Evaluation of Precision Xceed® meter for on-site monitoring of blood β-hydroxybutyric acid and glucose concentrations in dairy sheep

The accuracy of the Precision Xceed® hand-held meter as an on-site method for measuring blood β-hydroxybutyric acid (BHBA) and glucose concentrations, for the diagnosis of pregnancy toxemia and ketosis in dry and lactating dairy sheep, was assessed. Five to eight hours after the start of the morning feed, blood was collected once from 193 clinically healthy sheep (143 dry and 50 lactating). BHBA and glucose analyses were performed with serum in the laboratory, and with whole blood with the Precision Xceed®. Overall, BHBA and glucose determinations by the two methods were not statistically different (P > 0.05). Strongly significant positive correlations were found for glucose and BHBA concentrations between the Precision Xceed® and laboratory results (r = 0.76, n = 150, P < 0.01 and r = 0.99, n = 193, P < 0.01, respectively). The Precision Xceed® was highly sensitive (98.6%) and specific (98.2%), and had excellent test agreement for the detection of pregnancy toxemia and ketosis.