Pregnancy checking cattle can help producers make a variety of management decisions on the farm. Aaron Berger, University of Nebraska beef Extension educator, says preg checking provides valuable information.
“The value is being able to identify is the cow pregnant or not, and depending on the tool you use, you can determine when that cow is going to calve,” he says.
Berger says knowing pregnancy status can help producers make decisions about a cow.
“Not-pregnant cows, do we want to keep that cow or not?” he says. “It’s probably to your advantage cost wise to market that cow.”
John Bolinger, a veterinarian based in Tipton, Missouri, says preg checking can help cattle operations be efficient.
“We have a lot of resources in our cattle,” he says. “You have a large annual cost.”
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Bolinger says determining if a cow is open in a timely manner can help producers decide earlier if they want to cull the cow.
“The earlier you can do that, the more we can save by making that decision,” he says.
Terry Engelken is a veterinarian with the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine. He says especially with high feed costs, learning which cows are open can be valuable.
A.J. Tarpoff, Kansas State University beef Extension veterinarian, says the tight forage situation makes it especially important to know which cows are pulling their weight on the farm.
“I think preg checking is one of the most valuable tools that we have at our disposal, especially given the drought we’ve had in many Midwestern states,” he says.
It also helps with management decisions, he says.
“It really gives us a lot of options,” Tarpoff says. “We can split (cattle) into management groups.”
He says producers can divide cattle into groups depending on how close to calving they are, as well as diving them by body condition, with the goal of putting cattle into groups with similar nutritional needs.
In addition, Engelken says preg checking provides a look into how breeding season went.
“There’s the knowledge we gain putting an age on the fetus,” Engelken says. “That gives us a lot of insight into how the breeding season went and how the calving season is going to shape up.”
He says he usually has the goal of getting 60% of pregnancies within the first 21 days of the breeding season. Knowing how far along cows are helps producers prepare for calving season and meet differing nutritional needs as cattle get closer to calving.
“Knowing how long that calving season is going to last, and when those calves are going to come, that gives us some insight into managing that season,” Engelken says.
Preg checking can also help producers work to keep a tighter calving window.
“If we can work our way back to about a 60-day calving season, that would be ideal,” Engelken says.
He says at minimum, producers should avoid calving season lasting longer than 90 days, because cows have very different nutritional needs depending on their stage of pregnancy or if they are post-calving.
“When they’re spread out across more than 90 days, it becomes difficult to manage them nutritionally,” Engelken says.
Tarpoff says preg checking can also help producers investigate breeding issues sooner, such as issues with bulls, fertility problems or infections.
“If cows are open, that’s an unwelcome surprise,” he says.
There are options for preg checking cattle, including ultrasound, manual palpation or blood tests. Berger says ultrasound can determine if a cow is pregnant as soon as 25 to 30 days, and in the 60 to 90 day window it can determine the sex of the calf and if a cow is pregnant with twins. He says this can help producers be ready because twins have a higher instance of dystocia during calving.
Bolinger says ultrasound is his preferred method for his veterinary practice.
“We do everything by ultrasound,” he says. “We just like it for the speed and accuracy.”
Ultrasound preg checking continues to get more sophisticated.
“The technology there has really improved,” Berger says.
Bolinger says ultrasound equipment for cattle has “gotten a lot more durable,” and machine are smaller and more portable, with extension arms that are easier on the operator.
Tarpoff says the operators can “save their shoulder” with new, lighter ultrasound technology, and he says the clarity of monitors has improved.
“They’re much more user-friendly,” he says.
Using an arm to manually check for a pregnancy can detect a calf as early as 45 days, and it has some upside as well.
“The advantage of that is you don’t need any technology,” Berger says.
Blood tests are based on protein levels that determine if a cow is pregnant. Berger says these can be good if producers just want to check a few cows, and they can possibly collect the blood themselves.
“Those really have value if they just want to test a few cows,” he says.
Tarpoff says one thing to watch with blood tests is they can have false positives, such as pregnancy has been terminated but protein levels still indicate a pregnancy.
According to the USDA’s National Animal Health Monitoring System, using 2017 data, 19.3% of cattle operations use palpation to test for pregnancy, 8.8% use ultrasound, and 3.5% use a blood test.
Berger says the timing of preg checking can vary from farm to farm. He says many producers like to check when they pull the bulls from the herd, although the testing would not catch any cows who got pregnant in the last 25 to 30 days.
Bolinger says it can be convenient to do preg checking along with other routine herd health procedures.
“We try and line it up with other management things on the farm,” he says.
Whenever producers check, Berger says it will be good to know which cows are pregnant. Looking ahead, he says confirming which cows are pregnant could be especially valuable in 2023.
“It appears bred cows are going to be a profitable thing,” he says.
