[Derby Lyn Farms]

anyone know the calories in alfalfa pellets vs beet pulp per pound? Weighing my options on what is the best way to go to feed. Have about 14 tbs I feed and currently I am feeding beep pellets (1.5 lbs dry weight) soaked with 3lbs alfa pellets and a fat supplement to most of the horses. I feed grain as needed to them. It works good, but with winter coming I can't use the beep pellets because they take too long to soak and they freeze solid by the time they are ready to use. No way in heck I am lugging 14 horses worth of beep to the barn from the heated garage. I can switch to beep shreds which comes in 40lb bags instead of the 50lb bags the pellets comes in.

OR I could just switch over to straight alfa pellets. So much less hassle. Would this cost me a bunch more in the long run?

Right now a I can get a ton of alfa pellets for roughly $500. A ton of beep is $500.

I am just not sure what the calorie content is and how much more alfa pellets to feed to make up the beep.

[bludejavu]

Alfalfa pellets are between 900 and 1000 calories per pound. Beet pulp is 1100 to 1150 per pound. I fed beet pulp shreds to a barn full of horses for quite a while when we had a hay shortage. However, my climate isn't nearly as severe as Michigan's and if it was, I might opt for the pellets, although I'm big on soaking pellets as well.

[CDE Driver]

Just an FYI...

We feed soaked beet pulp pellets... In the winter we pour hot water in a cooler and soak them that way. If it's sub zero we will put a blanket over the cooler. They are always still warm in the morning. We do this for 10-12 horses.

[JB]

Depends on the beep - the stuff I get says 1000.

Beep is also high in calcium, but iirc not quite as high as alf, if that makes a difference to you

[littlecreek]

if you are feeding both kinds of pellets that is a lot of calcium in the diet as both are high in that mineral. Adding some wheat bran I believe would help balance that. Beet pulp pellets can be soaked in hot water for a shorter time- I've found 30-40 mins in hot tap water and they are fully fluffed up and ready to feed. I've done that for about a dozen years and with no ill effects to this point. Might be nice for a warm feed on a cold evening as well.

[Robin@DHH]

We had a toothless old horse (age 35+) who needed
forage but couldn't chew hay. We found a source of
beet pulp pellets in bulk and purchased a ton of those.
We had the feed mill put the pellets through their
grinder to make granules and we could soak those
for only five minutes to get them rehydrated. If you
have electricity in your barn, you could heat water
to boiling in the barn and put it on the granulated beet
pulp. By the time you are ready to feed, it should be
rehydrated and ready for your horses. They should be
able to eat before the mixture freezes.

[Derby Lyn Farms]

I can buy beet pulp in bulk but my problem is storing it somewhere. I can fill up the bed of my pick-up truck with shreds. Just don't have enough storage. The shreds are no problem to soak. I do have several extra water troughs I could fill up with beet pulp to store it and keep it dry in the barn.

I never thought about getting a water heater for out in the barn to boil the water. Not a bad idea, they would probably love the hot treat.

[JB]

Just make sure the water isn't boiling, or close, because that much heat will degrade a good many nutrients

[bludejavu]

I never thought about getting a water heater for out in the barn to boil the water. Not a bad idea, they would probably love the hot treat.

We have a water heater in our barn and I couldn't live without one again. They are indispensible.

[Derby Lyn Farms]

Just make sure the water isn't boiling, or close, because that much heat will degrade a good many nutrients

Good to know thanks!

[gypsymare]

My TB choked on dry alfalfa pellets. He doesn't bolt his feed either. Now I just cover them with hot water from the tap and they are pretty soft in 10-15 minutes. Not totally fallen apart but enough so that he won't choke on them.

[SuckerForHorses]

I can buy beet pulp in bulk but my problem is storing it somewhere. I can fill up the bed of my pick-up truck with shreds. Just don't have enough storage. The shreds are no problem to soak. I do have several extra water troughs I could fill up with beet pulp to store it and keep it dry in the barn.

I never thought about getting a water heater for out in the barn to boil the water. Not a bad idea, they would probably love the hot treat.

I have heard of people having a coffee pot in the barn for heating water (for small amounts of course) and just running the water through sans coffee grounds for a pot of hot water. I'm going to try this in my barn this winter, but I only have 2 horses so its do-able.

[JB]

If you've got electricity for a coffee pot, why not just get an old fashioned heater you stick in a 5 gallon bucket for a lot more water? Yeah, it takes a bit longer, but it also gives you a lot more water

[SuckerForHorses]

Because I don't need that much water

[D Taylor]

I mix some BP shreds with the other ingredients (pellets and crimped grains) in my custom blend. Last mixing step is to add alittle SB oil. It gives a nice coat and I have never had choke issues with the oil coated feed whether BP or other pellets.

But I would think a simple low cost solution if you wanted to use a soaked BP (or anything soaked) during winter for that many horses would be to invest in a 16 gal Allied Precision heated bucket. Dump in the BP and water in the AM, cover it with something handy and by the evening everything is ready to go at feeding time without any hauling from the house hassels.

I am thinking the lid of my son's turtle sand box would be an ideal cover. He is in his 20's now and in the 82nd Airborne, but the turtle lid survived all these years in the barn as a handy toss the loose hay in carrier or cover that tank or what ever.

By using such a bucket no heating element would ever be exposed to the feed fibers. Add a cheap hand cart and you could simply unplug and wheel down the barn aisle. Scoop out the soaked BP as you go.

[JB]

Because I don't need that much water

Right, but the OP is potentially doing this for 14 horses

[kasjordan]

I don't know the exact calorie count on either beet pulp or alfalfa pellets- but in my experience, I've put weight on horses easier with alfalfa than with beet pulp. Not sure why, but for me, it just seems to work that way. So much so that it's my first go to when I want some weight on one. Hasn't failed yet! I do like beet pulp for the extra roughage and to get extra water into them, I use it daily for that reason.
I love the idea of pouring hot water into a cooler and mixing your pellets in there..You could use another cooler that you filled with hot water and just use as a dumping cooler and fill at your house or wherever there's hot water if there's none at the barn. Although with 14 horses, that'd be a pretty heavy cooler of water.
I'd really look into the little water heater!

[Mosey_2003]

I would also take into consideration the volume difference. Obviously price is the same by the ton, but to feed the same weight the beep is going to be a larger meal, especially after soaking.

[Derby Lyn Farms]

I made the decision to switch to alfalfa pellets and grain. TSC had them on sale last month so I bought a pallet. Within the first week I saw a difference in their weight. The stallion who is normally a hard keeper is getting a bit chunky and still gaining. The other horses are filling out better. It is less work for me and seems to be working better for the horses.

[D Taylor]

Less work is always good! Especially when you own a herd.