A measure of the energy content of feeds used in the European I.N.R.A. system which references the Net Energy (NE) value of 1kg of standardized barley grain fed to a horse at maintenance level and equivalent to 2.25 MCal.
The U.F.C. is not much used in Australia which relies on the USA system where Digestible Energy (DE) is employed and expressed in Megacalories MCal in the US, although in Australia we now use Megajoules MJ as the accepted unit. The conversion is 1MCal = 4.184 MJ. Energy requirements are established for all classes of horses in both systems but cannot be interchanged.