Pregnancy Testing

 

Benefits

  1. Identifying non-productive breeders & heifers for culling. Cows and heifers that are not in calf can be removed from the herd and replaced with productive animals.
  2. Pregnancy testing provides quicker assessment of breeder performance, once the breeding season has finished, rather than waiting for calving season.
  3. Manage surplus females, achieve max returns for culls, certified pregnancy status can attract a premium price.
  4. Estimates calf distribution and numbers for future management.
  5. Segregation of high risk cows where mating is uncontrolled and enables producers to identify and separate cows that are due to calve in the dry season.
  6. Can help confirm reproductive diseases that are present within a herd. Serial preg testing with detailed records to determine if there are delayed or poor conceptions.

 

Utilizing Preg Testing Data

  • Conception Rate
  • Pattern of conception over mating period
  • Data can help future breeding regimes
  • Data can predict future business performance
  • Provides excellent measure of breeding performance provided all animals are tested. Not testing animals that look calfy provides little value in data
  • Provides a set of figures from which losses to branding & then to weaning can be calculated and hence overall breeder performance calculated.
  • Conception rate can help predict sale numbers for future years. Which producers can utilise for finance, feed plans and continued business structure changes.

 

Joiner Heifers

  • Most critical in the breeding herd
  • Lifetime performance better if off to a good start
  • Best managed as a separate group
  • Mating weights very important >360-380kg ideal. Weight can be a cause of delayed conception in this group.
  • Should be monitored from weaning to ensure mating weight achieved.
  • Joining @ 2 years with appropriate weights, should be achieving 90% conception rate over a 4 month period and eventually achieving 90% conception in 3 months joining if well managed.

 

First Calf Cows

  • Lowest conception rates due to combined stress of lactation & requirements for growth
  • Generally 10-40% lower than maiden heifers
  • Recording BCS (Body Condition Scoring) is particularly important in this group

 

Wet & Dry Cows

  • Dry cows far less stressed and should conceive early in the mating period
  • Important to record lactation status of cows @ preg check. So that preg rate of wet vs dry can be calculated
  • Breeder BCS prior to calving is the major determinant of conception rate

 

Conception Rate

  • Most fertile cows conceive early in the mating period while lactating
  • Numerous late pregnancies can indicate a disease problem or low BCS @ the start of mating.

 

How Pregnancy Data Can Provide Better Future Planning

  • Grazing Management
  • Planning Branding
  • Planning weaning to manage cow BCS
  • Supplement program management (esp. If cows preg test data suggests percentage of them calving in the dry season)
  • Collecting data puts business in a much better position with financiers for whom the reliability of future cash flow is a critical consideration
  • Consider opportunities to tighten the calving period & increase selection for fertility by culling a percentage of animals which conceive in the last month of joining, esp if there is reduced turnoff numbers, pregnancy diagnosis can help identify opportunities to fill the gap.

 

We have the latest in ultrasound technology to provide more accurate and effective diagnosis of foetal aging which can then help producers plan for the future and create solid business decisions.

If you would like to chat about pregnancy diagnosis in your herd please do not hesitate to give us a call.