>"What bran is often used as an ingredient in wet feeds. Wet bran,
>however, has an extreme calcium phosphorus imbalance which makes
>it an unsound nutritional ingredient. If you are trying to add
>water to the feed, beet pulp is a superior product and it has other
>nutritional benefits.
Several cautions though, if you feed lots of bran regularly then yes, it
can cause mineral imbalances. However fed in large quantities but only
occasionally like at a ride it can be very beneficial. Beet pulp can
absorb a large amount of water and is reported to be a great way to get
skinny horses fatter. However from the people I know who have used it you
must be very sure it is fully soaked before feeding it to the horse
because it swells and it can rot or spoil very qwuickly in hot weather.
For that reason I'd be cautious about feeding it on a ride where I might
not have time to wait for it to soak up all the water before feeding it
and where it might have to sit out and perhaps spoil. I haven't used it
recently because of the potential for problems.
Oogie McGuire - oogiem@dsrtweyr.com
Weyr Associates - Multimedia and Web Authoring Services & Consulting
Desert Weyr - CMK Arabian horses & saddle mules for endurance and show
http://www.dsrtweyr.com/~desertweyr/