Scanogram Heritage Highlight

Scanogram – The Fat Detective

For the first time at an Australian Royal Show, an ultrasonic machine known as the scanogram was used at the 1972 Sydney Royal Easter Show in the judging of cattle and pigs.

Breeders had been looking for a better way to assess muscle and fat content on their stock. During the 1960s, ultrasonic machines had been developed that could look under the animal’s hide and give an accurate assessment of fat depths at various sites, as well as an assessment of the eye muscle area.

The Royal Agricultural Society of NSW (the RAS) decided to take advantage of the new technology and in conjunction with the Australian Meat Board they staged a demonstration of the Anscan Scanogram at the Sydney Easter Show in 1971. The demonstration was led by that machine’s inventor, Professor J.R Stouffer of Cornell University, New York.

The accuracy of the results were impressive. The RAS decided to invest in the recently formed Australian New England Scanogram Syndicate and at the 1972 Sydney Show, bulls over 12 and under 14 months, steers and a special class of pigs were all judged with the aid of the New England scanogram. ‘Accurate readings can be obtained within two minutes on fat measurement and eye muscle area on any animal. It is quite within the bounds of possibility that within five years all bulls submitted for show and sale will have to be scanned and the information from the machine made available to the judge and buyer alike’.

In 1980 it was decided to wind up the New England Scanogram Syndicate and a different machine the ‘Scanoprobe’, was judged to be quicker and more accurate for fat assessment. In the pig industry  Scanoprobe was marketed as a dual purpose farm management tool that could measure fat and also detect pregnancy within the first 30 days.

In its first decade this ultrasonic technology was hailed as an innovation in cattle and pig judging. Breeders and judges alike started to downgrade overfat animals and money was saved by the livestock industry through a dramatic reduction in overfeeding. The lead of the RAS was followed by other Royals and overseas organisations, and information gained from ultrasonics became an important tool in livestock management throughout Australia.