Vet Work

So today started of pretty normally. Up at 5, milking by 530-6, me getting screamed at by that guy, same old same old. So that was a bit irritating, but I'd had my coffee so I was ok. But THEN things got interesting after the 2nd group of cows had a down cow in the parlour! Do we had to basically drag her out so we could continue milking then deal with her later. I found out how to use this crazy contraption that you basically kind of hook onto their pins and a tractor hoists them up so they can stand again. We thought it was either hypocalcaemia or hypomagnesia, both are common in milking cows, so she got a giant Ca pull, drip Ca, and drip Mg. Later she was moved out to pasture. Other than that everything went pretty smoothly until breakfast. We were sitting around and a vet came to the door to look at the down cow. She poked her and looked at some stuff and then went to give her and injection. Now giving an injection to a large animal is NOT like giving one to a human or smaller animal. First you find the jugular (or whatever vein you're using). In the case of the cow at first I couldnt really see it so when the vet let me try I came up dry, but so did she, so I didn't feel that bad. Then we switched sides of the neck and BAM! Hosepipe. So I stuck it in, and when I say it I mean just the needle, nothing else attached. So the needles in, and bloods just pouring out, but again in such a large animal what may seem like a lot of blood (it actually wasn't that much) is nothing to them. Then you attach whatever you need to the hub of the needle and inject! So exciting to see real vet work in the field, totally made my day, I was giddy! The rest of the day was pretty chill, though I DID get to ride around in the scoopy bit of a tractor, like the part that you would fill with dirt or something. We were lowered over the electric fence to place salt licks. I've also forgotten to mention the electric fences, which I have overcome my fear of now so thats good! Any who, there was another heifer born (yay!) aaaaaand I totally called it! So I'm basically a pro at calving, even though according to the guy who yells at me all the time I'm scooping poop wrong, so I'm pretty much incapable of doing things right lol. After 2nd milking we had a really delicious dinner and then went to the Fox Inn pub again to hang out with the farmers brother, but not before I saw another calf born, a bull though so no one cares and we left him in the field for now. I think that's all for today, now time to hit the hay for an early day again! Tomorrow I may feed calves? And we're going to a BBQ so that should be fun! And before you think that all the yelling is making this trip terrible, it's really not! It's so lovely here, I couldn't be happier! See pics below! The cow is the whos jug I tapped!