Pregnancy diagnosis in the ewe by an ultrasonic rectal probe.

Pregnancy diagnosis was carried out on 1396 ewes from 20 to more than 120 days after mating with an overall success rate for positive diagnosis of 89 per cent whereas from 60 to more than 120 days after mating the rate was 94 per cent. Diagnosis of barrenness or non-pregnancy from 20 to more than 120 days after mating gave a success rate of 84 per cent but from 20 to 80 days after mating the diagnosis of barrenness was more accurate than the diagnosis of pregnancy, ie, 88 per cent success as against 82 per cent success of pregnancy. In modern intensive sheep breeding units the ability to diagnose barrenness accurately at an early period following mating has obvious economic advantages. All the ewes under examination were subjected to only one examination. The object was to assess the commercial capabilities of such an examination.