Almost Better!

Today was a pretty light day, though it was a bit excruciating to get through, here's a sample:
we learned about vit A in production animals. fair enough. so we have a whole hour lecture about it, only to walk away with, so basically vit a deficiency isn't a thing, it CAN happen, does it often/ever? not really. good to know! then i mostly worked all day, watched a bit of tv, and while my flatmates were out at bikram yoga (i didn't go for fear that i would pass out and die because  of lack of O2) i took the opportunity to play guitar really loud, so that was fun! now we're heading to someones flat warming/weddin party since they got married over the summer, we're celebrating a bit now, should be fun (even though its allll the way in anniesland, living here has spoiled us!) also i got a bus pass, so no more need to constantly have 1.85q on me all the time, and more change for Eliza!

Newest Addtition...

To my room! Meet Eliza Moolittle! I basically had to be sedated when I got her, just look at those eyes!!

Getting it done!

Today was pretty productive! We only had 2 hours of lecture, which ended early, so I had all day to catch up on some studying. And by studying I mean re-writing my notes since they are barely legible. But I'm all caught up, just trying to stay relatively on top of things while I still can! Then we went to wudon for dinner and saw House at the End of the Street, which was total shite, don't see it, it was very confusing! But still fun to go out a bit, especially after a productive day! Tomorrow more anatomy, so more sawed in half stuff! Yay!

And we're off to the races!

Well last week was a jaunty stroll in the park compared to this week, and its only Tues! We had some lab today, I learned how to put in an intranasal tube for feeding or oxygen, which was really cool! I got to practise once we were done with our dissection of the canine head to look at its respiratory structures, so basically we looked at a sawed in half dog head, but it was still pretty cool! Though a reminder that I actually need to study so I know what I'm looking at! I think we're going to look at horse noses on Thurs, and they are (like everything else in horses) confusing, counterintuitive, and prone to horrible disease but horses are terrible people, but I digress.  Update, I'm still ill, so thats awesome. I took a bunch of drugs today so hopefully that plus some sleep will finally cure me of the Glasgow plague! At least I'm not the only one who has it, so coughing fits in the middle of class are less embarrassing. 

First Week of School DONE!

Well this week is over, but it's really been a pretty lax first week. Done every day by noon, no class Tues, not a bad way to start the first week of year 2! Though I feel like next week will be a bit of a rude awakening, but at least it will be motivation to get my life together (more or less). Tonight is the first Walkabout party of the year, and it's movie themed, so it should be interesting to see what everyone comes up with for fancy dress! Also the Glasgow Vet School Plague is upon us again, fortunately I nipped it in the bud with a healthy dose of NyQuil, imported from America, and saved myself a week of feeling miserable while trying to kill any bugs with the help of multivitamins and OJ only to finally cave when I couldn't take it anymore and drink NyQuill, be terribly sick for a day, and recover for a week. Tomorrow I'm heading to Edinburgh to see Phantom of the Opera, which I'm so excited about! Hopefully its a good cast!

First Day Of School...

Was fairly uneventful, but I think I good way to start the year! We only had 2 hours of biomolec, it was intro to bacteriology and virology, so it was pretty interesting, though not particularly thorough. I always get lulled into a false sense of security with these first lectures, just a general overview, and we all think 'ya, this'll be easy!' I wonder how long it'll take me to eat those words! My room is staring to come together, I finally hung up all my pictures and everything so it's more or less decorated, I have a bit more art and possibly a few more pictures I may hang up, but other than that pretty settled in! The rest of this week is pretty easy, a surprisingly slow start to 2nd year, but that's more time we have to reunite with everyone and have some fun before we are absolutely slammed! My flatmate and I went for a wee run today, surprisingly I didn't pass out since apparently I haven't run in 5 weeks, though I'm not sure if thats totally true, maybe like 3, but still. And despite the rain at the beginning, it was still nice to get out of the house and move around a bit!

Back to School

It's been a pretty fun last week of summer holidays, but tomorrow it's time to once again pack up my backpack and head on over to school! We've been decorating, cleaning, and slowly the flat is coming together! I haven't really been doing much, just hanging out and doing this and that to get everything done before school starts and I have no time for anything yet. We had an ugly sweater party the other night, and most people were back so it was great to see everyone again. Yesterday we went to a Highland Cow festival, which was pretty much the greatest day of my life, they are so cute it is ridiculous! So it's been a pretty fun last week of summer, but I am looking forward to being a productive person again (though I'm sure I'll eat those words pretty soon!)

