Mobile livestock preg-checking service pitched at AgTech Breakfast

A group of University of Saskatchewan students put a unique pitch to the panelists at Ag in Motion’s AgTech Breakfast on Thursday morning: making livestock preg-checking more affordable by going mobile.

That’s the business model for ProCheck Livestock Services, which proposes to bring the services of a mobile veterinary technician, fully equipped and trained in ultrasound preg checks for livestock, directly to cow-calf, dairy and/or sheep farms in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Delivering the pitch was co-founder Clare Starosta, who grew up on a mixed grain and cow-calf operation east of Calgary and recently graduated from the U of S with a degree in animal science, minoring in ag business.

WHY IT MATTERS: The AgTech Breakfast is an opportunity for entrepreneurs to test their business ideas in front of players in ag-related investment, not to mention producers who might be interested in the service the entrepreneurs provide or plan to provide.

On the family farm, she told the panel, cows weren’t routinely preg-checked, as the economic returns weren’t believed to be enough to justify the cost. That led her to ask the question: what if preg-checking was affordable enough that it made economic sense?

“Every year producers put thousands of dollars into their breeding programs, but without timely pregnancy detection, those investments can quickly turn into losses,” she said.

“An open cow isn’t just one less calf on the grass … That cow is also consuming months of expensive winter feed, dragging down your herd’s efficiency and eating away at your profit margin.”

Working through Sigma, a student entrepreneurship program based out of the U of S College of Engineering, the four co-founders came up with this idea “because we believe every producer deserves fast and affordable access to the reproductive tools and data they need to make smart and profitable herd management decisions.”

Addressing a bottleneck

Given a well documented shortage of large-animal veterinarians in Western Canada, when peak preg-checking season arrives, many operations find themselves “struggling” to book appointments at a time when they need to be making critical culling decisions.

Right now, she said, the company is assessing market potential — that is, would producers be interested in using such a service?

The proposed business would operate a fleet of leased trucks and provide the techs with the ultrasound equipment needed. The proposed catchment area — to start — would be in Saskatchewan and Alberta, “where rural vet shortages are hitting the hardest.”

ProCheck would be built to scale, since it doesn’t follow the brick-and-mortar vet clinic business model, and expects that it would be able to provide the service at a lower cost than a vet clinic, as the mobile service would have lower overhead and would have only one staff veterinarian, while still providing accurate pregnancy detections.

Starosta also expects the company would be able to “rapidly” expand its mobile vet tech network to meet the demand where it is, as many vet techs, particularly in Saskatchewan, would relish the chance for more hands-on experience, which isn’t always possible working in clinics.

What’s more, she said, the business model allows these vet techs to work from wherever they want — which, especially for those who grew up or now live in more remote rural areas, also isn’t always possible if there are no clinics nearby, hiring and/or otherwise.

Each ProCheck technician’s catchment area would depend on the number of clients using the service, as well as the number of cows per client.

Vet techs working for the company will need to have completed a veterinary ultrasound program, currently available through Olds College and Lakeland College, Starosta said. The company also plans to employ its own veterinarian for technician oversight and to diagnose any other problems found during a preg check.

Having a veterinarian on staff would be key. As per veterinary regulations in Saskatchewan, a veterinary technician would not legally be able to diagnose a pregnancy, so ultrasound scans in that province would have to be reviewed by the staff vet, she said. In Alberta, meanwhile, a veterinarian needs to approve sending a vet tech to the ranch, and the vet tech in turn is able to make a diagnosis.

When asked by panellist Steve Koeckhoven of Verdex Capital, Starosta said ProCheck isn’t asking producers to give up the vets or vet clinics with which they’ve developed a working relationship. Rather, the company is only providing the service to help producers manage at times when vet clinics are booked up.

ProCheck would also be able to share cow herd information with a producer’s current vet — for example, if the company’s preg check finds an unusually high open rate.