Preg-tone experience?

[ohiogoatgirl]

I'm considering investing in a preg-tone. I have the sheep and it seems to be somewhat adjustable to different animals. Does anybody have experience with it? There is only a couple videos of it on YouTube. It seems really simple once you make sure you're not pointing it at the bladder.
It makes a tone (*beep*beep*beep*) when you have contact. If there is amniotic fluid it holds a tone (*beeeeeeeeep*). You'll be able to tell bred or not bred but no imaging or anything.
"No guessing and no questions. 100% accuracy between 30 and 45 days depending on animal type."
So you can start checking 30 days from the start of breeding. Note who shows bred. A week later check and note. Etc. So if you had the time to check them you could have a really good idea of lambing dates.
And, a big pro in my book right now, if there's a ewe who is a repeat offending miss breeding then once she is for sure not bred she can be sold.

 

[Spokeless Wheel]

I'm following as I'm curious too!

 

[Alaskan]

Well... I have never managed to trust a stud finder... and those are supposed to be "easy"

So nope... I know I couldn't get that thing to work

 

[Ridgetop]

First questions is - How much does it cost?

Compared to a marking harness and crayons is it something I could afford? Or need? Or would it be just another piece of equipment I would need extra people to help me use? My sheep are not that tame so I would have to run them into the squeeze to use the machine to preg check.

If the ewe does not take after marking several times with different rams, she goes to the auction anyway.

 

[Baymule]

Sounds interesting. With a lot of ewes, I can see how that would be beneficial.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

-expensive, about $460 I think it was

+can change simple setting for different animals so it's more useful than just the sheep

+I could know who is bred the month or two after breeding. Now I could sell not bred ewes. Instead of feeding them through winter, feeding them assuming they are bred, lambing checks for not bred ewes. That's more money every year than the device.

+If I'm sure it's pretty accurate I could do it for friends as a little side job.

Imaging preg scanning (ultrasound) equipped is sooo expensive. There isn't anyone in my area that does it. I went through two people jerking around, one cancel on me last minute, and then finally have someone do it and it was like 50% accurate. Ewes lambed that scanned open.. ewes scanned twin and didn't lamb..
If I were to pay myself the same as that was then I could pay back the pregtone in two years just doing my own sheep and with significance less hassle.

I don't want to wrestle rams with harnesses and crayons. I don't want crayon/paint in my wool, I use it and market it.

If you don't want to handle the ewes to do it then it's not going to be for you. For me this isn't a big deal. I am moving towards a mostly confinement style keeping for winter and lambing so the ewes will be pretty easy to handle and sort. If I was out in pasture and didn't have pens or anything then this wouldn't work.

 

[Baymule]

Take lots of pictures and post them on this thread, please. It sounds like a valuable tool to have.

 

[farmerjan]

We do ultrasound pregnancy checking in the cattle and it is 99.9% accurate. If the person that did your sheep only got 50% then I would say it was the operator not the machine. I had a dairy farmer that also raised sheep. He sold many many lambs to 4-H and FFA kids for show. He needed the preg checks to be accurate and he had a vet that did his ultra sounds and he was always pretty pleased. So, I cannot say for sheep but I do like it for the cattle and they can catch them quicker too than palpation. A good vet can do a good job of palpation at 35 days... but they can miss some.
The Preg-Tone thing sounds really interesting. Would also like to be kept up to date on info on it. I like to learn about new things that people try and their success rates.

 

[Ridgetop]

Let us know if you get it and how you like it.

 

[Roving Jacobs]

Someone I know had good success with it with her pigs, I've heard mixed things for sheep. For $500 I'd just save up a bit more and get a cheap ultrasound scanner (can be found for ~$800) and learn to use it. At least with that you can do fetal counts and measurements.

Personally, I'd learn to draw blood and send in for pregnancy tests on a small flock over a preg-tone. Red top tubes are something like $0.40 each, it takes maybe a minute to grab a ewe and pull blood once you know how, testing is $3 each at the place I use, and shipping cost me about $5 this past time. The preg-tone doesn't allow you to test any sooner than blood testing, requires just as much handling, and is less accurate. Someday I really want an ultrasound just for fun though!