Medical device used to scan pigs

It’s not exactly “E-R,” but people from 10 states and Canada are learning to use an ultrasound at Iowa State University. The ultrasound is commonly used by doctors to give expectant parents their first view of their new offspring. Participants at a two-day training session at Iowa State University are learning to use the device on pigs. Instead of scanning developing babies, I-S-U animal science professor Tom Baas says they’re trained to measure backfat and loin muscle, the two major indicators of which pigs will make good breeding stock. .The technology is very similar to that used on humans, and in fact, the first ultrasound used could’ve been used on humans. He says pigs that pass the ultrasound test are used to breed new litters of pigs.Baas says I-S-U is the only place in the U-S that teaches, and certifies operators in the swine scanning technique.Twenty people are involved in the two-day training session that ends today. Baas says they’ll go on to scan thousands of pigs.