IluvAltaBeef
Well-known member
I sure do! I had quite an experience at the Lakeland college in Vermillion, which was about a year ago; and my apologies for not posting about it sooner. And for the length (might take you awhile, so bear with me). But here it goes:
Feild trip with AN SC 200 class to the small town of Vermillion, for some fun!
We were split up into two groups, to do one part of the tour and the other the other part :roll: . The group I was in got lucky. But before that happened, we had to tag and vaccinate a few calves in the calving barn. There was a neat contraption that one of the instructors built himself to do the needling and tagging. It went like this:
It was made out of cast iron, set up so the calf would be sitting on his rear (like us humans do) and leaning back. Good for castration and tagging His muzzle was inserted in an o-ring 6 inches wide, his back legs held down by a bar bent so that the legs could fit underneath (perpendicular to the bar) and the weight of the calf would hold the back legs down. I can't remember exactly how the bar for the front legs was positioned so they couldn't get loose, but I think it was made so that they go behind the bar. Again that bar was curved in a shallow u-shape for the comfort of the calf. Then the back supporting the calf adjusted so's to squeeze the calf (vertically) and hold it in place. This contraption hasn't been patented yet, but it was very useful, to an extent.
We were tagging one little black-white face heifer calf and her head kept coming loose out of that o-ring, making it hard for those tagging her. So I went behind, put her muzzle back in it's place in the o-ring and held the back of her head steady with my leg while we finished tagging.
We did three calves with that thing.
Now came the part that made my day. A couple of Simmental cows were herded into the calving barn. One of the cows just calved a few minutes ago, afterbirth hanging out, and the second one was already in the first stages of labour, her water sack hanging out. She got herded into a head-gate and was squeezed in by a gate that swung up beside her. Tied her up, and then we had a chance to stick our hands in her uterus to feel the calf's hooves and nose. Ooooh, that was warm! We used AI gloves for that, obviously.
And then the contractions started: out popped a hoof! One of our instructurs had to reach in to get the other front hoof out, and hooked up calving wires (I think that's what they're called: they have triangle-shaped handles at each end...no, not calving wires, they're Calving Chains..), doubling them around the front legs, between the ankle-joint and the elbow-joint. I was handed one end, and another girl was handed the other. We had to pull going with the contractions, pulling down and out with all our strength, with the help of a couple of others, and stopping to get the calf's nose from being caught by the top part of the cows' vagina. Once the head and shoulders were out, the rest of a healthy, newborn calf came out so fast that I fell back on my butt in surprise!
We laid the calf spread-eagled out on top of a square bale, and splashed water in it's ears to get it breathing and revived, and it shook it's head from side to side like a dog from that dousing! My, my, did I (and other folks watching the event)ever have a big smile on with the first ever experience of seeing (and helping) with the birth of a newborn calf!!! Another good thing to see was momma licking her newborn right away!
Was my day done yet? Hell no, it was just getting started!
Next up was the bull barn (called the Jonathon Fox Bull Test Center), with over fifty corrals of bulls: Charolais, Black Angus, Red Angus, Speckle Park, Shorthorn, Simmental, Maine Anjou, and Gelbveih. Out in the cold (must've been minus 15 C) in just light coveralls over a t-shirt and pants (that's how I dressed...), we did some messing around with 20 char bulls, testing their flight-zones, stepping for and back, and herding a few up to the front of the pen. This went on for about 10 minutes, and by the end of that my hands were froze! There was a black angus bull that had to be chased into the handling unit to have a look at his leg, cause they were concerned that he had cut it open on something.
Got that sucker in (he did not want to leave the pen he was kept in with 20 other bulls) and then had to wait for the group ahead of us to finish up with their bull. Whilst waiting, I was trying to find a warm spot to warm my hands, and laid my hands on the back of bull waiting to be next put into the squeeze. Amazingly, that animal stood still and I got enough warmth to not feel cold any longer.
Finally we put our bull in the squeeze, listened to his heart, rumen, lungs, and gave him a few shots. When it was my turn, I got the needle in sufficiently enough (a couple pats onthe spot to put it in, and then plunge it in) to not give him a bit of a surprise and have him throwing his head around and struggling in the squeeze. He started doing that after I injected some vit. b (can't remember exactly what was given to him). After he settled down, he was let out.
And before I knew it, it was lunch time.
After lunch, me and a group of five other folks from my class walked over to the animal clinic barn, for our next thing to do on our "touring" list: bandaging horses' hooves. Three horses were used for this, a bay, a palomino, and a black. I had the black one to myself. I wasn't asked to measure how tall he was, but I think he must've been 15 hh. Anyway, he (a gelding) was one heck of a nice horse, and a polite one too!
