Factsheet: Pregnancy Scanning
This factsheet explains how to use a pregnancy scanner, allowing the farmer to be aware of the number of lambs they are expecting.
Detail description
Pregnancy scanning is used to confirm pregnancy and expected litter size, allowing the farmer to facilitate the nutrition plan pre-lambing.
A trained operator uses an ultrasound scanner and specially designed crate to quickly identify pregnancy in ewes (or does) and expected litter size.
Pregnancy scanning is quick and stress free for the animals as it is carried out with animals in a standing position.
It is highly effective at identifying barren ewes (or does) which can be culled or removed from the rest of the group. Subsequently, ewes (or does) can be grouped according to the expected number of lambs scanned to avoid under or over feeding.
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Contribution detail info
- Project
SmaRT
Small Ruminant Technology - Precision Livestock Farming and Digital Technology for Small Ruminants
- Location
- Ireland
- Authors
- Teagasc
- Purpose
- Adopt innovative practices
- File type
- document
- Created on
- May 11, 2026
- Origin language
- English
- Official project website
- –
- License
- CC BY-NC-ND
- Keywords