Pregnancy Diagnosis in Sheep: Welfare Benefits of Early Scanning

Ultrasound pregnancy scanning in sheep allows targeted nutrition, reduces metabolic disease, and improves lamb and ewe welfare at lambing.

Key Facts

Pregnancy toxemia affects up to 5% of twin-bearing ewes without targeted feeding
Scanning accuracy for single, twin, and triplet pregnancies exceeds 95%
Triplet-bearing ewes need 30% more energy than singles in late pregnancy
Early identification of barren ewes reduces feed waste and improves flock economics
Scanning stress in ewes is minimal when performed correctly

Welfare Considerations

Without pregnancy scanning, farmers feed all ewes the same ration, resulting in underfed twins and overfat singles. This causes pregnancy toxemia in multiple-bearing ewes - a painful metabolic disease - and increases lamb birth complications. Scanning-guided nutrition is a clear welfare win: ewes receive exactly what they need, reducing metabolic disease, improving milk production, and giving lambs the best start. The small stress of scanning is vastly outweighed by these benefits.

What You Can Do

Book a trained pregnancy scanner 90 to 100 days post-tupping
Use scanning results to separate ewes into feeding groups based on fetal numbers
Increase energy density of rations for twin and triplet bearing ewes in the final six weeks
Monitor body condition score alongside scanning results
Share scanning records with your vet to track herd metabolic disease rates