Clique

Well that's the name of Kanyes new song, but speaking of my 'clique' is basically all back together! All of my best friends here are home again, so we all hung out at out flat tonight and got all caught up. It was so great that we were all back together! I can't wait for school to start and then everyone will be back finally! It's just a relief to have everyone back safe and sound after this summer, and I can't wait for school to start again so I can feel like a productive member of society again!

Vegan brunch

Today we went to brunch and nommed intensely. It was delicious.

Not With A Fizzle But With A Bang

Well today was my last day here at the farm! And here I thought it would be an easy day, was I ever wrong! The day started off normally, went out to get the cows for milking and there was a cow calving in the field, so she was brought in to be checked out. It turns out that she had a twisted uterus, so there was that first. Then when the cows were walking to the parlour the cow we brought it yesterday with hobbles on her legs, I call her shackles, basically made a mad dash past us all and back into the field! So we left her and continued milking. Then while that was happening the vet came and (I missed this part, alas) they literally rolled the cow over to straighten out her uterus, crazy! When milking was done we had breakfast then set about trying to get shackles into the parlour for milling. Now your thinking she's in hobbles, how hard could that be? She can barely walk, that should be a cake walk. False. That cow took us on a wild goose chase (cow chase?) all over the damn farm! She barrelled over a fence, down a road, up around another fence, and the finally the BACK way to the parlour! The whole ordeal probably took 45 min to get her there. We finally milked her, then jabbed some calves, and went in for lunch. I made mac n cheese for the farmer and his wife for tea tonight,but since his wife had a thing, and it takes forever to make, I made it during dinner to save time. After that I helped move a fence so the cull cows can have more grazing area since they've made good use of the pasture they have. Then we gave some licks to cows and did some chores. It was. Ice
Since I did it all with that guy who yells a lot, though I think he's warming up to me, or has just figured screw it she's
Only here for a few more days I'll be nice to her! But we worked well today. Then we went to check on that cow that had the twisted uterus. She still hadn't calved so the guys brought out the crank and were cranking it out. It was dead, but too big to fit through her hips, so it was very very slow going. Eventually the vet had to come and cut it in half at the ribs and then again cranial to caudal and remove it piecewise. I was milking for this part, so I missed it. The 2nd milking was insane. It went smoothly but the cows
We're being real bitches. I got kicked
In the hand by my arch nemesis cow 53, she's the worst. A lot of pool, pee, general jerkiness, it was quite a time. Then tea time and now bed! I'd write
More but doing this on my phone is driving me crazy so I'm
Going to
Bed.

It's wiiiindsday!

Not really, but it was a blustery day! Not much happened today though. Milking like normal, though the guy who yells decided that being quite was a good way to keep the cows from pooping everywhere, so it ran smoothly! We joined up some calf pens and they were very excited about having all that free space! We had 2 cakes today, and heifer (yay!) and a bull (boo). But both calves themselves so it was pretty easy for us! It was te farmers dads bday today, so we all went to dinner and it was fun to see the rest of the family, though I've met most of them. But we had a good time and I tried yorkshire pudding! The yelling guy was giving me crap for not having had it before, so now I can say I have! Well it's pretty late, so I'm going to bed!
Well that was wrong! Right after I types that there was a knock at my door and I was informed that there was a minor calving emergency! So I got dressed and headed out to see what the deal was! We cranked out a bull, unfortunately it was dead. It was malpositioned with the head first, which is normal, but the legs were done instead of out forward, think like a diver. It sucks that it was dead, but it was a bull, so I guess less so than of it was a heifer. Well that certainly got my blood pumping! Also below is a pic of my bruise from being kicked! Not that big but it certainly hurts!

