It’s that time of year…the weather is getting cooler, and the cattle are longer bred. These can be much more challenging. Late-gestation cows are a different game compared to 45–90-day pregnancies. As pregnancy advances, the uterus drops ventrally and cranially (forward and down), fluid increases, and anatomy stretches away from easy reach. Add a deep bodied and fat animal, and you’re scanning farther, through more tissue, at steeper angles. The good news: with a ReproArm and a few smart setting tweaks, you can do it.
What “Success” Looks Like Late Gestation
- Confirm pregnancy beyond doubt- at this stage you get to see cotyledons which makes it quicker.
- Good Rule: “Never call a cow open unless you visualize open uterus.” This will ensure that you do not call a cow open based on the absence of a pregnancy. That is when longer bred animals can be missed.
- If you do not see open uterus, don’t guess. Your safety double check is to palpate.
Ensure you check down deep.
- If you are working with a group of animals that you know are longer bred, I would recommend using a preset exam that is deeper or zooming out to 18-22cm deep.
- Exam D on most of our machines works well.
- Upon entry, do not lift your wrist up dramatically while pushing. This could potentially lead to rectal perforation if you lift up with your wrist and push hard at the same time.
- Advance the probe in and then lift up. For these deep bodied, long bred animals, you may be almost to the end of the regular length ReproArm.
- As you lift up and pull back ensure you sweep left to right. Envision a clock - you are scanning from 11 to 1.
- Use broad, steady rotation rather than short quick movements.
What To Look For (Fast Targets):
- Placentomes: paired caruncle–cotyledon units; often known as buttons, these grape-like structures confirm pregnancy even if the fetus is not visible.
- Fetal parts: remember you will not be able to see the whole baby in view at this stage of pregnancy.
- Heartbeat or movement: the heart may not be visible at this point unless the fetus is laying just right.
- Fluid character: flocculation will begin to be more apparent in later stages of pregnancy. It will look like swirling debris and be a bit more echogenic.
Settings That Make the Difference (Cheat Sheet)
These adjustments will help a lot.
Depth
- Set deeper first, then refine.
Typical late-gestation working 18–24 cm. Don’t be shy about maxing out depth to find your window; then zoom in if needed.
Frequency / Preset
- Choose penetration over detail.
Use the lower frequency to penetrate. You will lose a bit of image quality.
Contrast
- If you need a brighter image, you can drop your dynamic to brighten up.
Focus
- Put the focus where your placentomes are.
Typically the focus will be somewhere around 12cm deep.
Late-gestation, deep-bodied cows reward a “penetration-first” setup and calm, wide ReproArm sweeps. Dial in depth (18–24 cm), choose the low-frequency convex/penetration preset (typically D), balance gain and contrast to look for placentomes and big landmarks first.