Re: Beet pulp problems?

[Susan Evans Garlinghouse <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>]

guest@endurance.net wrote:
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> From: Diane Nelson
> Email: safehavn@fast.net
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> Has anyone encountered problems when adding beet pulp to a standard diet of 10% sweet feed (about 2-3 lbs/day) for a youngster (3 yr old)?  I added beet pulp about 2 weeks ago (1-1 lb coffee can soaked, not much) and have since noticed some undesirable behavior changes.  Very aggressive about food, bullying behavior in pasture.  Any relationship?
> 
> Diane


It's unlikely that nutritionally there's anything in the beet pulp that
would be causing the behavioral changes.  There are some limited soluble
carbohydrates in beet pulp, but not even close to the amount he's
already getting in the sweet feed mix.

When I started feeding my guys beet pulp and once they'd made the
transition from You're Trying To Poison Me Aren't You over to the
current Give Me My Beet Pulp Right This Minute, there was alot more of a
circus atmosphere in the paddock.  Everyone was just so territorial over
THEIR beet pulp that they spent alot of time either chasing everyone
else away or plotting the theft of each others.  I just moved the
feeders farther apart and the problem resolved itself.

Another possibility is just that your three year old is just at the same
time trying to work his way up the pecking order.  Dakota is now 2 1/2
(how time flies) and in the past month or two has done alot more
dominant behavior, so that he's moved from bottom of the food chain to
number two with a bullet.

Anyway, your situation may be a combination of these things, or
something else entirely, but it's in all likelihood not connected with
the beet pulp in a strictly nutritional sense.

Hope this helps...

Susan G