Well... this is just... Awkward.... Internship, Day 4

Alrighty. Well, since I have been filling many of you in on my internship, I'm just going to say that these next three days of posts from this weeks adventures are going to be a little bit... different.

I started at the Boar Stud unit this morning and will be there for the rest of the week. I'm sure many of you can guess where I'm going to go with this post already, but for many of you this will be a new adventure.

This morning I arrived at the boar stud at 5:30 and was expecting a typical day of feeding hogs, maybe doing some office work, and cleaning.. I was NOT expecting to get to "enjoy" the duties of the dirty work. I showered in this morning, introduced myself to everybody, and was shown the facility. There are boars on both sides of the barn, with a very large office area between them. The boar farm manager wanted me to "break me in" early and put me on the floor with two guys who were collecting semen. That is correct. Collection was my first duty of the day. Awesome.

For those of you who don't know, boars are collected 100% naturally... This facility has separate pens that are used for collection, only one boar is allowed in a pen at a time, three pens right next to each other. The boars are not stimulated, teased, nothing at all. They know exactly what their job is.... to "jack off". We use these tables that the boars mount called dummies, the ones we have look very similar to the picture below, only ours are covered in a blue rubber to prevent them from sliding off....

We sit and wait until the boars are itching to go, and on their own terms, they mount the dummies. You have to wait for a few more minutes to start collection because otherwise they will urinate into the collection cup. When they are done peeing you need to grab onto their sheath (which is made up of the skin on the outside) and you have to squeeze it to make sure all of the urine is out of the sheath. If it isn't emptied, the urine is too acidic for semen and it kills what you collect (the smell alone was enough to make me gag this morning... what is it with stinky males and their urine!!??!) When a boar is mounted he stands just like the one in the picture below....

When he is "ready to go", using a paper towel, you grab onto the end of his penis. Boars have corkscrew penis heads (see picture below) because the cervix of a sow has the ridges of a corkscrew, this enables to penis to lock into the cervix during ejaculation. 

You have to grab onto the corkscrew and hold as tight as you can to stimulate the rest of the penis to exit the sheath. When it is all of the way out, the boar locks into his position for breeding the female. The only part of the male that moves during this time is the penis. While you hold onto the head of the penis you can feel the semen being ejaculated and the heart beat of the boar. We collect the ejaculate into styrofoam cups that have filter paper banded to the top. Boars also produce a waxy "plug" when they ejaculate. This plugs the rest of the cervix up to prevent both back flow (when the sow contracts her cervix this prevents the semen from escaping the canal) as well as preventing the next boar from being able to breed this sow. The Plug is essentially what it's named for... a plug. 

I was able to lock up, collect, and release 3 boars this morning. The guys were giving me a hard time saying that I was a "natural" at this. I wouldn't say I was a natural, but I did pay attention when they taught me what I had to do. The later part of the morning I helped in the lab. I learned how to mark down what boars were collected, how many "doses" of semen were collected, as well as how to mix up the extender solution. The picture below would be what you would see me doing if I was showing you how to collect a boar... The boar is locked up on the dummy, you hold onto the head of the penis while he ejaculates into an insulated cup. 

Tomorrow we start collection at 3:30 AM... I am going to be getting to bed early tonight! 

Something smells... Fishy....

Many of you know that I come from a very... "fishy" background. I grew up fishing, took part in fishing competitions around lakes and rivers, as well as grew up on a boat on the river not only fishing, but skiing and tubing as well.

I have always enjoyed "catching" a lot more than fishing. I will be the first to admit that I don't have the patience to sit around and wait for the fish to take my bait, I enjoy catching them, not waiting for them. This weekend I was blessed with another opportunity to go fishing with my long time fishing partner, my father. I really enjoyed being able to spend Sunday afternoon with the hot sun blazing down on us, toes cooled off in the wet sand. Although I only caught a mere 2 bluegill Sunday afternoon, I had a lot of fun watching my sisters, friends, and father all catch pretty nice size fish.

