Livestock

Sheep Pregnancy Scanning: Welfare Implications 2026

Pregnancy scanning in sheep enables targeted nutritional management that directly improves ewe and lamb welfare during the critical late gestation and lambing periods.

Key Facts

Ultrasound pregnancy scanning of ewes typically occurs at 60-90 days of gestation
Scanning allows ewes to be sorted into singles, twins and triplets for differential nutrition
Ewes carrying triplets have significantly higher nutritional requirements than single-bearing ewes
Under-feeding in late gestation causes pregnancy toxaemia, a serious welfare concern

Welfare Considerations

Pregnancy scanning directly benefits welfare by enabling precise nutritional management, reducing metabolic disease incidence, improving colostrum quality and lamb birth weight, and reducing difficult births and lamb mortality. The scanning procedure itself carries minimal welfare cost when done by a trained operator.

What You Can Do

Implement pregnancy scanning as a standard practice on sheep farms
Use scan results to create differential feeding groups in late gestation
Train shepherds to recognise early signs of pregnancy toxaemia
Work with a vet to review nutrition protocols based on body condition scores and scan results