Sheepies
So in the goat club today one of the vets the president of goat club knows has a little herd of sheep. So we went to her house today b/c she needed to castrate them and she had about 10 lambs that needed to be done. We ended up doing 4 castrations, I didn't administer any of the meds but I got experience catching lambs, shaving their necks so can give meds in the jug easier, and just watching the castrations being done. It was bad when she had two lambs going at the same time, probably only two students from our school (about 13 came) had even done one before, and she was bouncing between the two but it was very uncomfortable to have two down and not many of us used to even calculating the mg/kgs properly or anything like that. Unfortunately, one of the lambs ended up dying, when we had the two going at the same time. When someone administered the reversal for the sedation (I was on the other lamb so I didn't even see it die, but it got really quiet after she said he died. I'm actually relieved I wasn't even working on the little guy save for putting the goop in the eyes for the surgery) he just died I think. There was confusion on how much of the reversal, or if it was for that lamb and I'm not sure if they gave him the wrong one or what (probably should have just made up a new one instead of giving on they weren't sure on). There was just a lot of rushing b/c honestly not many of us had experience. On the lamb I was looking at a second year did it okay, she wasn't really fast but she sutured fine, and then Cara in my class, who I'm starting to respect a great deal for her skills and her experience, she luckily did the second one b/c we could see the lamb was getting really pale. She took the testicle out really quick, clamped it down, did the knots, and we gave him the reversal as he was breathing awkwardly and grinding his teeth a bit from the pain. We gave him lidocaine but I'm not quite certain the girl who did it covered everything properly b/c the little guy looked like he could feel it.
Anyway, she laid the dead sheep in with the mother so she knew he was gone. The mother's name was Lady Gaga and that was the second lamb she'd lost in a week (apparently his sister had a weak heart so maybe it was just a genetic thing? Though the surgery/castration had been going on a while on him, which is why I was glad I didn't volunteer to do it. I don't even know how to suture yet haha) and it was sad to see it. The lambs were all adorable. Anyway, Garrett, Cara and I were in great spirits driving over and goofing around, even passed by Dr. Engelking who was smoking outside the house which was hilarious b/c it's just weird to see a prof in the real world. MA is quite beautiful, though I'm not too fond of the roads they've got going on. All in all it was good experience but I think next time we're going to be a lot more careful, the vet said it was her first time teaching in such a way and it was a learning experience for her too. The mood was definitely somber after the lamb lay dead in the pen and the mother sniffed him. Makes me want to learn things properly so that I won't make a mistake like that whenever I do my first castration. She said we were welcome to come back so I know that I will go even for just general husbandry stuff like trimming hooves etc for the sheep, but it's so nice to have someone willing to teach us the things we don't get to do in school, like just practice surgery techniques. We only get one castration/spay each in school and I know that's not enough real world experience to be good at something like that. I'm just trying to soak up as much as I can while I'm here. Very interesting day to say the least.
Anyway, she laid the dead sheep in with the mother so she knew he was gone. The mother's name was Lady Gaga and that was the second lamb she'd lost in a week (apparently his sister had a weak heart so maybe it was just a genetic thing? Though the surgery/castration had been going on a while on him, which is why I was glad I didn't volunteer to do it. I don't even know how to suture yet haha) and it was sad to see it. The lambs were all adorable. Anyway, Garrett, Cara and I were in great spirits driving over and goofing around, even passed by Dr. Engelking who was smoking outside the house which was hilarious b/c it's just weird to see a prof in the real world. MA is quite beautiful, though I'm not too fond of the roads they've got going on. All in all it was good experience but I think next time we're going to be a lot more careful, the vet said it was her first time teaching in such a way and it was a learning experience for her too. The mood was definitely somber after the lamb lay dead in the pen and the mother sniffed him. Makes me want to learn things properly so that I won't make a mistake like that whenever I do my first castration. She said we were welcome to come back so I know that I will go even for just general husbandry stuff like trimming hooves etc for the sheep, but it's so nice to have someone willing to teach us the things we don't get to do in school, like just practice surgery techniques. We only get one castration/spay each in school and I know that's not enough real world experience to be good at something like that. I'm just trying to soak up as much as I can while I'm here. Very interesting day to say the least.