Early pregnancy detection in livestock enables better nutritional management, reduces metabolic disease risk and enables early intervention for pregnancy problems, improving welfare outcomes.
Pregnancy detection welfare improvements operate across multiple mechanisms. Identifying multiple-bearing ewes enables targeted nutrition that prevents pregnancy toxaemia, reducing suffering from a highly preventable metabolic disease. Early identification of barren animals prevents unnecessary winter feeding and management of non-productive animals that would otherwise be managed as pregnant. Detection of foetal malpresentation or death enables veterinary intervention before the ewe experiences prolonged, failed labour. Calving prediction technology enables supervised births that reduce unassisted calf deaths and the complications that cause extended suffering for both dam and offspring. Investment in pregnancy detection technology has direct, measurable welfare returns.