Ryan,

I have been using ultrasound for about 3 years and my findings correlate closely with yours with respect to size, growth rates, & size at ovulation. I have been waiting to place males with females until follicles get close to 20mm, however I have noticed that some females will grow follicles up to 15 - 20 mm and then stop and they reabsorb them. I don't know whether these are females that wouldn't have gone anyway or if they would have gone if they were put with a male. For the rest of the year I think the 30 or so females that I have not placed with males yet that I will start putting a male in with them earlier to see if this makes a difference.

Another thing that ultrasound has confirmed is that while generally the majority of females start the process and grow follciles in the fall and early winter, there is a pretty good percentage that are ready to breed at other times. I have had females lay clutches in 10 of the 12 months of the year.

Finally, I have found that I only need to breed a female 2-3 times using ultrasound. I breed the first time when follicles are approaching 20mm and then once a month after that until follicles are >30mm.

Good luck

Grant

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