kjonesel
Well-known member
I was wanting to know if anyone on the forum owns their own ultrasound machine for pregnancy checking. If so what kind and what are the pros and cons of owning your own.
Anyone own their own ultrasound?
- Thread starter kjonesel
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Supa Dexta
Well-known member
Pro is having the tech at your disposal whenever you need it - con is the price. Around 10k
I don't have one but have talked to a couple members on here about them. If you're running enough animals through to catch a handful that may have been called open by glove check - then yes it can pay for itself, but 10k is a hefty chuck of change. And the tech is pretty new for the avg consumer, so they will come down over time eventually.
I think its between 3-5 dollars to have someone come in and do it for you, so you'd have to scan 2-3000 animals worth. If you only had 50-100 to scan a year, it will be several decades to break even, so numbers really matter.
I don't have one but have talked to a couple members on here about them. If you're running enough animals through to catch a handful that may have been called open by glove check - then yes it can pay for itself, but 10k is a hefty chuck of change. And the tech is pretty new for the avg consumer, so they will come down over time eventually.
I think its between 3-5 dollars to have someone come in and do it for you, so you'd have to scan 2-3000 animals worth. If you only had 50-100 to scan a year, it will be several decades to break even, so numbers really matter.
We've had ours for nearly two years. Would never, ever go back to palpating or blood testing. Pros - hard to miss one at 35 days and able to see a pregnancy at 28 days (we have), can sex, age, find twins, determine viability or presence of uterine infection, find cystic ovaries, examine ovaries for follicles... Cons - harder to age accurately after 4-5 months. The company we bought ours from just came out with a line of producer-oriented units that I believe are in the 8K range, for the total package. Of course, if you just want the ultrasound unit it would be a bit less. We like to do most of our own work, on our own schedule, so it's worth it to us. We have a due date for every bred cow, and sell our open heifers in July after a 45 day breeding season.
We have the Reproscan XTC with the Reproarm. The new line is Boviscan. Virtually the same, minus a couple buttons that we never use anyway, and a battery that you can't remove. I think the charge lasts 8 hours.
We have the Reproscan XTC with the Reproarm. The new line is Boviscan. Virtually the same, minus a couple buttons that we never use anyway, and a battery that you can't remove. I think the charge lasts 8 hours.
Nesikep
Well-known member
Could you find something causing hardware disease with it? or any other non-reproductive problems perhaps?
It's possible. I've never tried scanning a cow from the outside, but you could probably get a good enough picture if what you are looking for is close enough. Mine goes to 22 cm. I've used it on our dog, and myself. You could probably find kidney stones!
littletom
Well-known member
My wife has one it is very handy to check when you need too. You are not going to find hardware in a cow with it. I used it last year when she was to pregnant small learning curve. I think you would need to run a lot of animals to come out on purchase. I can her questions about it someone wants.
Dsteim
Well-known member
That's awesome, Ricebelt how far along do the cows have to be for you to determine the sex of the calf?
