I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with shredded beet pulp.I have fed it to my horses in the past with good results, any ideas about effects on rabbits?

I am so glad you asked, because I've been wondering the same thing. Nowadays if I spy bulk food of any sort I wonder if I can feed it to the rabbits.

Rabbits and horses are quite similar so I would bet it has the same effects and digestibility but I have been cautioned to be more careful with molasses around smaller livestock. A lot of shredded beet pulp is soaked in molasses. I have debated it a few times but I can only find the molasses or pellet versions and I'm not sure they'd eat the pellets. Plus here hay is cheaper than beet pulp by a wide margin so it would only be useful to add variety and maybe as a weight controller since it's know to both help lose weight on fat horses and gain weight on skinny horses over hay or feed mixtures.

I have used it-- I liked the results-- Soak it first-- as it Does expand quite a bit, and one does not want the rabbit ingesting dry sponges!!!

Thanks for the input, and no we do not want bunnies or anyone for that matter to eat dry beet pulp lol !! How were you feeding the BP? as a treat or as part of their daily feeding? How much for an approx. 10 pound rabbit?

__________ Mon Jan 16, 2012 7:57 am __________

I will be sure to get non- molasses beet pulp !! Thanks !

I read a study done in Canada on feeding beet pulp in its' dry form. Even when fed half their daily ration in beet pulp dry there were no expansion issues. Apparently the danger of feeding beet pulp dry is an urban legend. I have always soaked mine for the horses- it seems more palatable that way.

http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department ... ll/hrs3243

Here is an excerpt from the article:


Myth: "Beet Pulp Must be Soaked Before You Feed It."

"If you don't soak beet pulp before feeding it, it'll swell up and rupture the horse's stomach." "Beet pulp will swell up in your horse's esophagus and cause choke if you don't soak it first." These are just a couple of the diabolical warnings surrounding the feeding of beet pulp. Because beet pulp seems to "grow" when water is added, somebody surmised that it could be a hazard if fed dry because it would absorb saliva and gastric juices, swell up, and block the esophagus or cause the stomach to burst. Although inaccurate, these evil predictions deter many horse owners from even trying beet pulp.

Beet pulp may soak up water like a sponge, but it cannot soak up saliva quickly enough to expand in the esophagus and cause choke. Instead, choke associated with beet pulp (particularly the pelleted form) is often in response to the particle size and the horse's aggressive feeding behaviour, rather than the actual feed itself. Horses that bolt their feed without sufficient chewing, or do not have adequate access to water, are far more likely to choke, regardless of the type of feed, compared to horses that eat at a more leisurely rate.

Nor is it likely that dry beet pulp will rupture the horse's stomach. The equine stomach holds 2 to 4 gallons. This volume is equivalent to 4.5 to 9.5 pounds of dry beet pulp, which is more than most horses receive in a single meal. Likewise, most food that enters the stomach passes on to the small intestine within 15 minutes or less—and for those of you who have timed how long it takes beet pulp to expand, it's longer than 15 minutes. Assuming free access to water, horses will voluntarily drink enough water to adequately process any amount of beet pulp consumed (1.5 to 2 litres per pound of beet pulp). Along with this drinking water, fluid is constantly entering the digestive tract, so beet pulp will not "suck the horse dry." Ultimately, the 40 to 50 gallon capacity of the equine digestive tract is more than sufficient to contain even a very large meal of beet pulp. The only horse in danger of a gastric rupture is one suffering from impaction or other severe lack of normal peristaltic movement.

So, contrary to popular belief, you don't have to soak beet pulp (either the pelleted or shredded form) in water to feed it safely to horses. Research at several universities, including some of my own studies, have fed dry beet pulp in amounts up to 50% of the total diet without choke or other adverse reactions. Likewise, many, many tons of dry beet pulp-based feeds are fed annually without incidence. For example, most commercial feeds designed for geriatric horses contain large amounts of beet pulp and are fed straight out of the bag without being soaked first. If you choose not to soak the beet pulp before feeding it, make sure your horse has access to as much good, clean water as he wants (which should be the case no matter what you feed).

Although soaking beet pulp is not necessary, there are several good reasons for wetting it down before you feed it. Soaking beet pulp may make the feed easier to chew, particularly for older horses with bad teeth. Soaked beet pulp may also be more tasty and it provides a useful method for hiding minerals or medications. If your horse gobbles down his feed or is prone to choke, it might be a good idea to soak your beet pulp. And while horses will drink water on their own, pre-soaked beet pulp is a good way to get some water into your horses, particularly in the winter when they may not be as inclined to drink what they need. So, if soaking beet pulp fits into your feeding management, by all means, do it. You don't have to soak beet pulp overnight-most of the expansion takes place within the first 3 to 4 hours.
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I use the shredded beet pulp as it has no molasses- the pelleted form does. Pellets would be far easier to feed if I could find them without molasses.

In horses up to 40% of the hay in the diet can be beet pulp long term. Not sure how we translate it to rabbits who can survive on no hay if they are getting a complete pellet.

We have fed dry shredded beet pulp with no issues. Here we can get it with or without molasses. I think it is like crack for rabbits though....it does put very good condition on rabbits especially in a cold cold winter!

Would starting with about a teaspoon and working up to a TBSP be about right?

We've feed dry beet pulp w/out molasses, the rabbits that like it do well with it.

I always soaked mine because I just didn't want to leave certain things to chance-- I fed it in the winter, as well, and soaking everything that wasn't pellets helped ensure adequate water intake in below freezing weather. Maybe my rabbits would not eat it dry because they WANTED it soaked--

Rabbits have habits. They don't like changes, especially in diet. If you started them on soaked pulp they would probably think something was wrong with it if you suddenly switched to dry.

What is the purpose of the pulp in a rabbit's diet? does it provide nutritional benefits or just serve as bulk/fiber and ?calories? ?

Good question. I googled beet pulp nutritional value and found this interesting article. There are lots of other sites with information too.

http://shady-acres.com/susan/beetpulp.shtml

Then I googled beet pulp rabbits and found a couple of articles. Haven't read them yet, but they promise to tell us all we ever wanted to know about rabbits and beet pulp - and more!

http://www.wrs.upv.es/files/journals/vo ... e_blas.pdf

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar ... 4095800123


There are a lot of other articles available, most of the serious ones on page 2 or 3... I'm too tired to sort through them tonight, but I thought it was interesting that so much information about rabbits and beet pulp is out there.

I know this is an older post. I was wondering how much beet pulp to use. Do you mix it right into the grains |?or do i soak it ? or do i give like a teaspoon dry on top of there food?