The Horse:Your Guide To Equine Health Care provides monthly equine health care information to horse owners, breeders, veterinarians, barn/farm managers, trainer/riding instructors, and others involved in the hands-on care of the horse.
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44 TheHorse.com THE HORSE March 2018 In 2011 the Food Safety Modernization Act brought the most sweeping food safe- ty law reforms in more than 70 years. The act established current good manufactur- ing practices (cGMPs) for manufacturing, processing, packing, and storing of animal feed. All manufacturers must be regis- tered with the FDA and have a certified hazardous control official responsible for implementing the mill's well-documented hazard analysis and risk-based preventive controls. These seek to avert issues related to biological, chemical, and physical haz- ards that could cause the product or work environment to become unsafe. Sourcing Ingredients Horse feeds include a large variety of components. After an equine nutrition- ist develops a formula for producing a certain feed, it's up to the procurement team to find ingredients for the mill. "They're looking to get the best deal, but they should also not buy products that don't meet the quality standards of the company," says Lattimer. Thunes says feed mills can source farm-grown ingredients, such as hay, oats, alfalfa, corn, barley, etc., in a variety of ways. The most economical method is to purchase straight from the farmer. However, mills that don't need large quantities of an ingredient or don't want to deal with a direct purchase might buy through a broker. Some feed mills even grow their own ingredients. Horse feeds include a variety of vitamins and minerals, such as calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, iodine, cobalt, copper, selenium, zinc, biotin, and vitamins A, D, and E. Thunes says mills might buy vitamins and minerals loose or formulated into a premix by another com- pany. Sometimes they do both and add further vitamins or minerals to the premix based on what they prefer. Additional ingredients include byprod- ucts of other manufacturing processes, such as beet pulp, which is a byproduct of the sugar beet industry; wheat middlings, a byproduct of the flour milling industry; and distillers grains, a byproduct of the ethanol industry. With byproducts, says Lattimer, the feed industry can make wise use of nutritionally beneficial resources and not waste ingredients that would otherwise be discarded. Quality Control The ingredient procurement team works directly with the manufacturer's quality assurance or quality control de- partment, which might reject ingredients that do not meet the company's specifica- tions, says Lattimer. Offices and state and local agencies au- thorized by the Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS, an agency of the USDA) oversee all grain inspection, weighing, and grading. This oversight helps the grain industry operate under uniform and official standards and procedures. When selecting grains for purchase, feed manu- facturers can assess the official grain certificate, which outlines that product's grade, class, and condition. Mills look for grain of a particular grade, says Thunes, based on moisture content, odor, percentage of damaged ker- nels (by heat and mold), dockage (weed seeds, stems, and other waste materials), foreign materials, shrunken or broken grains, fungi, mycotoxins, aflatoxins, etc. As grain and other ingredients come into the mill by either truckload or rail car, a mill's staff might also perform its own quality tests. However, Thunes says the testing requirements vary greatly between companies. "Some have high standards," she says. "Some have standards that are not so high. Some may not test. The really good feed companies are going to test (the grain) before it even comes into the mill." If the ingredients don't meet the feed mill's standards, they're sent to another buyer with different requirements. The mill's staff might also perform nu- trient analysis using near-infrared spec- troscopy (NIRS), says Lattimer. While not as exact as true laboratory wet chemistry, it does give a reliable, economical, and quick estimation of starch, protein, fat, Many feed manufacturers mix a variety of vitamins and minerals into their products. Your horse's feed might also contain byproducts such as beet pulp. PAM MACKENZIE PHOTOS NUTRITION