Using Ultrasound for Cattle
Welcome to Open Range, I’m Susan Allen. Stay tuned because after the break I’ll check in with our field reporter, Greg Martin for the AgriBeef Minute.
I’m Greg Martin with todays AgriBeef Minute. Most of us that are parents or grandparents have pulled out an ultrasound picture to show off our new kids. Well now farmers are using that same technology to detect pregnancy in cattle.
ANDERSON: Years ago nobody did preg tests they just waited until they calved and sold the open ones but we’ve some so far and the efficiency of it from a management standpoint and the cost of feed and all those issues you just can’t afford to run and open cow through the winter.
Cattle rancher Terry Anderson describes the ultrasound unit veterinarians are using today.
ANDERSON: The unit now thats available all the mechanism, the battery system is in a backpack on the technicians back and then he has a headset with an eyepiece and then the probe is in his hand. They still rectally palpate the cows but he can tell down to 26 days of pregnancy.
The cost factor for using ultrasound for a cattle operation has come down significantly and in fact most vets are charging by the hours and can run a fairly large number of cattle through in a short time.
ANDERSON: So from a management standpoint especially in an operation like ours or any operation that’s doing a lot of AI work, you want to know those cows are pregnant. So that you don’t have to have them confined to watch them on the second heat cycle, third heat cycle or going into natural service so its worked extremely well for us.
I’m Greg Martin and that’s today’s AgriBeef Minute.
Thanks Greg. Don’t forget Greg will be back each Wednesday with the AgriBeef Minute. Agri Beef Co - Real Families, Great People, Exceptional Beef. I’m Susan Allen.
