Sugar beet byproduct

[mncowboy]

Just curious if anyone is using sugar beet byproducts and how? :cowboy:

 

[novaman]

I'm not using it but I sure wish I would be closer to a plant so I could. It would be too costly for me to haul it in as I am halfway between Sidney and Fargo. From what I have been told it makes an excellent feed in a dairy ration because of the high digestability of the fiber. From what I've read it also works well for adding some energy in a beef cattle ration to stretch forage supplies.

 

[LazyARanch]

local cattle ranchers are hauling all the beet pulp they can get their hands on...

We have 6 sugar beet processing plants within 75 miles of Grand Forks ND. Beets are a HUGE business here

the cattle eat it up and do really well on it. The Tractor supply store here also sells dried beet pulp as feed
for horses.

 

[hayray]

I looked into getting it hauled in a couple years ago. It is a seasonal product, in cold weather freezes up pretty good and in warm weather spoils pretty good. The dairys are mixing and packing it in bunkers or else feeding a semi load within a week or two. After calculating out the low dry matter it contains it was more cost effective to by high protein hay in my situation. The beet pulp I could have hauled in with a semi load at a time is 75% water, so you need to get it pretty cheap and trucking has got be added on to that.

 

[msscamp]

Just curious if anyone is using sugar beet byproducts and how? :cowboy:

If you have access to beet pulp, I would strongly suggest you take advantage of it. We used it on a regular basis - simply mixed it in with the ground hay for the mature cows, or added a little grain (about 1 pound/calf)for the weaning calves - back when we had cattle, and it has a lot of benefits - most of which I have since forgotten. A few that I did not forget are that it carries a protein content of roughly 8% if memory serves, provides ready fiber, helps to increase conversion rate of feed, increases water intake, is very easily digested, and I believe it also provides a ready source of energy. Google beet pulp + cattle and you will get numerous articles on the benefits of this feedstuff. Additionally, we have used it as a substitute for up to 1/2 of the daily hay ration for our horses with excellent results. It can also be used in addition to the daily hay ration for a horse that is a hard keeper, and it works beautifully.

 

[mncowboy]

Thanks. We've been using it for the last couple years. I've mixed it with processed poorer quality hay, oat hulls and with straw. I've also fed the pulp by itself in a feed bunk with free choice hay nearby. The cows and calves seem to go nuts for it and as you said they seem to do :cowboy: well on it. The pulp is free, you just pay for the trucking. Right now it comes to about $200 aload/25 ton.
Thanks

 

[S&WSigma40VEShooter]

Just curious if anyone is using sugar beet byproducts and how? :cowboy:

Back when we showed cattle we used beet pulp in bags as feed. It really gave em alot of the energy and carbs but not much for protein. They pooped alot to from the fiber.

 

[hayray]

At that price that is about $32/ton for dry matter, so from there you could figure how much you are paying for protein, DE, and TDN.

 

[mncowboy]

And how do you figure price for those? Your talking supplements?

 

[hayray]

No, that is not supplements but those figures are calculated by looking up the nutritional values for beet pulp. For example if the beet pulp is 8% protein then you figure out how much a pound of protein cost, and so forth for the other values. When I figured it all out the beet pulp was not a better deal then buying alfalfa hay, but It was gonna cost me a little more then you are paying right now.

 

[Angus Cowman]

This isn't beet pulp but on the same lines
There is a man from Texas that owns a place about 10 nmiles from me he uses the whole beets
processes them and makes cubes out of them and sends them up here from Texas and that is what they feed their cattle all winter and they always look good, they feed very little hay just have free choice min,salt and feed these cubes daily. I think they are feeding about 5 pounds per hd per day

He told me what the protein and TDN and all is and it was pretty good I just can't remember as it was a few yrs ago

sounds like pretty good stuff

 

[mncowboy]

Ok, now I understand what your saying. Thanks

 

[TexasBred]

Just curious if anyone is using sugar beet byproducts and how? :cowboy:

If you're talking about "beet pulp" it's a great ingredient. For our area it's too expensive to feed to much of anything except show animals and horses but very digestible, good energy and great fill factor. If you can get a good supply of it at a decent price I'd certainly get it.