The new IBEX LITE HR has everything that other LITE models do, but offers a flush-mounted monitor for image viewing in addition to an optional goggle headset. In this video, Dr. Wierman illustrates the versatile nature of the HR by showing you a couple different ways to wear it.

Fetal aging via ultrasound exam is another big benefit of imaging over traditional palpation in bovine reproduction, as being able to visually assess the pregnancy improves accuracy significantly. Aging is employed in many situations; it can be done to delineate AI from bull-bred pregnancies, to separate animals into calving groups and monitor for dystocias, and to maximize nutritional efficiency throughout the stages of pregnancy, to name a few. While aging via ultrasound is traditionally done prior to 120 days of gestation, we are able to obtain measurements later than ever with the advent of deeper-penetrating, wider field-of-view transducers.

While this is the best time of the year to get great deals on veterinary ultrasound, some of you may still be on the fence...do I need it? What uses would it have in my practice? I'm not certified—how can I use it? Will it help my bottom line?

Written by Glenn Selk, PhD. Beef Cattle Specialist Emeritus with the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service.

Now we have another good excuse to cull cows due to bad temperament. Producers that routinely breed cows artificially realize that cows that are unruly and nervous are less likely to conceive to artificial insemination. Presumably, the lowered conception rates were because they have been stressed as they are passed through the working facilities and restrained while being synchronized and inseminated. Research trials indicate, even in the serenity of a natural breeding pasture, cows with bad dispositions are less likely to conceive when mated with bulls.

Image: IBEX^® EVO^® + L7HD, in a Holstein cow

Mummification in bovine fetuses has an incidence of less than 2%. It occurs when there is fetal death for any number of reasons (Trichomoniasis and BVD infections have been specifically implicated as causes), but the CL is retained, the cervix stays closed, and there is no bacteria or oxygen present in the uterus to cause maceration.