Farm Animals

Sheep Pregnancy Ultrasound Welfare Benefits

Pregnancy scanning in sheep allows targeted nutrition and management, improving welfare outcomes for ewes and lambs.

Key Facts

Scanning reveals litter size, enabling differential feeding of single vs multiple-bearing ewes
Over-conditioned ewes carrying multiples face higher dystocia and ketosis risk
Scanning reduces late pregnancy losses through targeted intervention
Most scanning occurs at 75-90 days of gestation for reliable fetal counts

Welfare Considerations

Accurate knowledge of pregnancy status allows farmers to prevent nutritional welfare problems. Under-fed triplet-bearing ewes develop metabolic disease; over-fed ewes face difficult lambings. Scanning saves lives and prevents suffering.

What You Can Do

Support farms using pregnancy scanning for management
Ask about scanning programmes when sourcing lamb
Advocate for scanning uptake in small and hobby farms