The establishment and subsequent success of pregnancy can be vital for the livelihood of the farmers that rely on breeding their animals. It is important that pregnancy detection is carried out quickly and efficiently, to minimise distress to the animal and ensuring the right care is in place for them from the start of gestation. A research paper published in Preventive veterinary medicine earlier this month (2017 Sep 15;145:100-109) sought to address this issue. Carried out by Fosgate GT et al., ‘A Bayesian latent class model to estimate the accuracy of pregnancy diagnosis by transrectal ultrasonography and laboratory detection of pregnancy-associated glycoproteins in dairy cows’, the information contained in the abstract is henceforth discussed – the full article can be accessed by clicking here.

This study looked at two different methods of identifying pregnancy in 1236 dairy cows from South Africa – one was via the presence of a particular molecule linked with pregnancy in milk and serum (called pregnancy-associated glycoprotein (PAG)), whilst the other was using veterinary ultrasound transrectally. Examination was carried out between 28 and 35 days following artificial insemination of the animals, and then again after 14 days. It should be noted that of the 1236 animals that were looked at in this study, the majority were able to be included for subsequent analysis (1006 animals specifically).

The results revealed that checking for the presence of PAG in both serum and milk was very effective, with both sensitivity and specificity values of over 90%. The complete values can be obtained in the abstract. The use of transrectal ultrasound also revealed high values of sensitivity (77.8-90.5%), and even higher values of specificity being returned (94.7-99.8%). Such outcomes show that both techniques are suitable for the identification of pregnancy in dairy cows, with the presence of PAG in particular being regarded as helpful to farmers and veterinarians alike when trying to establish successful pregnancy.

To see the ultrasound scanners we stock suitable for use in cattle and other farmyard animals, see our website or feel free to contact us.