Farmyard animals are critical to the livelihood of the farmer, and consequently it is imperative that they are kept as healthy and free from potential stressors as possible. Unlike domesticated animals, a calm and docile temperament is preferred in farm animals to ensure that they can be handled quickly and easily, and as a result, a pregnancy where the mother has low stress levels is key (in order to reduce the risk of offspring inheriting an ‘excitable’ nature).

Potential pregnancy stressors on a farm can range from poor animal handling, to the environment in which the animals are kept, to cases of zoonosis, where diseases are spread from humans to animals. It is likely that you are already familiar with some of the diseases that fall into this category, such as rabies and anthrax. A report by the Health and Safety Executive discusses incidences of zoonosis in agriculture in detail and how best to prevent the spread of disease.

As a result, those working with farm animals on a regular basis must exhibit extreme caution in order to reduce the risk of spreading disease, with farmers and visitors to the farm adhering to any health and safety procedures that have been put in place. However, no procedure can be fail-safe, and this is where ultrasound comes in. If an animal is pregnant, or requires an examination, ultrasound scanning may be required. Although a trained ultrasound practitioner would ensure that imaging was carried out effectively and efficiently, the correct training (given by a professional ultrasound business – please see our website for more information), would allow training to be done ‘in-house’ instead. This reduces the number of visitors to the farm that may either unwittingly transmit infection to the animals or vice versa. In addition, farmers can bypass the requirement of having to arrange a convenient time for a practitioner to visit the farm, and any costs associated with this.

Following the completion of ultrasound training, the farmer must then choose an ultrasound scanning machine suitable for use in a farmyard environment. The characteristics that may be useful to take into account are: whether the scanner is portable or not, the durability of the scanner (bearing in mind that imaging may be required to be carried out in all weathers), ease of use and the price. To learn more about the variety of ultrasound scanning machines that we stock, including the Draminski iScan, please contact us for further information.