The Dairy

For my science class, I had a very fun assignment. I had to choose a place of interest, such as a farm, vet clinic, zoo, etc. and shadow someone there. So... I went to a dairy. I like cows and I want to be a livestock vet so I might as well see what my future might be like, right? I had a great time and everyone was nice. We went on the day that the vets were there to palpate some cows. Here's the definition if you don't know what exactly that is.

rectal palpationpalpation of the posterior abdomen and the organs in it by inserting the hand and arm (in horses, cattle and pigs) in the rectum

 Somehow they could tell whether a cow was pregnant or fresh or other things. It was extremely interesting.

Fieser Dairy, Inc. in Deleon Springs, FL

 Palpating a cow.

Those are the cows waiting to be milked. The jets sort of start cleaning off the grime from the udders.

The cows line up ten at a time to be checked.

This cow right here got the cow version of Gatorade.

You probably can't tell, but the cow in the foreground is missing it's left eye.  It had some cancer on its eye lid so the vet wanted to take it off. They put the cow in a stanchion and secured her head so she couldn't move it. The vet was only planning on taking the eye lid off, but after he did, he saw the cancer went behind the eye so he said, "We're going to have to take it out."  I looked at Daddy and said, "The eye? They're going to take the whole eye out?"   So I stood there and watched the whole thing. It was interesting and gross at the same time. I can watch that kind of thing, but I'm not so sure if I could do it...  I think the thing that surprised me the most, and I know it shouldn't have, was that it was a spur of the moment thing. 'Oh, we'll have to take the whole eye out' and then inject more pain killers and operate.

Later, someone asked me which vet I liked the best, the older one or the younger one. I don't know. Probably the older one better because I just like old people and because he made Mr. DJ (who was helping him take the cow's eye out) go find the eye he threw into some grass so I could see the optic nerve. :) But I like the younger vet too because he drew a smiley face on the side of a cow with his cow crayon. That made my day. Now there is a random cow out there that has a smiley face on it's side. On the way home, we went to Tractor Supply and got some cow crayons and drew on Honeybelle and Sugar Muffin. :D

Leigha