Herd Pregnancy Testing

Phantom cows are those cows which do not return to oestrus after insemination but are not actually pregnant. If your non return rate is abnormal (too high or too low), scanning cows 30 – 35 days after mating will enable you to determine whether a cow has conceived and is currently maintaining that pregnancy or has suffered an early embryonic loss or returned to anoestrus.

Sexing of foetuses can be done between 60 – 70 days post conception. Some of our experienced scanners can accurately determine the sex of calves. This highly specialised skill takes longer than standard scanning. Herds using embryo transfer programmes or contract mating may find this a useful management tool in their breeding programmes.

Early whole-herd scanning is our most popular scanning service and is carried out approximately 12 – 14 weeks after the planned start of mating. This allows each cow in the herd to be assigned a predicted calving date by verifying the date of conception. In order to determine empty (not in calf) cows, mating needs to have finished at least 5 weeks. Herds with mating periods less than 9 weeks can determine empty cows at the time of the early pregnancy scan. Herds with longer mating periods may require a second pregnancy test to “recheck” cows diagnosed as NDP (not detectably pregnant) at the first scan.

• Empty cows are all confirmed by manual palpation. This also allows your vet to assess uterine/cervical health. All empty cows are clearly marked to assist with drafting and minimise risk of misidentification at culling (e.g. if there are double ups on farm).

While the majority of our farmers prefer to do early scanning, if you prefer to scan later in the season, we are happy to do this. Chat to your vet about what information you require from your herd’s pregnancy testing and we can work out the best timing with you.

Most herds (or mobs) being sold require either pre-purchase or post-purchase pregnancy confirmation within a specified time period. We can combine this pregnancy check with individual cow body condition scoring as this is also often a condition of sale.

All our vets are equipped with battery operated heads-up units, allowing for scanning at a wide range of facilities. Not every set of yards is suitable for scanning, so if you haven’t scanned at your yards before chat with the vet before booking to come up with the best plan. Scanning your heifers is well worthwhile so you are not rearing any empty animals.

To be able to assign predicted calving dates (i.e. identify later-calving heifers), heifers should be scanned about 120 days after planned start of mating.