of the major ingredients), Fix ingredient (all ingredients listed plainly, but amounts might vary to meet the GA as there may be less of a nutritional range in the main ingredients), and non-fixed formulas which contain things like “grain products” where actual ingredients COULD change, though likely don’t change often.
There are regulated variances allowed depending on the nutrient being tested.
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Thank you JB. I am fortunate that most feed choices are available to me. I am leaning towards the PE. Will check on the cost. The Tribute Senior Sport is $24.75 for me and TC Senior is the same.
A friend today mentioned she just switched to: SAFE 'N EASY™ Textured Horse Feed | BUCKEYE™ Nutrition The first ingredients are Soybean Hulls, Wheat Middlings, Whole Oats, Soybean Oil, Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal. I left Buckeye years ago when it was bought by Mars.
Update – Switched to PE Senior. Opened the first bag and to my dismay were the same big chunks of beet shreds. Again, scattered throughout the bag were pieces measuring 1.5 to 2". So I taped up the bag and it’s all going back.
I’m switching back to Nutrena in defeat.
Oh, brother! I switched to PE Senior. I will keep an eye on the beet pulp pieces and if I see big ones I will go to TC Senior.
