Important Sugar-Beet Byproducts and Their Utilization

Excerpts from the Bulletin: The beet-sugar industry has several byproducts that are of importance to agriculture. In harvesting sugar beets the tops, which constitute about one half of the weight of the marketable roots, are cut off in the field. In the processing of the sugar beet into sugar, pulp and molasses are produced as byproducts. These byproducts are important feeds for fattening cattle and sheep in the areas where they are produced. They are also used advantageously in a variety of rations for dairy cattle and to some extent in feeding other livestock, such as horses, swine, goats, poultry, and rabbits. In general, the dry matter of these byproducts has practically the same feeding value as that of grain when they are fed in properly balanced rations. Lime cake, another byproduct of beet-sugar manufacture, serves the same purpose as ground limestone in growing legumes that do not thrive in an acid soil, and in improving the texture of the soil. The different forms in which these byproducts are available and their value for livestock feeding and soil improvement are discussed in this bulletin. Specimen rations for feeding different classes of livestock are given on pages 27 to 29, inclusive.