Practical Uses for Ultrasound in Managing Beef Cattle

Ultrasound has been utilized as a tool in beef and dairy research systems for many years, and in more recent years has become available to commercial livestock agriculture. An ultrasound is an electronic instrument that sends out ultrasonic sound waves from an attached device called a transducer. The waves pass freely through fluid and are re-flected back to the probe once they contact a soft tissue like muscle or a dense structure like bone, resulting in an image that can be identified as the placenta, fetus, or other organs. In addition, ultrasound may also be utilized to determine subcutaneous body fat content on finishing cattle, and it is also an important diagnostic tool for veterinary medicine. Although ultrasound technology may be used for variou