The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: mattjen on January 06, 2014, 07:14:08 pm
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After seeing a previous topic I was wondering, would you be able to use a baby Doppler or are they not sensitive enough or are there other reasons?
Thanks in advance Matt
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Doppler works fine, but you can't use a baby one, as it's specific for humans. Ditto the vet's one for dogs works on dogs. Something to do with frequencies and some other technical stuff. There are pig ones eg
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Draminski-Pig-Pregnancy-Detector-for-sows-FREE-next-day-delivery-/120818931520 (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Draminski-Pig-Pregnancy-Detector-for-sows-FREE-next-day-delivery-/120818931520)
The make that we use.
In pigs you can perform the tests between 18 and 75 days post mating; however, the highest accuracy is achieved when the tests are performed between 25 and 35 days. In this period there is the highest level of amniotic fluid in the uterus, therefore it is located the most easily. Pregnancies over 75 days can still be detected although with less accuracy due to the diminishing amount of fluid in the uterus. It cannot tell you how many piglets the sow has just if she is pregnant.
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I can see why people would want to use such a thing but the old wait three weeks and see if she comes back in season works for me.
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For most people the wait and see is absolutely fine, and most of our sows stay with the boar for more than one cycle, so he can get them again is he missed or they didn't hold.
We use it more to ensure the pig has remained pregnant - with 35 sows we cannot watch the back ends of all of them each day throughout their pregnancy, so this provides a valuable check to ensure they haven't lost post mating - we can check up to 75 days after.