All About Ultrasound
The past few weeks we have been busy ultrasounding our bred heifers. This has sparked a lot of questions about our equipment and my journey with ultrasounding. I’ll be covering how I got my start, a overview of our equipment, our chute set up, and sharing my favorite products for cattle work. I want to fully disclose that I am NOT a licensed veterinarian and I only work our our operation. Make sure you contact your vet if you need help with your livestock!
In June 2019, I attended the Graham School for Cattle Men and Women. The Graham Family has been in business for over 100 years providing continuing education in breeding and herd management to beef and dairy cattlemen. Attendees learn management skills in artificial insemination, pregnancy testing, calf delivery, fertility testing, nutrition and herd health as well as over all stockmanship. My main goal in attending was to learn to hand-palpate cattle to determine pregnancy. My dad and I believed this would be a handy skill for me to learn. But I came home with a wealth of knowledge in all aspects of ranch work and management. I would strongly encourage anyone in the cattle industry, regardless of experience level, to look into attending. While at the Graham School, I learned they offered ultrasounding training and that instantly got my attention.
In the years prior to attending the school, we had purchased bred heifers that were sexed, meaning in our case, they were all carrying bull calves. Sexing calves is done through ultrasounding and that really sparked my interest in wanting to learn. (Currently, I don’t know how to sex a fetus, but hopefully someday!)
Once we started breeding and marketing replacement heifers on our own we we decided being able to market them as ultrasounded for pregnancy would be a good selling point. The Graham School was very helpful and knowledgeable in helping us select a system that worked best for our operation. I went back to the Graham School in 2020 to purchase a machine and learn to use it.
ReproScan XTC is a durable, portable, convex probe cattle ultrasound unit with wireless capabilities. It is designed to be paired with the ReproArm for rapid pregnancy diagnosis and the alleviation of shoulder and arm strain
What equipment did we buy?
All of our equipment was purchased through the Graham School and is from ReproScan.
Our ultrasound unit is the ReproScan XTC. It’s compatible with the ReproArm, which is a long plastic arm that holds the XTC probe. I use the arm to insert the probe into the cow. This saves me from having to insert my actual arm into each cow.
Utilization of ReproArm technology reduces shoulder and arm strain on the practitioner. The ReproArm allows for safer and faster pregnancy diagnosis and fetal aging.
We use the 2.0 Monitor. They offer a couple other options for a screen, but we wanted the large screen that attaches off the chute for a few reasons. It was important to me to have a large viewing screen. The other options ReproScan offers are a pair of goggles attached to a head strap and a ball cap with a flip down screen. Ultrasouning is a dirty job. I wear a Long OB sleeve on my left arm incase I need to insert my arm into the cow to move manure, and if I think she’s open, I’ll hand palpate just as another measure to check. So I’m basically covered in cow poop the whole time. I don’t want to have to be putting goggles on and off or flipping a monitor around on my hat while wearing gloves that are covered in manure. Now I’m sure people use and prefer the goggles or hat, however these are just my thoughts.
Also, when preg checking, I’m doing the ultrasounding, and I’ll help give shots, help load the alleys and chute, re-tag, etc. So it was important to me to be able to move freely around the chute. Using the monitor and ReproArm, I’m able to help do other things as much as I can without cords or anything getting in my way.
Keep in mind ReproScan makes several products suited for all kinds of livestock. Visit their website for more information on what might work best for your operation.
What does our set up look like?
I wire a board on top of our ArrowQuip that has a RAM ball mount screwed onto it. The 2.0 Monitor attaches to the mount and allows me to swivel the monitor around where I need it to be. I hang the XTC behind it. The XTC has wireless capabilities, however I find that plugging it into the monitor gives the best picture. The image to the left shows how I hang the monitor and the XTC behind it.
In the image below and to the right, look closely to see the cord attached from the XTC to ReproArm that is in the YETI Loadout. The probe is mounted onto the arm and placed in a mixture of water and powdered lube. I enter the chute on the left side, open the widow, grab my arm/probe out of the loadout, and insert it into the cow.
As of 2020, we made the switch to an ArrowQuip 87 Series portable system and it’s been awesome for working cattle and ultrasounding. I prefer to enter the chute and check from behind the cow. (I know some prefer to ultrasound from the outside but this is what works best for me right now). The doors open and latch easily, the windows on each side of the chute are the perfect size for me to use, and the entire chute is quiet, keeping the animals calm. Cattle flow through it very well thanks to the overall design to let light into the chute and alleys. This keeps cattle on deck and in the chute which makes us efficient. Thats priceless because the time of year we ultrasound it’s very hot! We need to work quickly and this system helps us accomplish that.
We are so happy with our decision to make the switch!
My personal favorite, must-have products
Click HERE to directly shop my favorite products I use when ultrasounding.
