Scanning Charolais Seedstock
Charolais Breeders Should Plan Ahead When Collecting Ultrasound Data on Yearling Seedstock Bulls and Heifers

Technicians: You can select scanning technicians by either contacting the AICA or by going to the Ultrasound Guidelines Council (UGC) website. Currently AICA guidelines specify that the scanning technician is certified by the Ultrasound Guidelines Council through The Beef Cattle Ultrasound Technician Annual Proficiency Testing and Certification Program (APTC). They must also be working with a centralized ultrasound processing lab or interpretation technician that is also certified as a lab (interpretation) technician through the UGC.

Scanning fees are set by individual ultrasound technicians and can very from approximately $12.00 to $16.00 per animal plus mileage and setup fees. Fee structures are established by individual technicians and can vary depending on the number of cattle to scan and other circumstances. The technician will bill the breeder directly for their services. It is sometimes an advantage when scanning smaller groups of cattle to work with other producers in your area to schedule a technician.

Barnsheets: Before the scanning date arrives contact the AICA office to obtain a Barnsheet. Be prepared before calling and have your AICA Breeder Number for the owners of the cattle in addition to the sex and age of cattle to scan. We will then forward the barnsheets to you. If you are contacting ACIA to obtain barnsheets for a bull test we will need the AICA Registration Number for each calf that is being scanned.

Barnsheets need to be completely filled out by the breeder and given to the scanning technician to accompany the ultrasound images.

Scanning Facilities and Preparation: It is highly recommended that all animals be scanned in a squeeze chute to ensure image quality and ease of scanning. When contacting your scanning technician work with him/her to be sure you are prepared for their arrival and have everything they will need. Usually cattle will need to be clipped (in the area to scan), clean and dry to collect meaningful ultrasound scans.

Age Window for Scanning Cattle: For scanning yearling Charolais seedstock AICA has set the age window between 320 and 430 days of age.

Reporting of Performance Data: Calving and weaning information (within contemporary groups) must be reported to AICA through either the Performance Plus Registry (PPR) or the Whole Herd Rewards Program (WHR) before ultrasound data can be included into the AICA database. Producers should also report yearling data to AICA (weight, hip height and scrotal measurements). The yearling data may be collected at the same time the animals are scanned.

Interpretation of scans: Most technicians are certified to collect images in the field and work with a centralized lab for interpretation. In a few cases the scanning technician may also be UGC certified to interpret images. Interpretation is done by skilled technicians certified by UGC.

Laboratories require that images are cross checked by more than one technician to ensure quality control in measurement accuracy. After interpretation, the measurements are returned to the breeder by the lab and a copy is also forwarded to AICA.

If you are planning a sale, be sure to schedule a technician ahead of time to ensure that scanning is done early enough to have information ahead of the sale. Processing time will require about seven (7) working days if no errors are found.

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