Integrating Technology

Farming and ranching has come a long ways in the last decade in terms of technology. GPS driven tractors, water application and feed intake monitoring are just a few examples of some of the technology that is being used every day by today’s farmers and ranchers.

Although I don’t use this technology on my farm, there are several other technological advances that I do use.

Fall time means breeding season, which then results in pregnancy testing. Since palpation is not an option in determining pregnancy in hogs or goats, other methods are used. On the hogs I use a device called a PregTone II Plus, which is a handheld ultrasound device that detects amniotic fluid in the uterus to determine pregnancy. The handheld device is no larger than the standard landline telephone, and emits a continuous beep when it detects fluid.

A cheaper alternative to the screen ultrasound machines, this little device allows me to detect pregnancy at home, unaided and in real time. There are no tests to be run, and I can quickly scan all sows and gilts using vegetable oil as a conductor and the device.

I have used this device for several years with great accuracy. This year, I found that four of the five sows I bred are definitely pregnant. Sometimes when tested at 30 days post breeding, older sows with large, deep uteruses are harder to scan. A secondary scan 60 days post breeding helped me confirm any suspected open sows. I have one open one, and will give her the opportunity to see if she breeds to the clean up boar. I usually give my sows two chances to breed and if they fail to settle, then they are culled from the herd. I will test again near the first of the year and if this sow is still open she will be shipped.

Knowing which animals are bred and which are open helps me to make culling decisions, and not feed open animals that will not produce. This is an important part of the financial side of the business, as feed is increasingly more expensive and open animals costs money without a contribution.

This is true for the goat side of the operation as well, although the testing mechanism is different. The device I use for the sows is calibrated only for swine.

This year I opted to use a blood test for pregnancy detection instead of an ultrasound. In my area there are not a lot of veterinarians, and the costs to do an ultrasound are high once I add in the cost of the test, driving time, and the cost of my time away from the farm.

The blood test that I use is called BioPRYN, and was developed by the company Biotracking. BioPRYN measures the presence of Pregnancy-Specific Protein B (PSPB), a protein only produced by the placenta of a growing fetus, in the blood circulation of the doe.

The blood test is easy to do, and after learning to draw blood, is quick and easy. I simply draw 2 cc of whole blood, deposit it into the appropriate blood tube, and mark on the tube the doe. I then refrigerate the samples overnight, and send them in the mail the next day to the lab that I use in Greeley, Colo.

Once they receive the samples, they culture them for 24 hours, and deliver a report to me. For the first set, I tested 11 does. Of those 11, 10 were Boer goats, and one was my LaMancha. All of the does came back pregnant except for my youngest Boer doe, who came back as a recheck.

A recheck means one of two things. It either means that the doe is not yet 30 days bred, or she aborted and is coming out of that. I believe this does was not yet 30 days bred, and will retest her in the middle of December to see what her status is at that point.

Five of the Boer does are bred to the buck that I leased named Abe, and a high percentage doe, my two purebred does and my fullblood doe are all bred to Huckleberry, the fullblood buck I purchased in April. I was worried that Huck wouldn’t get his girls bred, so I was pleasantly surprised when I got the pregnancy report back from the lab.

All of the does will be due in February and March. This is my first year using the blood test, and after going through the process, I do not plan on going back to having an ultrasound performed. I trust the science behind the test, and the process and cost is incredibly convenient for me.

There are many different methods to determine pregnancy, but these are the ways that I have found work the best for me. Technology is really a beautiful thing, as it helps decrease costs and increase efficiency.

Click here to see the published version in The Fence Post.