An accreditation program from AVA’s special interest group, the Australian Cattle Veterinarians, PregCheck helps to ensure consistent and reliable cattle pregnancy testing results through a robust and quality-controlled accreditation scheme for veterinarians.
This provides vendors and buyers with the assurance that cattle are being pregnancy tested by highly-qualified and regulated professionals.
PregCheck’s newly-released digital dashboard enables accredited vets to assign a pregnancy result to a female’s individual NLIS tag.
Carried out crush-side during pregnancy testing, this subsequently enables certification of individual cattle.
ACV president Tracy Sullivan said with PregCheck certification, buyers can be assured the cattle they are purchasing have been accurately tested for pregnancy, while sellers can command a premium price for cattle that have been certified by PregCheck-accredited vets.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with AuctionsPlus to offer our certification program to their buyers and sellers,” Ms Sullivan said.
“Our goal has always been to provide the highest level of accuracy and reliability when it comes to cattle pregnancy testing services, and through this integration, we are able to extend that goal to AuctionsPlus’ customers.”
The accuracy of the pregnancy status of cattle has always been a notable consideration for buyers, but is particularly prevalent in drier years.
AuctionsPlus market analysis shows in years when the market is tough or retreating, buyers have placed more emphasis on purchasing vet-tested PTIC females.
To date this year, clearance rates of vet-tested PTIC females was 8 per cent higher than females tested by non-vet contractors, and 12pc higher than those tested by the vendor or station staff.
Similar results were evident in 2019 in the peak of drought, with clearance rates of vet-tested females being 3pc higher than those tested by non-vet contractors, and 12pc higher than vendor-tested cattle.
AuctionsPlus chief executive officer Angus Street said the integration of PregCheck was part of the business’ ambition to provide the best-possible product that enables a value-added livestock trading experience.
“In addition to being a market leader in providing online services for the buying and selling of livestock, we are an advocate for industry best practice, and the integration of this accreditation program shows we are committed to operating at that best practice level alongside our customers,” Mr Street said.
“Our goal is to ensure as much information as possible is available for producers to make informed bidding decisions and operate with a higher level of confidence, and PregCheck is part of that.”
The integration of the PregCheck certification program into AuctionsPlus is effective immediately, allowing users the confidence and ability to search for individual certificate numbers to ensure the certificate associated with the lot for sale is current and valid.
More information on PregCheck can be found on the AVA website, and a list of PregCheck-accredited vets can be found here.