Ultrasound Hacks: How to use the Artemis to pregnancy scan goats, sheep, pigs, cows and horses all with the same probe

The Artemis is a tough, durable farm animal scanner, with such clear images it makes interpretation so quick and easy. Like all ultrasound machines, however, the probe – the part you scan with – is not cheap.

Many of our clients scan a variety of animals. If this mix consists of goats, sheep and pigs, for example, then that’s no problem – a convex probe will do all of these. However, many of our clients want to scan cows, too. Some veterinarians may even be scanning horses. The only way to scan these animals is using a rectal probe. It’s simply not viable to scan these larger animals transabdominally as their large, gassy rumen or hindgut is in the way, and ultrasound cannot pass through gas.

In this scenario, you would ideally purchase two probes: a rectal transducer for your cows or horses, and a convex transducer for sheep, goats, pigs or dogs – but not everyone can afford to invest so much money up front in a new scanner.

Unique probe design

The Artemis has a revolutionary, patented design of rectal transducer, which gives the user a wider field of view than your standard flat linear rectal probe that comes with most systems. We tested whether the convex rectal probe would work transabdominally on goats. If it does, then it could be a good way for those who need to scan a mixture of farm animals to get started. Once the scanner begins paying for itself, you can always add a convex probe on later down the line.