So you've decided to breed your mare! This can be a very exciting time, but it can be overwhelming as well. The process is at times frustrating if you encounter fertility issues, and can be expensive even when everything goes perfectly. Once your mare is bred, routine ultrasound exams should be scheduled. Your veterinarian may wish to conduct the following exams...

1...Obtain the best image possible. 
Take the time to completely evacuate the rectum, and use plenty of lube for contact. If your ultrasound system provides variable frequency transducers, remember to operate at the highest frequency that still allows you enough depth to visualize all the pertinent structures; this will optimize the resolution of your image! You’ll acquire a higher quality (and larger!) ovary image scanning at 6cm than you will at 12cm. In addition, become familiar with your equipment; experiment with gain, contrast, and persistence in order to achieve the image that you desire.

It's funny because it’s true.... but don’t be this person! Overuse of gain can result in a washed out image and unnecessary noise. Before reaching for that gain control, consider your contact, transducer choice, and frequency.

All ultrasounds have gain control. It’s often a knob, button, and/or a series of sliders on the console, and it’s one of the most used and adjusted scanning parameters... but do you know what it really does?

We've just uploaded several short video tutorials on features commonly used on the unique and powerful EVO veterinary ultrasound. You can find the EVO Shorts playlist on our EIMI University YouTube Channel!

E.I. Medical is renowned for manufacturing the toughest ultrasounds for field use. You may know about our third-party testing on drops, water resistance, temperature extremes, and more. You may even know that our connectors and hinges are sealed to keep moisture out!

But while a lot of engineering has gone into these features, your equipment will serve you best if you do your part, too. Our service department sees a lot of interesting things come across their desks, and many of the electronic issues seen can be easily avoided with a little preventative care. This includes daily inspection of the equipment, and most importantly, a little routine cleaning and maintenance.

And we're offering end-of-year discounts of up to 25% that will allow you to get the ultrasound you need at a great price—upgrade now!

If you’re anything like me, you barely scratch the surface with regard to using all the features on your gadgets. I know that my iPhone, laptop, and GoPro are capable of all kinds of fun things that I don’t take advantage of. Well, it’s very likely that your veterinary ultrasound also has some hidden gem features that you haven’t used!

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.

Identification of fetal anomalies or accidents of gestation can not be done in a practical manner during gestation without the use of diagnostic ultrasound, and is one of many examples that demonstrate the superiority of reproductive ultrasound over manual palpation and other manners of pregnancy diagnosis in cattle.

This week we have showcased some of the more common disorders seen in the bovine fetus.

Image #1...FEMALE