Effect of veterinary student rectal palpation on early pregnancy loss in dairy cattle

Abstract

Rectal palpation is the most commonly used method for pregnancy determination in cattle. Surveys of bovine practitioners seeking to hire new graduates rank it as a skill they expect students to perform proficiently. Teaching this important technique to veterinary students is a challenge in an academic setting because of the perceived detrimental effect student palpation may have on a client’s animals. Additionally an inability by the instructor to guide a student's hand while rectally palpating makes verification of learning difficult. The goal of this study was to determine if student palpation led to an increase in pregnancy loss. We hypothesized that there would be no difference in pregnancy loss between cows that were palpated using transrectal ultrasonography by a clinician to cows that were ultrasounded by a clinician and then palpated by a fourth year veterinary student. Further, we hypothesized that students that had taken the elective formal palpation training class through The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine (VETPREV 796.17: Bovine Palpation) would be more likely to cause early pregnancy loss in dairy cattle. The concern was that the advanced trained students may be more aggressive in their palpation technique.