Caprine Crops: Beet Pulp for Goats and Other Alternative Feed

What to grow to stretch your goats’ feed bill a little further.

Author : Sherri TalbotCategories : Members Only, Ownership
Caprine Crops: Beet Pulp for Goats and Other Alternative Feed

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Facing high feed bills? Look to the past to help with the future and explore other options, such as beet pulp for goats, sweet potato vines, and tree hay, to supplement modern feeds.

When the going gets tough, the feed bill for animals can feel even tougher. Especially in areas with hard winters or harsh heat waves — when forage isn’t an option — supplementing the diets of hungry goats can cost hundreds of dollars a month. If you don’t have the funds, it can lead to some tough choices.

In making these choices, however, we sometimes forget that grass and grain aren’t the only options for many goat breeds. While goats can’t actually eat everything, they can thrive on forage options that more finicky animals might pass up. Sweet potatoes, fodder beets, and tree hay are just a few options that have been successfully used by various cultures throughout history. In some cases, these have been fed as stand-alone crops; in others, they’re a way to supplement the main source of feed.

Sweet Potato

A popular food in much of the world, sweet potatoes are a highly nutritious root vegetable that also produces leaves and vines. In many parts of the world, this vegetation is thrown away, used in compost, or burned, but several studies have investigated the possibility of using it to supplement small ruminant feed.

A 2013 study of Nubian goats being raised in rural Tanzania, reported in the Journal of Veterinary Advances, showed that goats would eat silage from sweet potato vines and leaves in greater quantity than other common types of silage they were offered. Furthermore, they gained more weight as a result of the increased intake, and milk production improved, without losing protein or fat content.

beet-pulp-for-goats
Sweet potatoes AdobeStock/Plazaccameraman

Another study in 2024, conducted in Central Java, Indonesia, focused on indigenous breeds in the country and found that feeding only the leaves and vines could be detrimental. However, up to 30% of the fodder could be replaced with no negative effects on the animals.

Sweet potato roots are also nutritious, and an earlier 2008 study done in Nigeria on sheep reported by the Nigerian Society for Animal Production showed that feeding vines and roots as a 50/50 mix gave the animals the best nutritional outcome. In areas where sweet potatoes are valued as a human food source, feeding the roots may not be possible, but even supplementing with the waste vegetation may be an excellent way to ease the pain of a grain bill.

Mangelwurzel Beets and Sugar Beets

Beet pulp for goats (fed either soaked or dry) isn’t a new idea for many goat owners, and a number of beet varieties have long been used in livestock feed. Mangel beets, also known as fodder or cattle beets, are a huge root vegetable that can reach around 10 pounds. It was once a widespread food source for livestock on small farms. As industrial farming has become more commonplace, mangel beets have fallen out of favor, but remain a possible source of nutrients for homestead ruminants. 

Fodder beets AdobeStock/Matauw

While they were more commonly used for cattle, a 2023 study showed that as much as 30% of a meat lamb’s diet could be replaced with fodder beets, without affecting production. A 2002 study on goats found that supplementing a standard food mixture with silage made from fodder beet roots or sugar beet tops was both cost-effective and had no detrimental effects on the animals.

Sugar beets are the most used variety today when it comes to beet pulp for goats and other livestock, primarily because the pulp resulting from sugar production is typically a waste product for the industry. Feeding the beet pulp — either as-is or dried for easier storage — has been shown to increase feed intake by cattle and has been recommended as a food source for ruminants. Several studies in Egypt have suggested that where sugar beets are common, the pulp and tops alike can supplement other fodders. In the U.S., many goat owners already find that beet pulp for goats is a good supplement to their feed.

Tree Hay

When using the word “hay,” most farmers think of grass. However, “tree hay” — or collections of tree leaves — was probably the first means of supplementing livestock, and may have been used for over a millennium before what we now think of as hay. Goats were one of the most commonly kept ruminants in early human history and are known for preferring shrubs and trees over grass. This makes the use of tree hay as a supplement in goats’ diets an obvious — if often overlooked — option.

In Europe, especially, tree hay was once a common source of nutrients for ruminants. Elm and ash are believed to have been the preferred sources of tree hay in the U.K. In areas where these trees are less common, green branches and fully leafed-out saplings from other trees would be cut and tightly bound for use when other forms of browse were lacking. The dried leaves are identified as vital to the nutritional makeup of the hay by those who still use this method.

beet-pulp-for-goats
AdobeStock/Herman Vlad

Since trees are rarely cultivated the way grains and grasses are, tree hay can vary in nutritional value, but this is also true when used as fresh, free-range forage. Historically, tree hay maintained livestock during periods of drought, flooding, poverty, and extreme temperatures when grass was unavailable. The practice of pruning trees to encourage new growth above the reach of livestock was also common, making harvestable materials more available.

With the development of industrial feeds, and the reduction of available woods, this practice fell out of practice until few remember it anymore. For small farms and homesteads, however, this is still an excellent way to provide goats with greens during the off-season, when they might be otherwise unavailable.

Adapting to Your Situation is Key

It isn’t unusual for small farmers to find themselves in a bind if weather or finances are tough. This is especially true when dependent on only a single source of food for livestock. Adaptation during these times can be beneficial to both farmers and livestock alike, providing alternate forms of nutrition for a lower cost. If you aren’t already, try beet pulp for goats, grow some sweet potatoes, and feed the vines to your goats.

SHERRI TALBOT is the co-owner and operator of Saffron and Honey Homestead in Windsor, Maine. She raises endangered livestock breeds and educates on heritage breeds, sustainable living, and the importance of eating locally.

Sources:

Originally published in the October 15, 2025 digital issue of Goat Journal

Categories : Members Only, Ownership

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