Australian Cattle Veterinarians president Dr Enoch Bergman said failing to PREgCheck (Professional Reproductive Examination) a cow that is not pregnant can result in up to nine months of feed being consumed before recognising she won’t calve.

Dr Bergman said this can result in significant costs for producers.

“Producers that don’t pregnancy test typically identify their empty cows at calf marking, often at least a month after the last cow calves,” he said.

“Every property has a limited carrying capacity and every producer a limited feeding budget. Savvy producers identify empty breeders early, allowing them to optimise their stock density and maximise their potential kilograms of beef per hectare which drives their profitability.”

Dr Bergman said by budgeting to cull expected empty cows, producers can push their breeder numbers to utilise the feed that would otherwise have been consumed by empty cows.

PREgCheck testing roughly costs a producer between $2 to $5 per head depending on the herd size and location.

PREgCheck accredited veterinarians are the only providers of pregnancy testing to have demonstrated the ability to accurately diagnose and estimate the age of pregnancies down to six weeks of gestastion.

Dr Bergmen demonstrated that the cost of inaccuracy is over $5 per head pregnancy tested, per percentage of inaccuracy.