This past week-end, a dozen of veterinary students chose to meet with Drs. Maria Pieters and Perle Boyer at the University of Minnesota Southern research and outreach center in Waseca, MN to practice their pregnancy diagnostic skills over enjoying the unusually warm weather.
For over 3 hours, the first to third-year veterinary students each got the chance to perform an ultrasound examination on sows at various stages of gestation as well as on a sow that was not pregnant to appreciate the difference. Various tools were presented to them to compare and to get familiar with.
By the end of the lab, we are glad to say that all students were able to successfully tell if a sow was pregnant or not!