Should I use more than just the power button?

As someone who works for an ultrasound company, I often get asked, “So, how do I use this thing?” Well, there are a couple of different types of people in this world. Those who take the ultrasound out of the box, press power, and never look back. And those who read the emails we send, look at the videos, study the manual and then call with questions. Both are great—it just depends on what you want to do with your ultrasound. If you are a mixed animal practice, you will get a better image out of your ultrasound if you use different exams and play with the settings a bit. If you are doing feedlot work, you likely will never touch a button other than the power. That’s okay, you don’t have to be an expert on the minute details of your ultrasound…we are. Keep it simple, call us with your questions. We are here to help post-sale.

As we are headed into the preg-checking season, there are a couple of things you can do to make things a bit easier: make sure you have loose manure (a change in diet the day before can make a HUGE difference on how easy your day is), don’t forget to charge the ultrasound the night before, and preg-check early (I know…that’s not reality, but it sure is helpful if you want more than just preg/open). I prefer to ultrasound before 120 days. You can be so much more accurate on aging.

Now, how do you get the most out of your machine? Use the different preset exams on your machine to find the best setting for what you are doing, (caveat here…if you are used to aging not off the grid but off of the relative size of the fetus on the screen, changing your depth may be hard).

Here are some scenarios:

Getting most out of machine

I like the exam depth to be 18-22cm deep. This gives me a larger window to quickly pick up any signs of pregnancy. Also, if you are doing any form of aging, you have a better chance of seeing part of the fetus.

I prefer the exam to be 11-15cm deep with a higher frequency. Particularly if they did not breed up well and there are quite a few opens. This just makes the open uterus a bit easier to find and confirm.

I start with 15 cm deep and usually a 4mhz frequency. This is a great general place and it’s deep enough that I can catch those longer breds, and zoomed in enough to get a good image of the opens.

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