Running a professional scanning service for animals is a goal for many. Indeed, with over 223,000 pedigree puppies registered with the Kennel Club last year alone and the growing awareness of the benefits of ultrasound for feline pregnancy, the demand for scanning services for domestic pets will only continue to increase.

One area of the market which is often overlooked, however, is that of farm and working animals. When the first pioneering non-veterinarians first picked up ultrasound scanners, they travelled around scanning anything with four legs; cows, sheep, goats, pigs, dogs. If you’ve been using a scanning service yourself, it’s highly likely you’ve used or heard about that person who travels about with an ancient-looking piece of kit with a vibrating probe head, whose pictures nobody but they can interpret - but who is always spot on.

How is that person able to use a 15 year old piece of equipment and always be right? How have they developed such a reputation?

They have immersed themselves in the world of pregnancy scanning. They’re not a dog scanner, a cow scanner or a sheep scanner: they’re THE scanner! When it comes to animal reproduction, they know it literally inside and out, and the knowledge and experience they gain on the farm reinforces their familiarity with ultrasound and informs their scanning on dogs and cats.

But why cows?

Of course, everybody has the jobs they prefer. It is probably not unfair to guess that the majority of scanners out there would be happier in someone’s living room scanning a dog than in a cattle shed with their arm up a cow.

However, whilst anybody can log onto eBay and buy a completely inappropriate piece of equipment, scan dogs’ intestines and claim to be able to be able to find puppies, not everybody can scan cows. Of those few individuals across the UK who have obtained the legal ability to perform cattle scans, how many incorporate this into a full scanning service, scanning domestic pets as well as farm animals? Only the original (now retiring) few ultrasound pioneers, and literally only a handful of others.

Completing a DEFRA-approved cattle scan course gives you:

• The only professional qualification a non-vet can get

• Four days of intensive training on the bovine reproductive system which will enable you to understand the reproductive cycles of all ruminants

• Confidence in all areas of scanning. Many of the processes that occur inside dogs and cats can be touched and seen in a larger animal such as a cow. Feel along uterine horns, locate ovaries by touch and use ultrasound to see follicles and corpus luteum. Understand the reproductive system and how to use ultrasound to assess it like never before.

It is highly likely that you will become the only dog scanner in your county or region to hold a professional qualification in ultrasound scanning, however, even for those undertaking a cattle scan course purely for the education and knowledge that they can bring back to their canine work, expanding your business and staying involved in the scanning of farm animals is no bad thing. Taking dairy farms alone, there are:

• 1704 in the North of England – with the largest number in Cumbria and North Yorkshire

• 2342 in the North West – with 620 in Cheshire, 600 in Stafford and 587 in Lancashire

• 152 in the East of England

• 1180 in the Midlands – most popular in Shropshire (452), followed by Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Leicestershire

• 242 in the South of England

• 1442 in the Mid West – led by Somerset (604) and Dorset (404)

• 1610 in Devon, with 579 in Cornwall

• 256 in the South East, led by West Sussex and Kent

• Wales is home to 1923 dairy farms, with the highest number in Dyfed (1108) followed by Clwyd (350).

Source: DEFRA

With an average herd size of 123 cows - who are pregnant for most of the year - there is no shortage in demand for cattle scanners, particularly as average herd size has seen year-on-year growth since 1996 (AHDB, 2013).

The vast majority of farms currently rely on veterinarians to perform basic PD scans on their animals, which involves:

- Unnecessary financial costs for the farmer

- Unnecessary time costs for the vet (many vets are happy to work with local scanners if they know them to be professional, as it frees them up to perform more advanced services)

- Unnecessary risks to the farm. Many farmers operate closed farms and want to keep vet visits to an absolute minimum to prevent the spread of disease (it is an unfortunate fact of life that vets are in contact with sick animals more than anyone else). They would rather allow a dedicated PD scanner who has been approved by DEFRA and trained in biosecurity to pregnancy scan their herd, than unnecessarily bring a vet into contact with all of their animals.

Summary

Whether you already have an interest in scanning farm animals, or currently only work with dogs or cats, an official scanning qualification can add a lot to your knowledge, confidence and reputation.

Thinking about obtaining this qualification? Speak to us immediately! We only run this course once a year, and our next one is being held at Harper Adams University in Shropshire on the 8th – 11th December 2014.