We've always found ultrasound exams on our pregnant (?) does to be pretty exciting so we thought it would be fun to share some of our ultrasound images with you. Keep in mind these are sort of like looking at a snapshot taken out of a whole movie.You're missing the action but can still see the scene.

A dairy goat has an average gestation of 150-155 days.We routinely have our does examed via ultrasound at 35+ days following breeding. At this point, a pregnant doe should show a fluid filled uterus (black oval areas on ultrasound), possibly some carnucles (white c-shaped areas on ultrasound) which are the blood-rich attachments that nourish a growing fetus ..... and possibly a little jumping bean of a fetus.

Occasionally we need to have a doe re-examined if there is any question of her pregnancy status but for the most part, using ultrasound exams helps us manage the health of our breeding stock through preventative practices. Does carrying multiple kids can be supported better nutritionally when we have that information and those not pregnant can be re-bred or put into 'dry' pens so they don't get too much nutrition for their dry condition.

Lupine

This is a good view of a well developed 92 day old fetus. The kid's rib cage and spine are nearly centered in the upper area of this view with the ribs running vertically. Because this pregnancy is so far along, it's difficult to see how many kids there are at this stage. When an ultrasound is done too far into the pregnancy, sometimes you can't put into perspective what you're actually looking at. Lupine had twin bucks about 68 days later.

Promise

This view is 63 days into her pregnancy. The dark, somewhat oval shaped areas are actually cross sections of the doe's fluid filled uterus. The white areas around the inside edges of the uterus are the carnucles. Carnucles are positive evidence of a pregnancy since they are the nourishing, blood rich attachments that the fetuses will need to develop. The white, sort of 'island' you see in the upper right fluid oval is a fetus whose heart beat could be seen in action when this image was taken. Promise very nice twin doe kids (one with wattles like her mom) about 97 days later.

Solo

This view is interesting because what you're looking at in the upper left is a 'slice' of a kid right around his rib cage. The small white oval shapes that outline the kid are cross section images of his rib cage. He's floating in the fluid with his spine way up to the left. Solo had beautiful triplets (2 bucks/1 doe) about 90 days later.

Wasabi

This is a good view showing how the cross sectioned 'chambers' of the uterus can often appear when there are multiple kids. Unfortunately you can't see the fetuses since they are moving towards and then away from us within the uterine fluid but if you look closely, you'll notice that the carnucles (which are c-shaped) can be seen facing several different directions. When we would watch the area the carnacles were facing, we'd often see the fetuses come in and out of the image along with their little rapid heartbeats. Wasabi had beautiful triplet doe kids about 91 days later.