How do you tie herd health and pregnancy determination together? Well, leave it to a reproductive physiologist to “try” and connect those seemingly independent dots. Several options exist for the producer to diagnose pregnancy. Details of each of these options can be found in a publication at Land-Grant Press, but this article will provide a brief summary.
The first option (in no particular order) is rectal palpation, which is a simple procedure that requires little time or equipment to determine pregnancy. Most large animal veterinarians can perform this procedure beginning around 30-35 days of pregnancy.
The second method of pregnancy diagnosis is transrectal ultrasonography with an ultrasound machine. When utilizing ultrasonography, pregnancy can be determined as early as 28 days. Additionally, a skilled technician can detect a heartbeat and number of fetuses after 28 days, as well as determine the sex of the calf after 60 days.
Both rectal palpation and ultrasonography are reliable and relatively quick methods of pregnancy determination. Talk with your local veterinarian to decide which method is better suited to your operation.
The third method of diagnosis utilizes a blood sample. A blood sample is collected after 28 days (as long as it is at least 60 days past the cow’s most recent calving) and shipped to a private lab or company, which uses an assay to determine pregnancy status. The blood sample is relatively easy to collect and can be completed by the producer with a little instruction. Most extension professionals can assist or teach producers how to draw this sample. The exact timing varies by lab, but results can be expected in a couple of days.
Here is where I convince you that pregnancy determination is critical to your herd health program. What makes up our herd health program? While you may have others you include, these are my “big three” components of herd health: nutrition, vaccinations and minerals.
Our operations’ nutrition program is directly impacted by the pregnancy status of our cow herd. If we know the status of each cow, it allows us to strategically provide the correct nutritional requirements for each class of animal, but if we do not have that information, we are under- or overfeeding certain groups, which leads to lost revenue through over-allocation of resources or underperformance.
Vaccination and mineral programs are also determined by stage of production or age class, and pregnancy determination can aid in ensuring animals receive the most applicable product. Therefore, pregnancy determination is a great tool for producers to invest in for herd health, which will provide a great return on efficiency and ultimately increased profits.
