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ultrasounding

tlakota

Well-known member
Well i got an appointment lined up with the vet to ultrasound the cows on tuesday starting at 8. Got about 150 cows to ultrasound and gonna work all the calves too. The vet only charges 5.50 to ultrasound which i thought was pretty reasonable. Beings when just preg checking last year, a different vet from was getting 110 an hour. I think it will be well worth it beings i start calving end of febuary so it will be much easier to have the early ones sorted off and can keep an high on them then. I figure i have to save 1 or 2 more calves and it will pay for itself. Do of you guys ultrasound. I know lot of guys do heifers but dont see much of doing the cow herd. How many cows can they do an hour with a decent working facility? I will try to take pictures, it should be pretty cool.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Got about 150 cows to ultrasound and gonna work all the calves too. The vet only charges 5.50 to ultrasound which i thought was pretty reasonable.

YIKES-- we have some locals that'll preg test for much less than that- like $1.00 a head that are pretty reliable-even more reliable than the vets, that I think now charge $2 (haven't used them for years, usually testing my own)... There is even a crew out of SD that brings up their own 2 chute setup, and does it for much less than that...And apparently their accuracy must be quite good- since folks keep using them....

And since the law says they can't do it for money they actually charge nothing, but will take donations at so much a head :wink: ......Something our USDA should be working on to change the law with the huge shortage of large animal vets- to assist producers, rather than worrying about mandating ID tags and systems that will cost us more..... :( :wink:
 

IL Rancher

Well-known member
Our vets use an ultrasound and charge the same per head as they would manual.. I think it is around a buck or a buck 50.. Can't remember.. they kind of want to keep you happy and figure if they can bust through stuff fast they will make their money back just fine.. But my vet doesn't do a lot of cattle work really.. Lot of little small operations I guess but we are by far their biggest client (Might be their biggest dog and cat client too :mad: )
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
Dr. Beck from Baker, Mt. ultrasounds THOUSANDS of head of cattle each year. I think he charges $5.50 but he tells you when they were bred and gives you sex of calf.

He also will use the ultrasound machine to save his arm and charges regular rate for that, but he just tells you if they are bred early or late...

That man can sure do a lot of cattle in a day!!!
 

PureCountry

Well-known member
Saving their armsis such a huge advantage. The vet we had here when I was a kid had to sell out and retire JUST because his shoulders gave out on him. He was only 50 at the time, but just couldn't do it anymore. Of course, having a seedstock operation as well as the beef herd, knowing the sex of the calves would be pretty exciting too.
 

George

Well-known member
I have never ultra sounded before but a neighbor's wife got him a unit for his birthday and we are planning on using it on all my cows when we get a chance ( hopefully later theis week).

He has an uncle that is a vet that lives a couple of hours away and has had experience with the unit.

I think I will still have the Vet preg check when I wean in about a month and compare results.
 

TSR

Well-known member
George said:
I have never ultra sounded before but a neighbor's wife got him a unit for his birthday and we are planning on using it on all my cows when we get a chance ( hopefully later theis week).

He has an uncle that is a vet that lives a couple of hours away and has had experience with the unit.

I think I will still have the Vet preg check when I wean in about a month and compare results.
He got a unit for his birthday??? I thought those units were very expensive. Do you happen to know approximately what she paid for it? The reason I am asking is I have been thinking about getting one but so far they have been cost prohibitive for me. Now I am wondering if they have come out with a more reasonably priced machine.
 

Andy

Well-known member
we ultrasounded 1 set of hefiers and the vet was running about 35-40 an hour so it was slower than just arming them but i like to know what are the AI bred heifers.
 

Denny

Well-known member
We just turn a bull out in the fall and he can breed the opens any that fall out of the spring group goes into the fall bunch fall out of the fall bunch and to town you go.

Our total vet bill last year was under $200 and that was to bangs vaccinate heifers.To me it does'nt much matter what a cow is having bull or heifer it can't be changed.It just adds more expense and labor of which I'm not fond of either.

