We preg-checked the spring heifers today. We usually wait until the bulls have been pulled from the pastures for about 30 days before we do this, but the weather was cool, the heifers were close to the house, and we wanted to move the heifers to a pasture farther from the house. So today was the day.
Now before we get too far into this, let me just warn you that the images you are about to see may be…messy. So if you are a bit squeamish about this sort of thing, please don’t scroll down.
This is your last chance. Things are about to get interesting.
Okay. We’re going in! When we preg check, we use our ultrasound machine. Good ultrasound technicians are able to detect pregnancies at around 30 days. (And by this, I mean the heifer has a 30-day-old baby inside her.) Unfortunately, Mom and I don’t quite fall into the “good” category yet. We fall more under the “will-do-it-for-free” category. Craig is good at detecting early pregnancies, but he is in Alabama scanning.
So we examine the heifer much like a doctor examines a pregnant lady. Just kidding. It is nothing like that at all. (Thank goodness!)
After we insert the ultrasound probe, we move it back and forth, slowly and gently looking for signs of pregnancy. In the image above, you can see several black circles. These circles are filled with amniotic fluid which is a pretty good indicator of pregnancy. And in this image, you can see in the upper left corner of the screen a picture of the baby. (That’s what the red arrow is pointing at.) This fetus is pretty little. We guessed it to be around 40-45 days old.
And pregnant cows bring a smile to our faces!
We continued checking all the heifers. Mom and I took turns and before we knew it, we were done.