Cassie, Sara, and I always used to visit the Paulina dam, and Sunday we did once again. When I was a kid there would be thousands of tad poles swimming about the sand on the bottom of the creek. You could catch crawdads as well as frogs, tadpoles, and turtles. When we went down there on Sunday we saw nothing but a few minnows and one tadpole. While Cassie and I were climbing around the dam, Sara pointed out a sign that hasn't been there in previous years... This sign read "Keep off Dam". Cassie and I found this kind of funny, so we caught a picture of us on the dam with the sign. Many memories were made on that dam, as well as the rest of Mill Creek Lake in Paulina. The times we went fishing, swimming, hunting, camping, walking the trails. Many memories were made, and I hope many more will be made in years to come.

ConGRADuation!

Friday, May 25, 2012

My baby sister graduated from the 8th grade. I can't believe it. I feel like my own child's getting ready to fly the roost and I don't even have any kids!

I have watched my baby sister mature into a young adult. Although she is a good 8 inches taller than me, yet 8 years younger, I see the silly little curly haired girl she always was. Even when we are old and cripple, Sara will always be my baby sister. <3

 Sara during the Ceremony when they were listening to their School "reflection" speeches. 

 Sara right after the Ceremony

Sara and her Cake made by Aunt Erica 

Cassie (16), Sara (14), Me (22) 

Internship Day 3

Today was a whole different day in the hog barns.

I once again assisted with weaning pigs, giving them their shots, walking them to the nursery, and then loading them on the truck to be shipped to the wean-finish facility. I then was introduced into the world of breeding sows and gilts.

I just took an AI course for cattle a few weeks ago right after school got out. I was able to learn the structures and everything of a cow to be able to artificially inseminate. Yesterday I was introduced to sow breeding which is completely different than breeding cattle. I was shown how to breed a sow, and then was completely confused as to why they needed to stimulate the sows, and then I saw the semen being sucked out of the baggie by the sows "orgasm". HAha. I learned how to place my knees into the side of the sows belly to stimulate her through rubbing back and forth. I also had to apply pressure to her back to act like a boar was on top. I then learned how to inserte the AI rod, open the semen bag, and wait for the sow to absorb the semen.

I also learned how to process piglets in the large picture, not just a single litter. Between 4 guys they did an entire room (72 litters) in under a half hour. They were literally flying when they were giving the piglets their shots and removing them from the crate. I was able to watch as they castrated the boars, cut their tails, and put iodine on any open skin. I also learned how to load a semi with baby piglets by watching them as they "pushed" the babies onto the truck. It was very interesting to see the babies realize the outside world for the first time through the truck.

Yesterday we also talked about the projects that we will be working on for our internship. I will be researching two different toppics. One is based on the amount of feed intake for sows while they are in the farrowing unit and compare that to the average wean weight of the piglets. I will also be measuring the effectiveness of drying newborn piglets at birth and how that effects the survival rate of the piglets compared to the piglets that were not assisted after birth.

Overall I have had a blast at the hog facility. I have come to the understanding that I am allergic to hog dust though and have to start wearing a respirator to decrease the amount of dust I am inhaling. I have been coughing a lot the last few days, have a sore throught, and have some pain in my right lung. Hopefully I will be making it to the dr. some time soon to possibly get an inhaler, as well as a prescription or something for a special mask for me to wear in the facility.

Last night we celebrated my little sisters 8th grade graduation. I will post pictures sometime within the next few days. Congrat's Sara Beth, and may high school be as exciting for you as it is for me!

<3 Roz

Internship Day 3

Today was a lot like yesterday consisting of both a shower-in and shower-out deal. I will be showering 2 times a day for the next 2 months! YAY!  I did a lot of new things today, all which were different than yesterday. I was in the breeding part of the facility yesterday and today I was in the farrowing unit all day.

I started off the morning assisting with weaning. We had nearly 70 sows that farrowed 16 days ago, so we took their babies away today. During weaning we give the piglets their shots, set them outside of their pen, and walk them to the nursery in groups. There was a lot of squealing and screaming this morning as they DO NOT like being picked up! hehe (but they sure are adorable!). We weaned a total of more than 700 piglets this morning. This was a hot, tiring job, having to pick all these babies up, ear plugs in! We then separated any piglets between 6.5 and 8 pounds out from the group to keep them separate from the larger piggies.

