[Blackbelly] The Beet Pulp Experiment

[Barb Lee]

I reported a little over a month ago that I was going to run a bit of an 
experiment using beet pulp as an energy replacement for corn with my 
lambs.  I started feeding them beet pulp along with a small quantity of 
corn (0.3% of average body weight) on December 15.  We weighed them just 
now.

The results??  Their gains tanked.  They are on a balanced ration that 
was about 16% protein, primarily from 18% protein dairy alfalfa, with 
the beet pulp replacing corn as the energy component.  This diet was 
BALANCED according to the NRC charts, and the reported nutrients in beet 
pulp, plus an analysis on the hay.

Their average daily gains from birth to 120 days averaged 0.35 (9 
lambs).  In the period between the last weigh in and this, 61 days, 
their daily gains went down to 0.17 pounds per day.  The lambs are about 
six months old.

The likely explanation is that the lambs do not have the rumen capacity 
to deal with the bulk of the beet pulp.  Might work for ewes, but this 
experiment was a bust.

And with beet pulp actually being more expensive than corn, I reckon 
we're going to scrap the idea of being able to grow lambs on beet pulp 
as a non-starch energy supplement (a requirement for obtaining a 
grassfed label).

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Regards,
Barb Lee 


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