Vetin'ry

That's what they call me around here now, and I think I respond better to that than when they actually say my name! Today started out normally, and it's been a pretty chill day so far. Milked some cows, fed some calves, cleaned up, etc. Before breakfast I checked up on the cows in the field and one of them was calving, and she had a heifer! So that's some good news! I guess I should explain why a heifer is better than a bull. Since this is a dairy farm we want heifers since they will eventually be replacement millers and will have their own calves, providing more milk and a larger herd. Bulls don't do this, and they just get sold off fairly young, and you do get some money for them, but not as much as a heifer who will have multiple lactations, there's a cow here that's ~15 years old and has had something like 13-14 lactations! So a cow like that will get a lot more money, which is why you want heifers! I think that the sperm they used is sexed so they will have more heifers, but it's obviously not fool proof.
Well that's a bit of info for the day! After breakfast and dealing with the new calf, we dried off a cow, which means its her time to stop being milked for a bit before she has her calf. So that was something I didn't think I'd see either! I'm really glad that I'm getting to see things that weren't even on my list of things to see! The farmers dad went to a big fair thing yesterday for dairy and he came back with a bunch of pamphlets and floor samples for the parlour, so it was fun to look through all of that stuff! They guys were all really keen on a few products, so they may order some stuff for the farm. There has been talk of getting mats for the parlour floor and the collection yard, which would be easier on the cows feet and if they slip (which they do often) its easier on their knees. It would be really cool if they got it, though cleaning it has presented a few problems, so I think some more research is necessary before they decide on anything.
After dinner I cleaned the milk tanks so now they're nice and sparkly! I helped with some chores, milked, and now we're going to get pizza for tea! Hopefully it's good! And the Internet here is being really wonky so if I don't post in the next few days that's why, but I'll write and save them and lost them all later, plus I only have 2 full days left, so it's not that much!

You're Not A True Stockman Until You Get Kicked

So today I became a true stockman! (stockwoman, stockperson?). So ya, I took the temp of a cow and right afterwards she gave me a swift kick to my thigh. It's just now starting to bruise, so if it gets gross looking I'll post a pic! Today started off fairly normally, milking, feeding calves, etc. Then we took a break for breakfast as usual, then the guys got started building the new pens for future incoming calves, since we're full up at the moment. While they were doing that I replaced bits of the milkers with these other bits that you can attach bottles to because a company came today that takes samples of the milk an test for things like butterfat %, bacteria, how many litres each cow is producing, etc. apparently they come every few months, it's a voluntary thing that the farmer pays for so that he can monitor output in cows, sell his milk for more, and if he ever wanted to sell a cow he'd have record of how she did. It was really cool to actually see how it's done, and definitely something I didn't think I'd see! There are many surprises at the farm! This is turning out to be a vey informative EMS placement!

Best Day Yet!

So today, as you can probably tell, was the best day yet! Milking this morning went smoothly, I fed some calves, and then checked them for infection in their umbilicus. I had felt one that was infected my first day here, so I kind of knew what I was looking for, but still not 100%, so when the guys came to check the calves and give them their jabs I was pleased that most of the ones I had selected were right! So that was good. Then we had breakfast and headed over to the farmers dads farm to wrangle some pregnant cows over to this farm. (side note, on the way over there the farmer found out that the price of milk has gone up, that that was good for him!) So we got to the farm and first had to sort the cows into the ones we wanted and the ones we didn't. It actually went very smoothly, and me and one of the guys herded the reject cows back on the quad bike, then herded the ones we wanted over to the farm. Herding instinct is really an amazing asset to handling cows, of you can get a few to go the direction you want the rest generally follow and it makes your job so much easier! Especially when you're herding some 30 odd cows down the road! But we got ten here easily enough! Then we took a break for dinner while we waited for the vet to come check out a cow that's been sick for a little while, she's really thin and has been off her food. The vet came and decided to do a LDA which is a left displaced abomasum. I haven't done that anatomy yet but basically she tacked the abomasum, which is the 4th stomach in a cow to the body wall so it stays put. It was really cool! And she was explains stuff as she did it. Though without the background some of what she said was a bit confusing, but I'm sure will come in handy this year! After that it was pretty much time to milk again, so we did that. We started a bit late but flew through it, we are very efficient! Then I went to look at a calf that had been born and saw ANOTHER cool thing. So I went to look at the calf, a heifer, looking normal. When I went to see the cows number on her butt there was this really weird thing hanging out of her. It looked like a balloon but made of cow skin. I really wasn't sure what I was looking at. It didn't appear to be part of the cow or a twin, but I figured the farmer would tell me when he came to get the calf. It turns out that its what happens when early in in the cell division of a zygote a bit of the dividing cells break off and kind of form their own, I don't know what to call it, bit of body. There's usually hair, skin, flesh, and sometimes bone. I think it's basically like a non-formed twin. The farmer said he had only ever seen it one other time, so I feel pretty lucky! After tea (risotto, so good) we went back out to get the calf and her mum, and that went very smoothly, though we just found out that the pens are full, so there may be more work to do tomorrow! There was a beautiful sunset which was the perfect end to a fantastic day! Though I am quite tired and my feet hurt (paying the price for having cheap wellies!) but my time here is almost up so I don't have to wear them too much longer! The pictures below are of the LDA. The first is through all the body wall with the peritoneum at the bottom (it's shiny). The 2nd is the "sows ear" which (I think) is a fatty bit of the abomasum that you use a lot in surgeries to tack to the body wall. The last is it all sutured up!

