Article by: Jill Colloton
Bovine Services, LLC has been a provider of ultrasound training courses for veterinarians and ultrasound services for both dairy and beef clients since 2000. Bovine Services, LLC is owned and operated by Jill Colloton, DVM.
Three tips for fetal sexing:
1. Train your eye with video first. Fetal sexing an exercise in frustration for those who can’t quickly and confidently identify structures on a moving fetus. I suggest beginning with Brad Stroud’s “Bovine Reproductive Ultrasound” DVD. The first section is an excellent primer on fetal anatomy and fetal sexing. Follow this with his “Fetal Sexing Unedited” DVD quiz video to hone skills. (To purchase training videos click here.)
Bull Calf
2. Position the probe as close to the fetus as possible. Image quality deteriorates as distance increases. In most cases it is possible to achieve this by manipulating the probe only, although retraction may be necessary in cows with large or deep reproductive tracts.
Twins; Heifer/Bull calves
3. Encourage your clients to present cows at 60-80 days in gestation for sexing. Earlier the fetus may not be adequately developed to accurately diagnose gender. Later the fetus may be out of reach, obscured by large placentomes, or too large to orient easily. Fetal sexing at 60-80 days by an experienced ultrasonographer is very nearly 100% accurate.
Heifer Calf
All images were taken with the IBEX portable ultrasound, L6.2 Transducer (8-5MHz Multi-frequency Linear).
What other tips do you have for bovine fetal sexing?