MicroSteed™
MicroSteed™ is the equine nutrition calculator and ration evaluator developed by Kentucky Equine Research to assess total dietary intake of nutrients from feed, forages and supplements. It uses the exact description of the horse to determine its nutrient requirements, with specially designed graphs and tables to allow for easy visual appreciation of how each ration component contributes to the total feeding programme.
Contribution from each element of the diet can be assessed against nutrient requirement to fit within the optimum range. Getting the correct balance and optimised intake for the diet is important for both health, development and performance.
MicroSteed can be customised with individual forage and pasture results to give specific and accurate feeding reports against the needs of broodmares, stallions, youngstock and horses in training.
In addition to reviewing nutrient intake, MicroSteed also evaluates the provision of energy from protein, fat, fibre and carbohydrate. Understanding the contribution from different nutrients is particularly important when considering management of growth, incidence of tying-up, behavioural issues and if needing to alter the diet to improve condition.
The Thoroughbred Team at Saracen Horse Feeds provides a personalised dietary review for clients throughout the season helping to track changes in dietary practices against the horse’s current needs for each stage of pregnancy or growth, the intensity of training and for individual horses with specific dietary requirements.
Did you know the energy requirements for a horse in training and a lactating broodmare are on the same level?
A lactating broodmare has a calorific requirement of 29.6 Mcal or 123.7 MJ per day, a close match to a horse in full training needing an average of 29.2 Mcal or 122 MJ per day.
Whilst the energy requirement is much the same, their requirements for protein is significantly different. A horse in training needs on average 900g of protein a day, whereas a lactating broodmare needs close to 1500g per day to produce good quality milk and maintain her own condition. MicroSteed assesses the need for each individual nutrient against the specific needs for horses in training, broodmares and youngstock ensuring the correct balance is achieved and the best results obtained.
The Thoroughbred Team at Saracen is available to provide ration evaluation, feed analysis and practical feed management advice specific to the needs of your horses. These personalised nutritional support plans can help to optimise the health and performance of the horses under our care.
Please see some examples below of MicroSteed reports for broodmares in late pregnancy and lactation, horses in training at different levels of fitness and youngstock after weaning and during sales prep.
Breeding Services
Our range of specialist thoroughbred breeding feeds and services has been developed through exclusive nutrition partnerships with Hallway Feeds and Kentucky Equine Research, both based in Lexington, Kentucky, since April 2000
Racing Services
Our range of specialist thoroughbred racing feeds and services has been developed through exclusive nutrition partnerships with Hallway Feeds and Kentucky Equine Research, both based in Lexington, Kentucky, since April 2000.