Discovery of rectal palpation to distinguish features and structures of the female reproductive tract dates back to the 1800’s.
Since then, there has been widespread adoption of this technique as a reproductive tool in the veterinary field to determine various aspects of the cow’s reproductive status. Such aspects pertaining to palpation include uterine manipulation for determining pregnancy status, palpation of ovaries for presence of ovarian structures (i.e. corpus luteum and follicles), and diagnosis of reproductive abnormalities such as abscesses, adhesions, ovarian cysts, etc…