I’ve written on fetal gender determination before, but I’ve been thinking lately about the widespread notion that it’s difficult to do, takes too much time, or is hard to learn. We’re all busy, and when our clients aren’t demanding the service, it’s hard to justify taking the time to learn it.
That’s why I’ve come here to emphasize that a huge part of the challenge in learning fetal sexing is the multitasking aspect of it—you have to worry about obtaining that perfect image during that perfect time frame and hope that the positioning of the calf facilitates easy identification. This is made more difficult by an uncooperative cow and a moving fetus, and then in the 0.4 seconds that you catch a glimpse of the critical landmarks, you’re supposed to comprehend what you’ve seen and make a diagnosis? So wait… you have to coordinate your hand to guide the probe to obtain the perfect frame, your eye to see the quick flashes of anatomy, and your brain to direct and comprehend all of that simultaneously? I mean I can’t even follow my GPS and listen to music at the same time…
To me, the absolute key to mastering fetal sexing is to learn to recognize and determine the gender separate from and well before attempting to obtain the images yourself. In other words, train your eye first. If you aren’t confident in what you’re looking for, mucking around for 20 minutes in a dancing cow will only lead to frustration—it’s often just too much to physically obtain and cognitively decipher simultaneously.
That’s why we’ve just launched our new FOUR PART SERIES on bovine fetal gender determination. Totaling just over an hour of watch time, these four video lectures will help you learn fetal sexing concepts, review probe handling and imaging planes, see examples of male and female fetuses, and finish up with a self-test of 25 images and answers that you can use to practice from the comfort of your own home or office. If you become really comfortable with recognizing and determining gender on-screen, the task becomes much more manageable when you have to go out and gather images of your own.
REGISTER HERE for FREE early access to this valuable resource!
P.S. Interested in fetal sexing in mares? While equine fetuses certainly look different and tend to be more difficult, the concept is the same. This is a great place to start!
Dr. Wierman is Staff Veterinarian
and Director of Education for
E.I. Medical Imaging
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