Provision of ultrasound scanning equipment to measure muscle and fat depths in live sheet and cattle

Provision of ultrasound scanning equipment to measure muscle and fat depths in live sheep and cattle. Signet Breeding Services, a department within AHDB currently provide performance recording of a few beef breeds and virtually all sheep within the UK. Signet continues to scan around 50,000 sheep and 5,000 cattle each year. Equipment is required for two services (sheep and beef scanning) for which two different probes may be needed and for which there are two different "reporting" procedures.

The ultrasound scanning of sheep and cattle requires the use of a real-time ultrasound imaging system which must be portable and be able to withstand "on-farm" conditions. Images must be taken externally using non-evasive techniques, ideally without the need for clipping the fleece or coat of the animal.

Liquid paraffin is applied to the skin of the animal over the 3rd lumbar vertebra so that contact can be made with the probe in a position 90º to the backbone to obtain an image in the loin area of the animal (loin chop in sheep; sirloin in cattle).

The probes need to make direct contact with the skin without the use of a stand-off. Once an acceptable image is available on screen, the image must be frozen to enable measurements to be taken with the use of the imaging system's screen callipers. In the case of sheep, the four text measurements (three fat, one muscle) will be required to be downloaded directly onto a laptop using a USB data transfer connection. Additional data will be entered directly onto the laptop such as date, ID, weight, gender, management group as part of a specialised AHDB designed software package. In the case of beef, the nine measurements (four fat, one muscle at the 3rd lumbar and four fat at the last rib) will be manually recorded onto paper (other data will also be recorded such as date, ID, weight, gender, management group). Electronic collection into a laptop software package will not be necessary for beef cattle.

The solution proposed must be of a model which would be fully serviceable and repairable in the UK for the period of the contract and therefore obsolete models will not be considered an acceptable proposal. The outcome of this tender may result in more than one provider being awarded a contract. If you are interested in receiving further documentation, please email [email protected] Closing date for submissions: By 9am on Monday 10th February 2020

Additional information: If you are interested in receiving further tender documentation, please email [email protected]

Submission deadline: By 9am Monday the 10th February 2020