Supply of Ultrasound Scanning Equipment for Livestock Muscle and Fat Depth Measurement

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The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs awarded a contract to Vet Image Solutions for the provision of ultrasound scanning equipment to measure muscle and fat depths in live sheep and cattle.

The equipment supports Signet Breeding Services, a department within AHDB, which provides performance recording for beef breeds and sheep across the UK, scanning around 50,000 sheep and 5,000 cattle annually.

The contract requires portable real-time ultrasound imaging systems capable of withstanding on-farm conditions, with probes that make direct skin contact without stand-off.

For sheep, four text measurements (three fat, one muscle) must be downloadable via USB to a laptop running specialised AHDB software; for beef, nine measurements (four fat, one muscle at the 3rd lumbar and four fat at the last rib) are manually recorded on paper.

The contract value is £30,000.