A stitch in time...

We have finally been taught the art of hand ties and suturing. Quite exciting really. I can now scrub, gown, glove, stitch, and bandage. Just need somebody to practice on now...

Ewe find anything yet?

Ever seen a sheep that looked like this? Well neither had I, until now. This is a virtual pregnant ewe-that is a bath tub type thing with a hole in, filled with warm water, a plastic bag with a lamb and a pelvis attached to put your hand through. Sounds a bit bizarre but unfortunately there's not enough conveniently timed, willing ewes giving birth for us to practice on. These contraptions gave us all a really good chance to appreciate how much space there is in the ewe and how difficult it might be if the lamb were in an abnormal presentation: not as easy as it looks! That is if you don't cheat and look over the top! (I'm watching you Beth... (The spiky haired one lambing the bath tub)).

It was a good afternoon of virtual problem solving, topped off by looking at the real thing: A ewe with a prolapse kindly gave birth to triplets, one in breech position, just as we walked into the shed. Then came the ins and outs of lambing-everything from carrying and moving the lambs to stomach tubing. Only a few weeks until the 2 weeks experience in March-Watch this space!

Back to uni, down on the farm

Post-Christmas, and first day back we're in with the calves at Langhill farm. Having been assigned a calf between two, we proceeded to improve our handling and assessment of theses 3 week old cows. As it turned out, I got some extra experience as our wee cow had scour, looked quiet, and, on recording his birth and current weight, found he had infact lost weight. So, we injected him with a general antibiotic intra-muscularly in his rump. First injection into a cow. Very successful.

This little piggy went to market...

My first encounter with pigs was great!...

The college at Oatridge breeds pigs, keeping around 100 females and 6 males, producing hundreds of piglets reared for the food industry.

We were shown around the farm, observed how the pigs were kept and the different stages along the way, from boy meets girl to the larger groups of piglets, ready to leave the farm. Females having just been seperated from their litter required vitamin injections. Cue vet' students-that's me in the top left injecting a sow with a vitamin supplement. First pig injection, very successful!

How much does a sheep weigh?

Baaack to basics with the sheep. We moved, herded, identified, condition scored, aged, weighed, assessed, flipped and trimmed feet of sheep at Easter Bush. No lambs yet though. (And just incase you were wondering, this suffolk ewe weighed in at 42kg).