I hope it works for you but me I will just keep it simple.
 

tlakota

Well-known member
Im not going to have them sexed because like u said it really doesnt matter and u cant change it....i just do it so i can have the early ones sorted off so when i have a calf during a blizzard i can keep the few that are supposed to calve locked up in the barn
 

Richard Doolittle

Well-known member
Hey tlakota--I think you might be spending a bit much for what you want then. Ultrasounding isn't an exact science for due dates. My bet is the ones you lock up in the barn during the blizzard won't calve on their projected due date and you'll have a calf outside that was supposed to come at a different time. Just my opinion.....
 

tlakota

Well-known member
I had this vet do some heifers about 3 years ago...and of course he wasnt exact on the day but he was an average of 4 days off on each cow...pretty accurate to me...if i can have the cows that are supposed to calve the first 20 days it will help a lot...just needa save one or two calves...and like i said, just to preg cows it isnt much less around here
 

Doug Thorson

Well-known member
The reason they are not dead on is they are telling a bred-on date not a calving date. Calving dates can vary 10 days early or late very easily.

As far as having them sexed there is a very small window(I think only 20 days) in which to do that. I did it once when I was forced to sell due to drought. Our vet hit 100% sex wise on the ones we kept but he said he was only 85% usually. I sexed about 50 older Hereford cows that were bred Angus and kept the ones with heifer calves.
 

RMUG

Well-known member
There are several things that I have found very interesting reading many of the comments. I am a CUP tech for Carcass and also have been Pregin Cattle. As far as saving the arm, i don't believe it! Your arm goes the same place, the only difference is not having to manipulate things so much. As far as accuracy I believe that Early Pregnancy Diagnosis is much more accurate, only because you can determine live fetus's, twin fetus's, but as far as being over 90 days you might as well just arm them. I also believe that the diagnosis of early pregnancies with ultrasound is less damaging, there is no manipulating, just placing the probe over the uterus, unless you are sexing the fetus. I also agree that some state laws need to be changed as far as only letting Vets preg cattle. Nothing against them but there is more work than they can handle and some folks are definately more trained and may I say experts than some practicing vets. But those that do it alot wether a vet or not are good and accurate at it wether they use a machine or not. I also believe that if your good at either one that you could preg as many as 100 + and hour and more if using ultrasound, especially when you have a good crew pushing cattle to you. As far as charging goes, I don't charge a per head or hourly, it is a consultant fee. But as far as I am concerned. Regular arm preg check should be $2, Ultrasound $3, and Fetus Sexing $5.
 

George

Well-known member
He did not know what she paid for it but thought it was about $1,500.00

He has 30 cows and keeps 3 for his Aunt, I have 33 cows left ( I just shipped several that were not top notch due to the drought we are having )and another neighbor that we work with has about 25 so we can't really justify the cost but it is something he wanted and she got it for him. A lot less than the 4 wheeler he was looking at.

We will try this and then compare with the vet check and anything open will ship as well - -- I have enough hay for about 25 and hay is approaching $100.00 per ton around here so I don't look to get any bought.
 

Andy

Well-known member
tlakota said:
andy...what was the conception rate? and how far along were the heifers?
That set was about 85 days along. The conception was about 55-60% AI and about 90% overall.
The ultrasound works very well on grouping the calving date on sycronized heifers. I don't think it would be near as accurite if you just turned a bull out.
 

tlakota

Well-known member
Well we got all of the working done today. Ultrasounded 150 head in about 3 hr 20 min. There were about 20 open on the 150 but i suspect a lot of those should be bred with in the last month that he couldnt tell. If not most of them were older cows that i bought last winter so i wont be too hurt. Ran about 120 calves through in exactly 2 hours. Went really good. I had about 2/3 bull calves this year so i am pretty happy with that. All in all it was a good day and a good job to have done!
 

RMUG

Well-known member
Dang
Feeder hay in Idaho is running about $125 a ton delivered and thats cheap
If you want Dairy Quality it runs $175 a ton delivered

Its always nice to get good results when pregin cattle, although this last week we did a few hundred heifers and he wanted open ones b/c he had them marketed for $1.25 lb. He had more preg than he thought or hoped he would in this case
 
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