I had to practice bandaging his front and back feet, using a gauze, and a tensor bandage. I was bandaging his front hoof, with my leg as a prop to hold the horses hoof up (like a farrier does), when the front foot slipped from my grip. But instead of putting his hoof back down, he still remained standing-three legged, saving me a bit of trouble! Kind of surprised me there! After that, I listened with the stethescope to his cecum, heart, and lungs. And had a bit of down-time with him, just standing for a bit and watching the others.
I noticed that the palomino was sweated up quite a bit when it came in, and asked one of the technicians how come? She said she didn't really know, must have been from being a bit stressed out from something. At least the palo' was calmed down a bit more than when it first came in.
The second last-thing we had to do was go to the AI barn, and I tell you, it was just as eventful as the fun we had in the calving barn! One of the girls that was with the group before us came out with her nice swade shoes and jeans up to her knees covered in fresh cow crap! I guess she didn't see that coming! :lol:
Practised a bit with AI straws on some culled-cows reproductive organs laid out on a surgical table, and then went to do the real thing with some non-dead cows. Yeah, first time I had to stick my arm up to my shoulder up a cow's a$$ to feel for the cervix, and then pulled out too fast. THAT was a big mistake! :shock:
Yup, cow $hit splashed all over me, all over my boots and up past my knees! Luckly I had a good pair of coveralls on and my farm boots on, and didn't end up in a mess like that other girl I mentioned. (I think I mentioned too much information already on that...
) I sure got a bit of a chuckle out of my other group mates (oh boy... :roll: 
)
But that didn't stop me! Put my hand up a few more cow anuses, and didn't get crapped on then!
Last thing of the day. Went to the dairy barn, saw the most adorable jersey calves ever! I got a calf (holstein) to suck on my hand for a bit, then helped lead an ornery jersey cow to a headgate to be used for studying dentition in cattle. Someone had to help me guide her to the headgate 'cause it was hard enough for me to pull on the halter to make her go. But once someone gave her a little shove on her backside, it made things a lot easier for me, lol!
Finally, did some helping with milking in the milking parlour. They had both jersey and holsteins in their dairy herd, all nice-looking cattle. The college had a neat system going. The parlor was in a bit of U-shape, and the cows walk into diagonal-stalls to be milked. One side at a time was let out, and there was a little bridge that came down via hydraulics so's the cows at the other end could exit to the far side. All automated milking machines, only did a little hand-milking to get the milk flowing and clear the teats.
Sorry it ended up being so long. You might be surprised to get through it... :wink: Aw heck, that was a day I won't ever forget, and I learned a lot too!
Feild trip with AN SC 200 class to the small town of Vermillion, for some fun!
We were split up into two groups, to do one part of the tour and the other the other part :roll: . The group I was in got lucky. But before that happened, we had to tag and vaccinate a few calves in the calving barn. There was a neat contraption that one of the instructors built himself to do the needling and tagging. It went like this:
It was made out of cast iron, set up so the calf would be sitting on his rear (like us humans do) and leaning back. Good for castration and tagging His muzzle was inserted in an o-ring 6 inches wide, his back legs held down by a bar bent so that the legs could fit underneath (perpendicular to the bar) and the weight of the calf would hold the back legs down. I can't remember exactly how the bar for the front legs was positioned so they couldn't get loose, but I think it was made so that they go behind the bar. Again that bar was curved in a shallow u-shape for the comfort of the calf. Then the back supporting the calf adjusted so's to squeeze the calf (vertically) and hold it in place. This contraption hasn't been patented yet, but it was very useful, to an extent.
We were tagging one little black-white face heifer calf and her head kept coming loose out of that o-ring, making it hard for those tagging her. So I went behind, put her muzzle back in it's place in the o-ring and held the back of her head steady with my leg while we finished tagging.
We did three calves with that thing.
Now came the part that made my day. A couple of Simmental cows were herded into the calving barn. One of the cows just calved a few minutes ago, afterbirth hanging out, and the second one was already in the first stages of labour, her water sack hanging out. She got herded into a head-gate and was squeezed in by a gate that swung up beside her. Tied her up, and then we had a chance to stick our hands in her uterus to feel the calf's hooves and nose. Ooooh, that was warm! We used AI gloves for that, obviously.
And then the contractions started: out popped a hoof! One of our instructurs had to reach in to get the other front hoof out, and hooked up calving wires (I think that's what they're called: they have triangle-shaped handles at each end...no, not calving wires, they're Calving Chains..), doubling them around the front legs, between the ankle-joint and the elbow-joint. I was handed one end, and another girl was handed the other. We had to pull going with the contractions, pulling down and out with all our strength, with the help of a couple of others, and stopping to get the calf's nose from being caught by the top part of the cows' vagina. Once the head and shoulders were out, the rest of a healthy, newborn calf came out so fast that I fell back on my butt in surprise!
