Pregnancy Scanning – What should you be collecting?

Pregnancy Scanning - Commercial Breeders

It is well known pregnancy scanning ewes in a Commercial flock has many great benefits;

Better management of twin-bearing ewes (who have a higher feed maintenance level and also higher health risks such as pregnancy toxaemia)

Better allocation of feed and paddock resources.

Pregnancy Scanning is also a great trigger to get your tag's ordered for the coming lambing season.

Pregnancy Scanning - Ram Breeders

As well as the above management benefits, there are also some very important benefits relating to data quality that are specific to Ram Breeders submitting reproduction data to Sheep Genetics.

It is integral that you have confidence in the scanner you are using and the accuracy of their work. Some examples of key lifetime information derived directly from pregnancy scanning include;

• Birth Type (BT)

• Dead at births (DAB)

What should you be collecting at scanning?

• Ewe ID

• Number of foetuses to each ewe (dry, single and multiple)

• Stage of pregnancy (early, mid, late)

What additional information is important?

• Joining dates (rams in/rams out) this includes back-up rams for any ewes in the AI program

• Full list of potential sires

Knowing the joining length helps the scanner to allocate how early (or late) in the joining period that ewe conceived. This is important in allocating a more accurate birth date for the lamb rather than a mid-point birth date for all lambs.

Pregnancy scanning is also a great trigger to organise your;

• Tag orders

• TSU requirements/orders

• Sire List

• Dam List

If the scanner you use doesn't have the equipment to collect the above information for you in their system, it may be worth engaging extra help.

The SMC team assist many clients in ensuring this information is collected accurately - if you would like to discuss additional assistance at scanning time please contact us!