Last week went to the Nottingham open day and looked around the Dairy farm. I learnt so much in such a short space of time, and can't wait to do my Dairy Work Experience.
Their dairy makes use of four high tech robot milking machines allowing milk to be taken much more efficiently. The milk travels through a computer based machine which measures the amount of whole cells in the milk. If there are large numbers of intact whole cells then the milking of that particular cow will stop due to the fact that this is a primary way of identifying the presence of mastitis in the cow.
This disease, which is the inflammation of the udder is responsible for the culling of about a 1/3 of dairy herds and so must be kept under strict control.
Prior to the milk being collected, each teat is individually scrubbed and disinfected ensuring that there is limited risk of bacteria being passed into the milk. Lasers then identify the position of the teat, allowing the nozzles to attach, so that milking can begin. When each teat has had its milk removed the nozzle on that teat drops off to prevent excessive milking.
Once all nozzles have dropped off the udder is fully disinfected once more. This is essential as after milking the teat channels are fully dilated (open) and this can lead to infection being spread once the cow returns to the rest of the herd.
I found it particularly interesting that the cows would come to be milked when they were ready to do so, as opposed to being forced. I was told that this was due to the behaviour that they have been bred to show, but also that being milked made the cows feel more comfortable.

Any heifer calves are separated at about 4-5 weeks. At about 15 months the cows were, in this farm, made pregnant and 'trained' to behave as dairy cows, i.e coming to be milked on a regular basis.

Whilst looking round the farm I realised how important it is to maintain clean conditions, particularly when the products are used in the food industry. This was clear in Nottingham's dairy, with conveyor belts, moving away any faeces and urine in stalls, as well as, since it was a hot day, water mist sprays. I was also showed that within the stalls and areas where the cows were, the floor was covered with mats. This was to prevent the cows getting foot sore from walking on concrete floors, which could make them uncomfortable, even affecting milk quality.
Aeration is also a very important factor for dairy farms and I noticed that this was good, with fresh air being moved easily into the shed.
As well as these conditions, it is very important to ensure that when entering, and leaving that shoes are disinfected. This is essential in ensuring that the herd do not come into contact with any bacterial diseases from other areas as these may cause disease in the herd, effectively meaning that the milk cannot be used. This directly means that the farm would not make money, and so this experience has enabled me to appreciate that it is important to take these precautions to prevent the loss of profit and indeed a entire livelihood.

The other day I was speaking to one of the vets at my local practise about my lambing experience, and I was informed of a very important point that I had not previously known.
In all anatomically correct animals, except apparently Elephants the fore leg bends in a 'C' like shape, whilst the hind legs in more of a 'Z' like shape. This means that one is able to, when performing a internal examination, identify the position that the young animal is in, before you attempt to help pull it out, which can have serious consequences if the animal is not in the right position.
I was able to put this knowledge to use when I attended the Nottingham Vet School open day. Here there was a anatomically correct model calf in a simulator, and I was able to explain using this knowledge what position that the calf was in. This is an important lesson that I will now never forget!

It is important to remember that when carrying out an internal examination, that the hand is formed into a point rather than a fist. This is due to the fact that this is less invasive for the animal and avoids the risk of tearing any muscles on entry. To ensure that the entry is easy it is also important that the hand is well lubricated to prevent friction, which could cause unnecessary pain for the animal being examined.

Performed a Ultrasound scan on a dog today with a suspected tumour on the heart.
When performing a Ultrasound scan of the heart, I learnt that it is essential that the scanning device is held between the ribs to avoid images of bone being taken, which would mean that a image of the required area would not be observed.
A tumour was indeed present, and this was able to be clearly seen by a dark mass on the on screen image.
I also used a stethoscope on the dog, listening to see if the tumour was having any affect on the beat of the heart. The vet informed me that if you gently move the head of the stethoscope you are able to listen to the different beating sounds of the heart chambers individually. This is however, much easier on larger animals such as horses, for the simple reason that the heart is larger.
From what myself and the vet could hear the tumour was not having a affect on the heart beat, and so treatment to reduce the size of the tumour was discussed. It was not possible to remove the tumour under surgery as this would have been too invasive, coupled with the fact that the dog was fairly old, and may not have responded well to the anaesthetic.
The vet presented the owners with the options and asked them to think about their course of action at home. This case helped me to further understand the importance of communication with clients, as well as having a good relationship with them in the veterinary profession, and this was something that was evident today with the way that the vet handled the case.

One important point to remember with Ultrasound is that the image is not 3D so this can make it difficult to identify the structure and parts present without previous knowledge of that area of the animal being scanned. Therefore it is important to first know the general layout of the organ before one can reliably indentify areas of that organ on the Ultrasound screen.