We laid the calf spread-eagled out on top of a square bale, and splashed water in it's ears to get it breathing and revived, and it shook it's head from side to side like a dog from that dousing! My, my, did I (and other folks watching the event)ever have a big smile on with the first ever experience of seeing (and helping) with the birth of a newborn calf!!! Another good thing to see was momma licking her newborn right away!
Was my day done yet? Hell no, it was just getting started!
Next up was the bull barn (called the Jonathon Fox Bull Test Center), with over fifty corrals of bulls: Charolais, Black Angus, Red Angus, Speckle Park, Shorthorn, Simmental, Maine Anjou, and Gelbveih. Out in the cold (must've been minus 15 C) in just light coveralls over a t-shirt and pants (that's how I dressed...), we did some messing around with 20 char bulls, testing their flight-zones, stepping for and back, and herding a few up to the front of the pen. This went on for about 10 minutes, and by the end of that my hands were froze! There was a black angus bull that had to be chased into the handling unit to have a look at his leg, cause they were concerned that he had cut it open on something.
Got that sucker in (he did not want to leave the pen he was kept in with 20 other bulls) and then had to wait for the group ahead of us to finish up with their bull. Whilst waiting, I was trying to find a warm spot to warm my hands, and laid my hands on the back of bull waiting to be next put into the squeeze. Amazingly, that animal stood still and I got enough warmth to not feel cold any longer.
Finally we put our bull in the squeeze, listened to his heart, rumen, lungs, and gave him a few shots. When it was my turn, I got the needle in sufficiently enough (a couple pats onthe spot to put it in, and then plunge it in) to not give him a bit of a surprise and have him throwing his head around and struggling in the squeeze. He started doing that after I injected some vit. b (can't remember exactly what was given to him). After he settled down, he was let out.
And before I knew it, it was lunch time.
After lunch, me and a group of five other folks from my class walked over to the animal clinic barn, for our next thing to do on our "touring" list: bandaging horses' hooves. Three horses were used for this, a bay, a palomino, and a black. I had the black one to myself. I wasn't asked to measure how tall he was, but I think he must've been 15 hh. Anyway, he (a gelding) was one heck of a nice horse, and a polite one too!
I had to practice bandaging his front and back feet, using a gauze, and a tensor bandage. I was bandaging his front hoof, with my leg as a prop to hold the horses hoof up (like a farrier does), when the front foot slipped from my grip. But instead of putting his hoof back down, he still remained standing-three legged, saving me a bit of trouble! Kind of surprised me there! After that, I listened with the stethescope to his cecum, heart, and lungs. And had a bit of down-time with him, just standing for a bit and watching the others.
I noticed that the palomino was sweated up quite a bit when it came in, and asked one of the technicians how come? She said she didn't really know, must have been from being a bit stressed out from something. At least the palo' was calmed down a bit more than when it first came in.
The second last-thing we had to do was go to the AI barn, and I tell you, it was just as eventful as the fun we had in the calving barn! One of the girls that was with the group before us came out with her nice swade shoes and jeans up to her knees covered in fresh cow crap! I guess she didn't see that coming! :lol:
Practised a bit with AI straws on some culled-cows reproductive organs laid out on a surgical table, and then went to do the real thing with some non-dead cows. Yeah, first time I had to stick my arm up to my shoulder up a cow's a$$ to feel for the cervix, and then pulled out too fast. THAT was a big mistake! :shock:
Yup, cow $hit splashed all over me, all over my boots and up past my knees! Luckly I had a good pair of coveralls on and my farm boots on, and didn't end up in a mess like that other girl I mentioned. (I think I mentioned too much information already on that...
) I sure got a bit of a chuckle out of my other group mates (oh boy... :roll: ) But that didn't stop me! Put my hand up a few more cow anuses, and didn't get crapped on then!
Last thing of the day. Went to the dairy barn, saw the most adorable jersey calves ever! I got a calf (holstein) to suck on my hand for a bit, then helped lead an ornery jersey cow to a headgate to be used for studying dentition in cattle. Someone had to help me guide her to the headgate 'cause it was hard enough for me to pull on the halter to make her go. But once someone gave her a little shove on her backside, it made things a lot easier for me, lol!
Finally, did some helping with milking in the milking parlour. They had both jersey and holsteins in their dairy herd, all nice-looking cattle. The college had a neat system going. The parlor was in a bit of U-shape, and the cows walk into diagonal-stalls to be milked. One side at a time was let out, and there was a little bridge that came down via hydraulics so's the cows at the other end could exit to the far side. All automated milking machines, only did a little hand-milking to get the milk flowing and clear the teats.
Sorry it ended up being so long. You might be surprised to get through it... :wink: Aw heck, that was a day I won't ever forget, and I learned a lot too!
