Now, more than ever, it's important for cow-calf producers to conduct pregnancy tests.
Most veterinarians charge $3-5 per test. Tom Troxel, extension beef cattle specialist for the University of Arkansas, said, "Given the high cost of feed, the high cost of hay, it would certainly be worth it to do it…a cow that is open will certainly eat all those feeds and hay, all those resources, and not produce an offspring."
But some producers are not yet taking the advice. "Very few producers that I know actually pregnancy test their cows," said Troxel. "Some of your purebred producers will certainly pregnancy test your cows, but your commercial producers have not picked up on that practice."
On the other hand, Tommy Perkins, professor of agriculture at Missouri State University in Springfield, said preg checking is not only a "really common practice" for his purebred seedstock operators, but is also performed by "a pretty high percentage" of commercial producers, many of whom conduct their own checks. "In my opinion," he said, "they're just as accurate as a veterinarian in the late stage." But if a rancher needs an earlier result — for instance, within 30 to 35 days of conception — "I really think you need to hire a veterinarian, or a qualified technician that uses ultrasound."
Perkins said several of his seedstock operators have ultrasound units, which can be purchased for $2,000 to $3,000. In the hands of a trained technician, he said, pregnancy can be detected with confidence at 28 to 32 days. He added some operators are using the devices to determine whether the fetus came from AI. "You've got an 18 to 21 day wait on there," he said, "and ultrasound is about the only way that you're going to be real successful in determining where that is an embryo that actually took, or the clean-up bull that bred the female."
Perkins said breeding companies like Genex, Select Sires and ABS have palpation and AI schools for producers who want to learn how to conduct their own tests. But Troxel said the level of accuracy for self-testing rises with experience, and cautioned, "I do not recommend people to palpate their cows when the cows are less than 40 days into pregnancy. An inexperienced palpater, at that stage, could inadvertently cause a spontaneous abortion to occur."
There's also a blood test called BioPRYN, available from BioTracking LLC in Moscow, Ida. Troxel said he's used their services through the Arkansas Beef Improvement cattle, and was "very impressed with the test, and very impressed with the services of the company." The test is very accurate, and the company reports results within 48 hours.
But Perkins said the disadvantage is the added layer of labor: "You don't know for 48 hours whether they're pregnant or not, so then you've got to bring the cows back in to sort off the opens."
A designated breeding season can help reduce the number of opens. Arkansas Extension recommends at least a 90-day season; Troxel said producers without a designated season can make the transition over a 4 to 5 year period and achieve an 88-94 percent calf crop, even including bred cows that lose the calf.
But if a cow tests open, the producer has to make a decision. In some cases, he said, producers will separate out younger cows that missed their calf, expose them to a bull, and then hopefully sell them as bred cows. But "if she's been in your herd 10 to 12 years, and her teeth are getting thin and low and she's losing her teeth, then that's a cow that you want to go ahead and take to the sale barn."
