08/18/2026
Of all the management tools we use, PREGNANCY ULTRASOUND ranks in our top five.
Sure, we could calve cows without it. But the information we get 90–100 days after our mid-November AI date makes us more efficient.
FIRST, we identify opens early and get them off the feed bill. If we’re considering an open cow as a recip, we can also get a look at her reproductive tract health.
SECOND, we know approximately how many days each cow is bred. That lets us sort calving groups, spend less time checking cows that aren’t close and move groups to fresh pasture as each cycle wraps up.
THIRD, we learn calf s*x and identify most of the cows carrying twins.
TODAY, that information PAID OFF.
We keep the known “twinners” close for extra monitoring, and this afternoon we also received a 701x calving alert on heifer 4126. We don’t love seeing twins in a heifer, so we moved her to the barn where Steve assisted the delivery.
The result – two live bull calves.
We’ll only let her raise one, fostering the other on another cow if needed. But today was a good reminder that information collected months ago can make a big difference when it matters most.
Do you use pregnancy ultrasound as a management tool?
