Milk pregnancy testing for goats

Milk pregnancy testing can detect pregnancy 30 days from conception. For this reason we recommend the test is used 30 days or more after bucks have been removed.

The test will return one of three results:

• Pregnant
• No pregnancy detected
• Re-check

The test does not age pregnancies.

About the test

The milk pregnancy test is an enzyme- linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). It can detect pregnancy associated glycoproteins produced by the placenta as a marker for pregnancy.

The test can be completed on both whole herds (all animals at the herd test) and partial herds (a select group of animals at the herd test - minimum 25 samples). An additional administration fee will be applied to partial herds.

It has been validated against ultrasound scan and kidding on NZ goat farms.

Accuracy of the test

False positives may occur if an animal has recently aborted as pregnancy protein levels take at least two weeks to drop to undetectable levels.

False negatives may occur where an animal is less than 30 days pregnant or where the animal has failed to produce enough glycoproteins for the test to detect. Glycoprotein levels will vary from animal to animal.

Milk pregnancy test is unable to identify pseudopregnancy (cloudburst). Animals with this condition will be diagnosed as no pregnancy detected.

Re-checks

Up to 10% of your herd may need to be re-checked. We recommend re-checks are completed via scanning with a vet or other provider.

Results

The turnaround time for results is approximately 7 working days and results will be uploaded to MINDA® LIVE.

Prices