Ultrasound has been utilized as a tool in beef and diary research systems for many years, and in more recent yeas has become available to commercial livestock agriculture. An ultrasound is an electronic instrument that sends out ultrasonic waves from an attached device called a transducer. Waves pass freely through fluid and are reflected back to the probe resulting in an image that can be identified as the placenta, fetus, or other organs.
Ultrasound may also be used to determine body fat content on finishing cattle, an it is also an important diagnostic tool for veterinary medicine. Ultrasound can be used to determine pregnancy status, the age of a fetus, and the sex of a fetus. “Additionally ultrasound can accurately determine the presence of a viable embryo as early as 30 days after mating. The accuracy of detecting fetal viability may approach 100% because the user ca visibly identify the viable embryo by the presence of a beating heart.”
The ultrasound provides a more accurate and complete picture of what is going on …show more content…
In 1984, my group introduced the use of real-time sonography for body composition evaluation of meat animals. The portability of real-time ultrasonic equipment also facilitated the evaluation of live animals, which generally requires the equipment to be taken to the subject rather than moving the subject to a central evaluation site. The use of portable computers, image grabber cards, and software for rapid and accurate analysis of sonographic images on-site was introduced in the early