23 specialists of the dairy industry from 7 regions of Ukraine had the opportunity to improve their practical skills in the ultrasound diagnostics of pregnancy and of the causes of infertility in cows within the framework of a project to support small and medium-sized dairy cattle farms, which the Ukrainian Agri Council and the Consulting Center of the Association of Milk Producers implement in partnership with the international humanitarian organization Prosper Global (formerly Mercy Corps).

On September 24–25, in the Cherkasy region, the Dairy Center Kischenzi (DCK) training center held an intensive professional development course for veterinary medicine doctors, "Ultrasound: Diagnostics and Reproduction," where theoretical knowledge was combined with practical work directly with animals. The specialists practiced the diagnostics of pregnancy and of the causes of infertility, learned to determine the stages of pregnancy, to detect pathologies of the uterus and ovaries, and to analyze the causes of reproductive losses.

"For a dairy farm, these skills have a wholly practical significance. The earlier a veterinarian can confirm pregnancy or determine the reason why a cow is not conceiving, the faster the farm can make a decision regarding treatment, re-insemination, or further work with the animal. And the number of future calvings and the stability of milk production depend directly on the effectiveness of reproduction," says Valerii Lototskyi, director of the Consulting Center of the Association of Milk Producers, candidate of veterinary sciences with 25 years of experience in veterinary practice.

Over the course of two days, the participants combined theoretical training with practice on farms. Particular attention during the course was paid to the organization of herd reproduction and to the key indicators by which its effectiveness can be assessed.

"Even though I studied for 8 years and have worked as a veterinarian since 2011, and since 2014 as a veterinarian and artificial insemination technician, I learned a great deal that was new. We got acquainted with a new-generation ultrasound device, compared the operation of the new and old probes with old sonars, and tried ourselves to diagnose the difference between a follicular and a luteal cyst. We identified a normal corpus luteum and a persistent corpus luteum — that is, we studied a lot of information and received answers to all our questions," noted a participant of the course, Viktor, a veterinarian and artificial insemination technician of an agricultural enterprise from the Kirovohrad region.

After the training, the skills gained will carry over into the daily work of the specialists: the veterinarians will return to their farms and will use them in their daily work with animals, in order to see a problem faster, determine further actions more precisely, and better control herd reproduction. And when there are more such specialists in different regions, this gradually strengthens both the farms themselves and the dairy industry as a whole.

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Prosper Global (formerly Mercy Corps) is an international humanitarian organization that operates in 35+ countries worldwide and provides assistance to people affected by disasters, wars, poverty, and the consequences of climate change.