Week 7!

It's true, I am starting week 7 already.  Craziness.  Over halfway through the first semester.  I have to say that I am absolutely loving vet school up to this point.  Yes, there is a lot of material and yes, it is overwhelming at times, but even this stuff is interesting and it is supposed to only get better each year.  I'm thoroughly enjoying being in an intensive learning environment again with not only intelligent classmates all around me, but at a phenomenal university.  I have been so impressed with most of our lecturers up to this point and can really tell that they are dedicated to teaching us to be the best veterinarians we can be.  The testing methods here are quite different and I'm sure I will completely wig out at some point down the road.  In the US, it is common to be tested quite regularly throughout the semester, or at the very least have a midterm and final exam.  Many of my counterparts in the US have anywhere from 1-4 exams a week!  While I'm sure this is mayhem at times, it allows you to know where you stand pretty much at all times.  Here, we have 3 major 'classes' that run the whole year.  The one class, the Animal Body I, is split into 2 major sections.  It actually covers many modules, that US universities would have as completely separate classes with their own exams throughout the year.  This is called a 'block system'. 

We, on the other hand, finish up the first section in February and only then do we have exams.  Three days of them!  We 'sit' exams here.  They call it that because there is so much writing.  It's basically one day of Short Answer essays, one day of Long essays and one day of Oral and Spots Examinations.  Spot exams are common in say, anatomy, where there might be 20 pins stuck in different structures and the examiner points to one and asks you to identify it.  Once you do, they can then follow up with questions about that bone, nerve, muscle, etc. We will then have the second section of Animal Body I that runs from February to the end of May and then exams again at the beginning of June.  so, needless to say, there is a LOT of information to be covered on exams and it is a bit daunting.  I think that has kept my stress level down for now, but it's likely to skyrocket in about January.  I keep having to remind myself that the mass majority of folks get through this program, so it is doable.

I had a relaxing weekend and studied/revised my notes for most of it.  I finally feel like the information is all coming together.  The lectures seem a bit disjointed at first, but that's only because you have to start somewhere.  Now, things are starting to build on one another and you can understand better why you had a lecture at a certain time.  So, yes, I am ecstatic to be here and slowly but surely getting into my groove with studies and the culture. 

This weekend's big event was turning back the clocks.  No more daylight savings time here.  This was so needed in the mornings, as it was still black out at 7am and now it is light and I can see what I'm doing when I take the dogs out.  The downside, of course, is that it's now 335pm, overcast and drizzling and cars already have their headlamps on!  It gets dark, dark by 430.  This is not good.  At all. 

Last night was a wonderful surprise.  I was out getting my laundry off the line (I took advantage of two absolutley stunningly sunny days) and my next door neighbor invited me over to their neighbor's back garden for a drink.  It was lovely.  They had a fire going outside and we all sat on the patio chatting away.  Two very lovely couples and one little stinker...Suki.  She's about 8 months (I think) and lives across the hall.  She is a cute little chubby-cheeked girl.  Totally adorable.  Her mom, Becky, is stay-at-home mom and dad, Pete, is a photographer.  Really sweet and welcoming couple.  I'm lucky to have them next door. 

I think that catches us up to today.  This week is pretty long (except the usual Wed) because the following week we do not have classes Mon and Tuesday.  Four day weekend!  Yay.  Tomorrow, I'm looking forward to doing the chick embryo practical.  We delicately cut our way into an egg with a live embryo and put a solution on it that ceases the chick's life.  We then prepare a slide to look at some embryologic structures we've been studying under the microscope.  It's like a mini-surgery.  It's the small things that get me excited these days.  Then, Thursday is our practical at the dairy farm on milking!  We get to finally see the milking parlour and experience a milking session.  I understand we will be getting our hands dirty. 

That's all for now.  Time to crack open the books again, before my espresso wears off.

Over-N-Out

Week 2 is overrrrrr and Cows...mooooo

Can you believe it?  Wow, time is already flying. 

This week was fun.  My dreaded lab was actually really neat and a learning experience....imagine that!  It was a good ole chemistry lab on separating proteins using electrophoresis and then measuring some stuff.  Without question, it helped me get into my tiny pea brain the differences with some methods of separating proteins.  The lab was explained very well and there were several professors wandering around to answer any questions on the procedure and/or explain results.  It was my most dreaded block of time this week and ended up being a delightful surprise.

Thursday afternoon was my favorite, however.  I got to go back out to Langhill farm to get a tour of the dairy cow operation and then over to Easter Bush to do the same with the sheep.  I looked for my beloved cow (I can call her by name on Sunday), but did not see her.  I brought a picture of her, but really needed her ear tag number since that is how they keep track of the herd. 

My group stopped at the dairy farm first.  It was basically an investigative trip. We had to gather a bit of information regarding the farm, herd, feeding, breeding, selling and management of the dairy cows. 

This is before we left, waiting on our bus outside of Summerhall.  It was a gorgeous day!

The farm is 240 ha, which includes the sheep farm.  It's not an easy farm to manage because it's very spread out. Dairy cows do not like to walk and they must walk a lot to get to/from their fields and the milking parlour.  They are milked at 5am and then again at 3pm. The highest yielding cows are milked around 430-5pm.  This gives them more time to produce.  The herd is comprised of 80% Holstein Friesan cows, which look like this:

These ladies are in the calving barn and are within 1 week of giving birth.  Holstein Friesan's are an extreme dairy breed. They have the highest average milk production over all breeds and are very good tempered.  They try and keep them 'in calf', as they produce more milk that way. 

The herd replacement rate is 30%.  We have about 220 cows in the milking herd, and about 160 'followers', which are the younger generations. There are about 80 calves (0-1yr old) and 80 Heiffers (1-2yr old).  Once they are milking, they are called a 'cow'.  They do not sell the dairy calves even though that is a goal. They all end up being used as herd replacement due to unforseen deaths in the herd, lameness, mastititis, etc.

The lactation period of the dairy cow is 305 days, and their 'down time' is dedicated to doing AI (artificial insemination) in order to try and get the cow pregnant.  It normally takes 2-3 times per animal for it to take and each insemination cycle is 21 days.  Average milk production is 30L/cow per 305 day lactation.  After a calf is born, it only stays with mom for a short while and then it's moved to a calf barn.

Because the fields are so spread out at Langhill, they use an ATV to round up the cows for milking.  This is a picture of the cows doing the Milk March to the parlour in the afternoon.

I tried to take a picture of the beautiful scenery in the background, but my buddy decided I needed a picture of his mug and my camera focused on him rather than the really pretty landscape behind the barns....

It is past my bedtime and I will have to cover the sheep tomorrow. I need my beauty rest, for I am FINALLY headed out to do some mountain biking tomorrow morning with the University's women's mtb team.  See, I am prepared:

Good Night All