Studies on Feeding Wheat Middlings to Beef Heifers and Growing and Finishing Beef Steers

INTRODUCTION The type and amount of concentrate included in beef cattle diets can greatly influence production and profitability. Small grains are typically fed in these rations, but the inclusion of by-product feeds, such as wheat middlings (WM), in growing and finishing diets have recently been studied (Dalke et al., 1997; Blasi et al., 1998). Wheat middlings are the by-product of the wheat milling industry. Milled wheat contains approximately 72% flour and 28% middlings (D’Appolonia, 1979). They are also referred to as wheat mill run and consist of coarse and fine particles of wheat bran, wheat shorts, wheat germ, wheat flour, and the offal from the tail of the mill. This product contains all of the offal which must be evenly mixed and cannot contain more than 9.5% crude fiber. Typical analysis of WM is 14.5-17.0% protein, 3.5-4.5 % fat and 8.0-9.0% fiber (AAFCO, 1983). These characteristics indicate that WM should have a feeding value similar to cereal grains. The objective of these studies was to compare the feed value of WM to cereal grains in rations with varying concentrate to roughage levels.