Needle and Haystack Life

Well it's been a week here at the farm and I think Everything is finally clicking. It's Sunday, so a pretty slow day. Woke up bright and early, well dark and early I guess since I'm up before the sun, fetched some cows and calves from the field, and did the milking. I just found out that we're milking round 140 cows! And we do that twice a day, but it really doesn't seem like that many, it's crazy! I helped feed some calves and the mucked out a trough, where I found a chain that had fallen off a gate. When I gave it to my supervisor he told me that there was a small pin that went with it, and could I search for it? (also I should mention that HE was the one who had lost it in there in the first place!) so I searched through the mucky hay and I found it! So I'm not
Completely useless! We also had a down cow this morning, she slipped and we had to hoist her up and give her IV Ca, Ca bolus, and sub-Q Mg, and I think she's doing better now.
So after a pretty lazy day of watching F1 racing, it was time to milk again. I helped clean out the shed where the cows are kept, never done that before, and when I went into the gate to fetch the cows one of them licked me! So I got licked by a cow today, apparently they do that when they are ready for the bull ie: ready to be impregnated. Milking went very smoothly, then the milk man came and he took the milk in his truck. He comes every day but this is the first time I've ever seen him, so that was cool. Also today a cow kicked the dipping liquid we dip their teets in before attaching the milked right into y face, so my eye was a bit red and sore for a while, it also got in my mouth and it tasted disgusting, but better than poop! For dinner we had really good curry that the farmers wife made, she's a great cook! And the last of the chocolate cake that I brought for them. Then we chatted a bit and in doing some laundry since my clothes smell very cowy.
It's crazy that I've been here a week already! I've ticked all the boxes I wanted to by coming here, though I still want to try my hand at cranking out a calf but that may not be possible, so we'll see. I also wanted to see a Caesarian, but that's extremely unlikely, and obviously you can't make that happen unless it does! And now I am off to bed! The pictures are of their living room, I'm totally obsessed with this house!

Easy Saturday

Today was a very low key day. I totally forgot that its Saturday, the days have no meaning anymore, which may explain why everyone was in a really good mood and everything ran very smoothly (I could say it went well because Im actually getting better at this, but I can't take all the credit). So we milked as usually, there was a new guy here (well new for me) who has some sort of autism like condition, maybe asbergers, but I don't know home well so I'm not sure. But he was here helping and everything went smoothly and I didn't even get yelled at once! Success! Then I was put on calf feeding duty, which consists of me lugging the feeder from pen to pen and filling it with milk via and old petrol nozzle. Pretty easy, but a nice break from the norm! After that we moved a cow and took care of that cow that was down yesterday, have her a Ca pill and some jabs and then checked a few cows in the shed to see how they were getting along, and then were done! So I watched some Paralympic stuff, which was great, though since it was the middle of the day the coverage was only soso. Then back to moving, but with people I genuinely like, so it was great fun! Then a quick shower and I went to a BBQ for a friend of the farmers, he's helping build the barn, a funny guy. I met a vet so we were taking about vet stuff, which was great' and where we were was so beautiful, I really love being here its really ah amazing place to be and I'm just so happy that I am able to do something like this, it's really an amazing experience and I'm having a great time! Which I've said before, but I Relly do mean it, I sometimes can't relieve that I've had the opportunity to do all of the great things I've done since starting vet school and I've never been happier and am simply grateful for being able to have these amazing experiences! The pictures are: droit to the BBQ, the vets really cute dog who was sitting in my lap, she didn't want to leave! And the last 2 are the view from the BBQ. A really beautiful place, simply amazing!