How early pregnancy checking can help manage beef cattle during drought

With limited feed resources in a drought year, early pregnancy testing can be a useful way to manage and responsibly cull cattle herds, according to North Dakota State University Extension.

Testing for most spring-calving herds is usually conducted in late summer or fall, timed with weaning or preconditioning calves. But cows can be checked as early as 28 to 30 days after the end of the breeding season to allow for more timely management decisions, according to the Extension.

Early testing helps producers make decisions about nutrition programs and marketing plans, and it allows them to evaluate the reproductive efficiency of the cow herd. If possible, producers can collect weights at pregnancy checking time to help calculate livestock feed needs for fall and winter and make more efficient use of forage supplies. And if producers are weaning calves early and conducting an early pregnancy check at the same time, weaning weight ratios can be calculated and considered when making later culling decisions.

Standard methods of pregnancy checking include rectal palpation, ultrasound and blood-based pregnancy tests. More information on these methods, and their advantages and disadvantages, is available in the news release from North Dakota State.