Lesson PlanGreat Plains Veterinary Educational Center

Course: Pregnancy Examination

Topic: Beef cattle pregnancy examinationand cow herd management

Description: This elective is designed to give students with some previous palpation experience the opportunity to advance their skills in bovine pregnancy diagnosis by manual palpation and ultrasonography. Speed and accuracy will be emphasized during this week. Students will also learn about cow herd management through discussions and assignments related to cow herd records, nutrition, and client communication.

Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of this rotation, students will:

  1. have improved their proficiency and confidence in identifying pregnant and nonpregnant reproductive tracts and staging the length of gestation of the pregnant tracts.
  2. be able toproperly assess beef cattle Body Condition Score (BCS) and understand its value in nutritional management of cow herds.
  3. understand the basic concepts of beef cow ration formulation and be able to formulate basic cow rations utilizing BRaNDS software.
  4. be able to collect chute side cow data, summarize the data, provide nutritional and other management recommendations based on the data, and communicate those findings to a client in written format.

Learning Activities

  1. Days 1-5 – Field exercise: Assist USMARC and GPVEC personnel with routine pregnancy examination of cows and heifers. (2-4 hours)
  2. Day 1 – Field exercise: Collect data (e.g. ID number, BCS, body weight, hip height, and pregnancystatus) on a paper form during pregnancy examination. (2-4 hours)
  3. Day 1 – Laboratory exercise: Palpate gravid and nongravid reproductive tracts collected at the abattoir and stage the pregnant tracts. (1-2 hours)
  4. Day 2 – Lecture/discussion: Introduction to CowCalf 5 and entry of previous day’s data. (2 hour)
  5. Day 3 – Lecture/discussion: Review and discussion of the previous day’s data and summaries. Discussion of the techniques, timing, and value of pregnancy examinations. Discussion of client communication. (2-3 hours)
  6. Day 3 – Homework assignment: Students will write a letter to a producer regarding the data collected, entered, and summarized in CowCalf 5. Due by noon on Day 5.
  7. Day4– Discussion of BCS, cow herd nutrition, and BRaNDS software. (1-2 hours)
  8. Days 1-5 – Laboratory exercise: Daily necropsies based on animal availabilityand other student rotation activities. (30 minutes-2 hours)
  9. Days 1-5 – Laboratory exercise: Service calls to examine/treat USMARC animals based on opportunity and time. (30 minutes-2 hours)

Training materials

  1. GPVEC thumbdrive
  2. Laminated pregnancy staging card

Outcomes Assessment

  1. Day 5 – Evaluation of student letters
  2. Day 5 –Student evaluation of the rotation

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