Pregnancy Monitoring with SomaDetect

Reproductive performance is a critical aspect of managing a profitable dairy operation. A cow must give birth to a calf for lactation to begin. After lactation begins, farmers start to plan for a second lactation. It is this cycle that allows farmers to grow their business and provide milk to consumers.

Why is pregnancy monitoring so important?

When a cow shows estrous after the voluntary waiting period, most farms will breed that cow. A farmer is not able to know whether or not breeding resulted in pregnancy for at least 28 days after the cow is bred. Since not all bred cows conceive and stay pregnant, it is important to learn which cows are eligible to be rebred as soon as possible so they can produce milk in the near future.       

Challenges to Pregnancy Loss 

Not all cows who are found pregnant at their first check will maintain their pregnancy, and detecting pregnancy loss is a crucial part of reproductive management on dairy farms. 

Protocols that use heat detection technologies and that check cows multiple times catch these losses in the most cost-efficient way. These protocols all include a first pregnancy check, usually 28 to 35 days after breeding. The cost per cow varies from farm to farm and depends on the method of pregnancy confirmation, but generally ranges from $2-8 per cow and averages around $4 per cow per ultrasound confirmation. 

Most farms would check their cows 2-3 times throughout a successful pregnancy and lactation. However, despite routine pregnancy confirmations and reconfirmations, pregnancy loss and open cows still slip through the cracks. On average, 3-9% of cows experience pregnancy loss between 70 days since last heat (DSLH) and dry-off.

As an example, one of our early adopters runs a 3,500 cow operation. They conduct pregnancy checks of their cows at 32-39 days post-breeding via ultrasound with their vet, and again at 70-80 days post-breeding. Last year, the farm found 330 open cows at dry-off, around 305 DIM. By the best estimates, the farmer believes his farm misses aborted pregnancies by 80 days, representing a loss of $247,500. It is crucial for farmers to not only confirm pregnancy early but to also detect any cows that experience pregnancy loss.  

How can our technology help?

With our combination of inline sensor technology and artificial intelligent algorithms, we can detect open cows, provide early pregnancy indications, and indicate the risk of pregnancy loss. 

Returning to the example of our early adopter farm of 3,500 cows, with our technology, we would continue to monitor their pregnant cows and help alert the farmer of any cows that are suspected of undergoing pregnancy loss. In turn, this helps the farmer identify open cows who were thought to be pregnant and allows them to reduce their average days-open by quickly getting open cows rebred; ultimately saving the farmer time and money.

What will our technology look like?

As another example, a dairy farm has three routine pregnancy confirmations scheduled with their herd vet: the first at 32 DSLH, the second at 70 DSLH, and the third at dry-off.

At 33 DSLH, a cow is confirmed pregnant and scheduled for a pregnancy reconfirmation at 70 DSLH. At 50 DSLH, our technology has identified nine open predictions over three days. The farmer is notified that this cow is at risk of pregnancy loss. The farm adds this cow to their weekly herd health list and the vet identifies that the cow is indeed open. The farmer saves valuable time, being alerted of the pregnancy loss 20 days sooner than the scheduled pregnancy reconfirmation with the vet. This allows the farmer to rebreed the cow, thus reducing their average days open.

In the long term, farms that utilize our technology may choose to reduce the number of pregnancy checks with their vet from three checks per gestation period to two or even one. This is part of our vision of a future of connecting, empowering, and enlightening our dairy system from every cow to every consumer.