I have three quarter horses and a TN walker. Their diet is high quality forage (hay and pasture) with a mix of pelleted feed (low carb/no corn) and timothy pellets, supplemented with Gro strong vitamin and minerals, freshly ground flax seed, and biotin. They look great with a body condition score of 5 to 6. I have searched for a grass hay based feed that does not contain wheat middlings or beet pulp. The commercial feed manufacturers do not consider wheat middlings grain because they sell ‘grain free’ feeds with wheat middlings as the primary ingredient. What is the nutritional benefit of the wheat middlings to the horse, or is a cheap filler? – Jonica L. via AAEP Ask the Vet
Sounds like you’re doing a great job feeding your horses! To answer your wheat middlings question, I turned to AAFCO (Association of Animal Feed Control Officials), who defines it as a grain by-product that “consists of fine particles of wheat bran, wheat shorts, wheat germ, wheat flour, and some of the offal from the ‘tail of the mill.’ This product must be obtained in the usual process of commercial milling and must contain not more than 9.5% crude fiber.”
My other go-to source for equine nutrition, The Sixth Edition of Nutrient Requirements of Horses, says the inclusion of wheat GRAIN in horses diets is somewhat uncommon. However, wheat by-product feeds are often used in horse feeds, wheat middlings (midds) being one of the most common. Because most of the flour has been removed, wheat midds are higher in fiber and protein, but lower in energy than wheat grain. Wheat midds may contain more than 1 percent phosphorous so calcium supplementation is usually necessary when wheat midds constitute a significant portion of the diet. Due to their fine texture, wheat midds are not easily fed alone; however, they are commonly used in pelleted feeds.
Let me see if I can translate some of this nutrient-speak. First of all, don’t be alarmed by the use of the word “by-product.” I know the term scares some people off, but it doesn’t necessarily mean an ingredient is bad, all it means is that some ingredients, such as wheat midds, are not the main reason for processing wheat, which is primarily used to make flour for people. Because wheat midds are a by-product their quality and nutrient composition can vary, but in general this ingredient is high in protein, energy, starch, phosphorous, and potassium, with some trace minerals and vitamins to boot. So it does have nutritional value to the horse and for this reason as well as the fact that its fine texture helps bind pellets, you’ll see it in many commercial horse feeds.
I feed approx. 1 dry quart (soaked after measuring) shredded beet pulp + approx. 2 dry quarts alfalfa pellets (for horses) + 1 quart senior (Purina) to each of my old geldings, twice a day, with some stabilized rice bran in the evening.They get hay, also. Doesn’t the beet pulp contain calcium? If I added some wheat middlings would I still need to add calcium to the mix? I was given 50 lbs. fresh wheat middlings and would like to use it if it is good for the ponies.
I’m curious if you ever got an answer to your midds question.
I too have horses which are now in a very sandy area. Have heard people have used midds along with their feed as an everyday supplement to prevent colic in a sandy area.
Wondering if midds are added, how much needs to be added to effectively keep things moving inside our horses.