Pregnancy Checking: Technologies and Tactics
By Jaclyn Krymowski for American Cattlemen
Reproductive efficiency makes up no small part of a cow’s fertility value. With feed and supplement costs where they are, keeping one open cow over winter can run $175 to $400 with nothing to show for it come spring, write Lindsay Waechter-Mead and Kacie McCarthy in a Nebraska Extension article, Maximizing Returns: Early Weaning, Pregnancy Detection, and Cull Cow Marketing Strategies.
Even under optimal pasture conditions, open cows cost you both time and money. And even if all of your cows do eventually settle with a pregnancy, the ones that lag with longer calving intervals can still weigh down the rest of the herd. Calves born earlier in the calving season simply carry more weight at weaning.
As an example, one study found AI-bred calves born early in the season averaged 19.4 lbs heavier than their later-born herdmates, according to Kacie McCarthy in a Nebraska Extension article, Integrating Reproductive Technologies in Cow-Calf Operations: Practical Strategies for Efficiency and Profitability.
Add that up, and your slow rebreeders are losing out on their lifetime productivity, especially in relation to their more prolific herdmates. This means that pregnancy diagnosis ought to be treated as a management tool rather than simply a pregnancy confirmation. It can be utilized to improve your overall profitability, increase reproductive efficiency using AI or live cover, and support other management decisions like culling and marketing.
The Economics
Pregnancy checking does come with an associated extra expense. Depending on the method you, prices can range from $3 to $18 per cow for an early detection blood test, according to a North Dakota State University Extension article, Options for Pregnancy Diagnosis in Beef Cattle, or completely free if you are trained to palpate once the calf is big enough.
But there are several ways checking will save you money, in some cases quite directly. If you are planning a spring calving, identifying open animals can make it easy to take certain individuals off the feed bill before you commit to winter feeding. It can also make culling decisions more straightforward and increase marketing flexibility. Cull cow prices have historically run 5-10% higher in August compared to October and November. Knowing which cows are open in time to sell early can put more money in your pocket.
On the management front, if you are pasture breeding, pregnancy checking can give you a more straightforward way to estimate calving dates. If using AI, it gives you a way to track conception rates and troubleshoot problems early on.
“Pregnancy checking gives producers the information needed to prepare for calving season. By identifying open females/cull cows, you can reduce feed costs by feeding a more cost-effective diet. Evaluating the body condition score of cows as you check them also influences nutritional management,” writes Travis Meeter in the Illinois University article, The importance of pregnancy checking cattle. “If cows are thin in the fall, there is still time to put weight on them before spring calving and vice versa with heavier cows. When it comes to keeping your operation profitable and efficient, pregnancy checking is crucial.”
Technologies Available
There are a wide variety of preg checking techniques that come with pros and cons. Some can be done onsite by the layman while others require a vet or technician.
Palpation
Palpation can be performed by anyone trained but cannot be done until 35 to 40 days post breeding. The results are immediate, the cheapest and can estimate fetal age without specialized equipment. But to be successful, it does require someone who has sufficient skill and experience plus there are no added benefits like fetal viability or sex.
Ultrasounds
Ultrasounding can detect pregnancy as early as 28 days after breeding. This can also assess general fetal viability, more precise age (which may be used to determine an AI breeding vs clean up bull conception) and even sex at later gestation. This of course is one of the pricier options requiring advanced equipment and a trained operator.
Blood Pregnancy Tests
Blood tests are able to detect pregnancy-associated glycoproteins (PAGs) and are general effective around approximately 28 days after breeding. These require minimal training and are highly accurate. However, these tests can’t determine age, sex or viability.
Estrus Observation
Simply monitoring return to heat after breeding is free and requires very little training. But the limitations are many. It demands time and careful observation which may not be physically possible in many setups. Likewise, it can be inaccurate if animals are accidentally missed or if a cow loses a calf after conception.
About Timing Strategy
Checking as soon as 30 days after bulls come out or the AI date gives a bit of an edge. This means earlier ID of open females, a shot at rebreeding in some systems, earlier culling calls and a head start on nutrition before you’re feeding an open cow like she’s carrying a calf, as Waechter-Mead and McCarthy note.
Checking in the fall, ahead of winter feeding, is the traditional timing for good reason. It’s your last checkpoint before committing real feed dollars directly impacting feed allocation. It also lines up with the seasonal cull market by moving open cows before prices decline later in the fall can mean real money, as Meteer notes, and gives you time to plan replacement females.
Management Decisions After Pregnancy
Once a cow is confirmed open, the decision tree is short: cull immediately or market her before winter feed expenses pile up. Weigh her reproductive history first. Treat your repeat offenders differently than a first miss. Either way, cutting open cows early reduces winter feed costs and, timed right, captures stronger seasonal markets instead of a fall glut, per Meteer.
For cows that settled, pregnancy diagnosis lets you manage toward calving instead of waiting on it. Grouping by expected calving date lets you adjust nutrition by stage of gestation, prepare calving facilities, and schedule vaccinations around when they’re actually needed, note Waechter-Mead and McCarthy.
Cows that conceived late deserve their own look. A cow that consistently calves late drags down your average weaning weight even if she’s technically pregnant, so it’s worth evaluating her profitability every year and deciding to either cull her or separate into a late calving group.
Pregnancy diagnosis also pairs well with reproductive technologies like sexed semen. As Kacie McCarthy write, “Sexed semen enables producers to predetermine calf sex, supporting targeted production of replacement heifers or terminal steers. While conception rates may be slightly lower than conventional semen, the ability to manage herd demographics offers long-term economic benefits.”
Marketing Strategies
Pairing pregnancy diagnosis with early weaning is an underused strategy when forage is tight. Weaning early reduces nutrient demands on cows and improves body condition, which enhances reproductive performance.
“Weaning calves earlier can significantly reduce cow nutrient requirements and decrease dry matter intake, as well as allow available forage to match cow nutrient requirements more closely,” Waechter-Mead and McCarthy write. “Two-year old cows still have a growth requirement which results in additional nutritional demands during lactation. By weaning early, nutritional demands are decreased and allows heifers and cows a chance to regain or maintain body condition in late summer and fall.”
Knowing your open cows early means you’re not forced to sell on someone else’s timeline. Timing sales to market conditions, instead of dumping them all at once in late fall, improves both your return and your overall herd efficiency. Remember that pregnancy checking is a management tool that improves profitability, unlike many veterinary diagnostic procedures.
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