The Rural Voice, 2002-08, Page 24A new ultra -sound service for sheep and goat
producers helps them learn
THE INSIDE STORY
Story and photo by Keith Roulston
The bloom is off the long
honeymoon in lamb prices in
Ontario and some people have
abandoned the industry as a result.
Others though are using the
downturn as a way of upgrading their
flocks to be prepared for the time
when prices rebound again.
Helping serious Iamb producers is
a relatively new technology that
gives owners of small ruminant
animals like sheep and goats the
same opportunities for pregnancy
checking that large animal producers
have had for years.
Real-time ultra -sound scanning is
relatively new to Ontario, says Len
Hilderley of Waterloo, one of two
people in Ontario offering the
service, but it has been part of the
management practice of shepherds in
England and New Zealand for about
10 years. "For so long, until very
recently, there was no way to
pregnancy check sheep and goats
because of their size," he points out.
While veterinarians can manually
check pregnancy of cattle they can't
for sheep and goats.
That's where Hilderley and his
ultra -sound machine come in. He can
use the ultrasound to image the
womb of the animals and see not
only if they are pregnant, but how
20 THE RURAL VOICE
many fetuses are on board.
There are many benefits points out
Anita O'Brien, sheep and goat
specialist at Kemptville, in an OMAF
information sheet.
For one thing, it can help a
breeder know if ewes and does are
pregnant or still open.
This keeps Hilderley busy in July
as those breeders trying to breed their
sheep out of season want to see if
their sheep are pregnant or not. If
they find out that sheep aren't
pregnant, they can be culled or put
back Info the breeding program for
regular fall breeding schedule. There
can be feed -cost savings because a
breeder is not feeding an open ewe as
if she were pregnant.
Some producers use the added
benefit of knowing how many Iambs
are in the womb as part of their
management techniques, Hilderley
says. If the scan shows a single Iamb,
the feeding program can be cut back
to prevent too -large Iambs, with
subsequent cost savings. If the scan
shows multiple births, the ewe can be
fed better to give the new-born Iambs
a better chance of survival at birth.
"The idea is efficiency," says
Hilderley:
One of Hilderley's customers has
more sheep than he has barn space
for. If he knows which ewes are due
when and which will have multiple
births, he can make sure these
animals are given the indoor space so
the lambs will have a better chance of
survival.
Goat producers have a different
set of needs, Hilderley says. There's
a goat phenomenon called false
pregnancy, for instance. A doe can
stop cycling and can appear to be
getting bigger as if she is pregnant
hut really her uterus is just tilling up
with fluid. The scan can detect this
and the owner can call a veterinarian
for treatment to expel the fluid.
Goat producers are also under
pressure from their main milk
customer to produce milk on a year-
round basis. It means there's an
urgency to breed out of season which
means pregnancy checking is an
important tool to see whether a doe is
pregnant or open.
For dairy goat and dairy sheep
producers there's also the benefit of
knowing what stage pregnancy is at.
The herdsman wants to dry off the
animal six weeks before the birth of
the next offspring and being able to
image fetus development allows
better management.
Properly managed, preparing for
scanning can also be useful in other
areas, Hilderley says. In one case, the
farmer uses the scanning process as
an opportunity to identify ewes with
bad udders. Since the scanning probe
is placed right beside the udder, it's
easy to make the udder inspection at
the same time as the scanning is
being done.
The scanning process can also be
TWANI