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Published: November 4th 2008
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MONDAY -- Day 6? (I've lost track ... oh well)
Another day for me to be a
VET! OK, so I don't even come close! But it's fun when Beth introduces me at the farms because people always ask, "Is she a vet too?" And Beth explains, "No, she's a teacher. But her family has a dairy farm, so she knows a little about cows." Actually, I think I've become more a "Farm Girl" in the past 2 months then in the entire 25 years of my life! Who would have guessed!
So I headed out with Beth at 5:30 for rounds at the Big Farm. Today I actually helped though. It was amazing! I thought, "Wow, so this is what it's like to be useful!" 😱 Beth has to check all the cows with mastitis, the ones that just birthed, and the rest with whatever sicknesses they have. Each cow has a large index card that they record the medical history on (what day they gave what, how the milk looked, etc.) So I found each card in the book for Beth as she checked the cow, sampled the milk, took the temperature, etc. This was
also a great chance for me to practice my German numbers!
After the couple hours it took to check all the sick cows we looked in on the calves. I got to love on my favorite totally white one again!!! One of the calves Beth has to check up on was supposed to be euthanized several days ago, but instead of going to sleep with the anesthesia it just ran around the pen! It's doing OK now. Yesterday it drank milk real well. Today it needed a little coaxing, but Beth says it'll live to see another day. I guess you just never know. 😊
Next we have coffee break. Most farms have a mid-morning break around 9 or 10 where they sit in the "coffee room" and have coffee, tea, fruit, bread with cheese and meat, etc. Beth said that at the beginning it was frustrating because she was thinking, "Come on people! We've got work to do!" But now it's a really nice thing to sit down for a few minutes and chat and joke with everybody. It's fun for me to listen in on the German too. I can pick out a few things and
sometimes get the general gist of the conversation. And of course I understand, "She doesn't understand German, does she?" HA HA HA!! I remember that being one of the few things I could understand really well my first couple months in Honduras! At least I can say, "I can't speak German" or "I don't understand you." But most everyone seems really nice and friendly and I love being with Beth who just rattles German off like it's nothing. It's interesting to be in that place again where I don't get everything that's being said.
After Beth did pregnancy checks for a bunch of cows (and I played hooking, taking a nap in the car), we were off to our next farm. It's fun to be so mobile and be able to be in so many different places in one day.
The next farm was a C-section for a heifer than had broken it's back left leg. It was an unfortunate situation, but at least there's less stress for the surgery since the mom will be put down anyway. I sat back and watched for a bit as Beth made the cut, actually looking forward to seeing it all.
The replacement "milk tank"
... remember the tank of milk they used to feed the baby calves? We'll it went kaput, so they had to haul milk for the calves in these. But as soon as she started digging around inside the cow I thought it would be better for me to step out! Better to appear weak then to faint or be sick! I came back in just in time to see them pull the baby out. The cow was 10 days from her freshening date and thankfully the baby was OK. I helped pull the drugs for Beth to euthanized the cow and hold some things while she stitched up the calf's navel.
She wasn't finished though. Another cow that had calved the other day was still down, and although it didn't look good, Beth figured with some extra attention it'd pull through OK, or at least make it until the slaughter wagon. But the manager wanted her put down too. So Beth (she nicknamed herself the "angel of death" this week) euthanized one more. There's an animal-by-products truck that comes and picks them up later.
Next we stopped at a beef farm where they get the calves a few weeks old then raise them til ... um ... til they fulfill their God-given purpose (or until they go to cow-heaven). Nothing major here, just checking on a
couple sick calves and giving some shots. Simple stuff, but the farm worker that normally does it is gone for a bit, so they're having someone from the clinic stop by on a regular basis just to make sure all is OK.
It's been interesting to see workers from so many different farms, their personalities, how they interact with Beth as the vet, or with the cows, etc. Some are really great: friendly, laid-back, joking. Others are a bit more complicated: they get frustrated, upset, tell Beth how to do her job ... It's interesting how that seems to be the key factor in any line of work: the people you have to interact with. It's the same for teaching, missions work, farming, etc. It seems like we can all kind of say the same thing: "The kids are great ... the cows are fine ... it's just the people I have to work with that drive me crazy!" I guess that's why I find studying personalities so interesting and helpful in terms of understanding others. We're all different and nobody thinks the same way I do. (But of course, no matter how
understanding any of us are, there
will always be easier people to get along with, and people that are a bit more challenging to get along with).
Back to work....
We made a stop at the farm where we gave the cow an infusion back on Friday. She still hasn't gotten up. Beth checked on her and chatted with the manager in terms of what the best course of action was for them.
Last stop was to check on a sick calf and one with club feet. Again, nothing major, and Beth was able to offer advice as to what the managers themselves could do to help them.
We finished the day off by stopping at the clinic to restock (Beth needed some more "death drugs", among other things) 😊. Then home by 4:30. HA! But after an 11 hour day it felt SO much later. I took a SOLID nap, studied some German Grammar, and then we had dinner. I love Beth's cooking. She's amazing! I think I may change my 3rd goal for my time in Germany:
3. Convince Beth to live with me forever so she can be my personal cook!!!!! (And vet for the animals I will
have in the future!)
Later we took a 5 minute walk to a friend's house. He's German and also works as a vet for the same clinic. Nice guy and we had some fun conversation with lots of laughs (he also speaks English ... which helps me follow along and join in with the conversation, but doesn't help me practice German!).
Just one more day until our "holiday trip"!
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erin
non-member comment
it looks like you are having such a good time... how did i miss that beth was a vet? lol!