Today was a good day. It started with our first lecture in Veterinary Public Health. I can honestly say that this part of the field does not do much for me, as crucial as it is, but the lecturer was really good. He was an Italian with a strong accent. I got such a kick out of how he basically added a vowel to the end of each word. Second lecture was a kicker - embryology again with a focus on cranial nerves. I'm enjoying this part of the course; it's challenging and interesting. It's so amazing to learn which type of cells each of our body parts are formed.
This afternoon, we got to play with sheep for our 3 hour practical out at Easter Bush farm. How much fun was that?? The vet school's 'shepherd', was a fantastic teacher. Sheep are flock animals, so once you get one going in a direction, they allllll follow. They do not like to be isoloated at all. We were taught how to catch them - get them bunched into a group in the corner of the pen preferably, pick out the one you want and get right up next to him. He should be in a position where he doesn't have any room to run either with fencing or other sheep surrounding him. Then, get your hand under his chin and lift up. Voila...you have control of a sheep. You use your whole body to get him against the corral so he can't easily escape. We were shown how to age a sheep up to about 2years, 9 months by looking at his teeth, how to sex him/her, how to condition score him (feeling lower back, and vertebral protubrances) to determine how his overall body condition is on a scale of 0-5. Zero is basically dead and 5 is a fatty, fat, fat. We learned how to 'flip' them. That's not really the correct term, but it's well known. It means to put them on their butt and have their back leaning up against your body. They really cannot move once you get them there and it's easy to look at their mouth, sex them and generally check out their underside. We also learned how to judge their weight....this is harder than it sounds. Different breeds not only have different fleece (making them look bigger or smaller), but also are shorter, stockier, leggier, etc, making it all more difficult. Plus, we have to do it in kilograms, which my mind does not easily think in yet. We also practiced 'worming' them orally with water. It was a very productive practical and I feel like just a few hours with these animals, I gained so much confidence in handling them. They can get quite skiddish if you don't do some techniques properly and can jump straight in the air out of nowhere. Lots of fun and informative.
I'm now enjoying the most favorite part of my day...spending quality time with my boys and having a cocktail. They must have been awake most of the day looking for me out the window because they are both now passed out on my desk while I type. Really good thing I bought a desk with a large surface area. They have no clue they are dogs sometimes.
Time for a little bite to eat then a bit of studying. I just cannot believe tomorrow is already Friday again! The weeks are just flying by.
Over-N-Out