A Suggested Pregnancy Detecting Routine; Pregnancy Detection Before The First Return At 21 Days - MS Schippers Pregtector Doppler Mode D'emploi

4. A suggested pregnancy detecting routine

A pregnancy detector will not take the place of traditional animal husbandry, but it can be used in
conjunction with it to improve efficiency in the farm. Management decisions in pig breeding, as in
any other venture, will be better in proportion to the accuracy, validity and up-to-dateness of the
information needed to make them.
Sows should ideally be kept in small groups in the service area for 4-5 weeks after service or
insemination. They should be visually checked for return to oestrus at 21 days, and they should be
introduced to the boar as an extra insurance to pick up returns.
The Doppler PregTector can be used from 14-15 days, but a more usual time is at about 4-5
weeks.
The suggested routine is as follows:
1. Check sows systematically and regularly on a routine basis each week. Choose a day when
there is less activity on the farm. (Not the day when pigs are weighed, or loaded, or when sows are
weaned). Do the pregnancy testing at a quiet time of day, ideally not within four hours after
feeding, and certainly not just before feeding them, when the sows are usually at the noisiest. Stick
tot this routine rigidly.
2. Test sows in their fifth week, that is, they will be between 28 and 35 days. Sows which are
confirmed pregnant are no problem for the time being, but those where nothing is heard must be
tested again later. Check the exact service date. The important thing is to get them back to the
boar, or re-inseminate at the next return, at 42 weeks or so. Therefore if the sow is 28 days served,
you can just make a note to test her again next week. But if she is at the end of her fifth week, she
will need to be tested individually two or three days later so that if a negative result is obtained
again, she can be prepared to be served or inseminated again at the appropriate time.
3. Some farms will routinely test a second time during the week after the second return, as it is
possible for a sow tot reabsorb the pregnancy up to about 45 days, and the most likely times are at
the first and the second return days. Others will leave the second test until about 10 weeks, which
is more or less the mid-point of the pregnancy. If testing later than 10 weeks you should listen not
only for the uterine artery but also for the faster pulse of a fetus.
4. A Major advantage of the Doppler PregTector is that pregnancy testing can be carried out at
any time after 25 days. Use the instrument at any time you have doubts about a particular sow.

5. Pregnancy detection before the first return at 21 days

The physical changes which cause the uterine artery to become enlarged in early pregnancy are
first detectable in most sows from day 14 to 15 after service with the PregTector. Trials at the
University of Gottingen in Germany (Holz et al Top Argrar Jan 1994) have found that positive
diagnosis was possible in more than 90% of sows from the 14th day. Because of the uterus is very
small at this time, such a diagnosis will require more experience than testing later in pregnancy.
It must also be understood that any diagnosis mode before the first return to oestrus at 21 day
must be reconfirmed later, as there is a significant possibility of the sow losing the pregnancy,
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