Early fetal sexing of Saanen goats by use of transrectal ultrasonography to identify the genital tubercle and external genitalia.

Objective: To define the optimum period for sexing of Saanen goat fetuses by use of transrectal ultrasonography.

Animals: 82 Saanen goats pregnant with 124 fetuses.

Procedures: Fetal sexing was performed on the basis of the final location of the genital tubercle or identification of external genitalia. In experiment 1, fetuses (n = 78) were monitored every 48 hours from days 40 to 60 of gestation, whereas for experiment 2, 46 fetuses were examined only once between days 47 and 77 of gestation.

Results: For experiment 1, accuracy of fetal sexing was 20 of 20 (100%) for a single fetus, 39 of 42 (92.8%) for twin fetuses, and 10 of 16 (62.5%) for triplet fetuses. Diagnostic accuracy was significantly lower for triplet fetuses than that for single or twin fetuses. Final location of the genital tubercle was detected between 45 and 55 days of gestation (mean +/- SEM, 48.9 +/- 1.8 days). For experiment 2, accuracy of fetal sexing for a single fetus (24/24 [100%]) was significantly higher than the accuracy for twin fetuses (16/22 [72.7%]). Considering all fetuses that were born, accuracy of diagnosis was 69 of 78 (88.4%) for experiment 1 and 40 of 46 (86.9%) for experiment 2. Accuracy did not differ significantly between experiments.

Conclusions And Clinical Relevance: Real-time ultrasonography after day 55 of gestation is a suitable method for determination of sex of Saanen goat fetuses by observation of the genital tubercle or identification of external genitalia.