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Judy,
To add to what Susan said (and hopefully not confuse everyone in the
process)...beet pulp is something of an oddity--by crude fiber content it can be
considered a roughage--anything greater than or equal to 18% crude fiber is
classified as a roughage. However, what makes it unique is that it is
quite high in energy, so the folks responsible for the International Feed Number
system designate it as a concentrate.
Keep in mind that all this is based on crude fiber and TDN, which most
nutritionists don't use anymore for balancing rations. They are outdated and
rather inaccurate measurements of fiber and energy content...handy for teaching
the basics of ration balancing, but not used by professional nutritionists much
any more. (Don't get me started on the presence of Crude Fiber on
guaranteed analyses on feed tags unless you want a diatribe--one of my favorite
things to do when I taught feeds and feeding was explain proximate analysis,
then show why it was so inaccurate! LOL)
It is digested more slowly than cereal grains, so there isn't a "sugar" or
"starch" high like you can see with traditional sweet feeds. It is very
highly digestible for a fiber source, which explains the high energy value
compared to standard forages.
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