After weaning, I helped remove the sows from the farrowing room and back to the breeding section of the facility where they will undergo another cycle of estrous, breeding, and gestation. We had to scrape poop off of the floor, clean the feeders, and then the guys came in and power washed everything down. This afternoon we then re-loaded that room full of sows that are 3 days off from farrowing.

I also assisted with weighing the piglets we will be weaning tomorrow. Piglets that are slow in growth (the tiny ones), have ruptures, or any physically handicapped issues that render them as no-sales are put into a CO2 chamber where they are euthanized. I have come to the conclusion that this is my favorite method of euthanasia as it is as if they were just drifting asleep peacefully.

I also learned how to adjust feeders and amounts of feed that lactating sows are fed. Each day they adjust their feed intake according to how much the sow is consuming previously. If she has no feed left, she is given more feed per day, if there is a little feed, but not a lot, left, then she is left where she is at, and if there is a lot of feed left over then she is reduced in feed given. I also learned how to drive and properly use the "dead cart" as the employees call it. This is a robotic jack that lifts any dead sows up and out of the building. I did manage to hit a few gates and carts in the hallway, but overall I had a little bit of fun learning how to drive it.

I learned how to process piglets today as well. When a room is 100% done farrowing they process that room all together. Processing consists of giving them two shots, iron since piglets are anemic, and Exceed which inserts antibodies to prevent illnesses within the piglets. I also got to see them castrate the boar piglets in the group as well as learn how to cut their tails off to prevent chewing from other pigs.

My favorite part of the day was when I was able to assist with monitoring rounds. When sows are in labor, there is always someone checking on them, writing births down (live births, still borns, mummified fetus'), warming newborns up under heat lamps, and making sure everyone is getting their colostrum. We dried a lot of newborns today to help them warm back up quicker after birth. This increases their likelihood of surviving  and allows them to eat off of the sow faster. I was able to witness multiple piglet births, give oxytocin to sows to help progress labor and to aid in afterbirth expulsion, as well as sleeve a sow and pull out a "stuck" piglet. Through the entire afternoon I had the feeling of joy as I watched newborns become active, learn how to walk, and cuddle up next to mom and each other.

Overall (a whopping 3 days) I have had a great time being a part of this internship. There is still a lot more for me to learn, but I am looking forward to each and every day for the next few months. I am excited to see how much I learn through the course of this internship, and hopefully it will help me in my future career in the pork industry!

Thanks for Reading!

<3 Roz

Here is a picture of me from last night. The interns all had a scavenger hunt at "Chucks Bargain Barn" near Audubon. I won the prize for "most creative knicknacks". Here I am holding my pencil sharpener "Number One Father" Silver Trophy, I also received a $25 gift card to GAP! :)

We had a list of 5 things we had to find throughout 10,000 square feed of "knicknacks".
1) Something that represents you... I found 2 ceramic turtles :)
2) Something that represents your home town/ university... I found a dutch painted ceramic bell
3) Something for a house warming gift..... a wooden pig that said "welcome" underneath it
4) Something your date would enjoy.... I found an antique tin can that said "cumin seed"......... (this and the next were the ones that won me the "most creative knicknack" award.... hehehe)
5) Something you wouldn't want your mother to know you have..... I found "Skinny Dip Cologne"

AMVC Internship 2012

Yesterday I started my first internship EVER.

I am very excited to have joined the 2012 Intern's for AMVC yesterday in their New Hire Training. I was able to meet all the other 10 interns, as well as meet many of the staff and employees I will be seeing throughout the summer. We went through 7 hours of paperwork, PQA (pork quality assurance), TQA (transportation quality assurance), and different policies that AMVC has in action. Last night Brad and I were able to join the other interns and many of the AMVC Staff for a fun filled dinner and drink time in Audubon. I was able to meet many new people last night and I had a blast playing games (the dinner was Hula Dancer themed). Brad and myself returned home late last night (10:00 is late for me!) but I was able to get some sleep before my day started at 5:00 this morning!

Today I started at the farm. I got to learn how to shower-in right away upon arrival at 5:45 AM. We started out the morning with discussions with the 10 employees at the farm as to who was in charge of what duties/chores/work for the day. I was able to meet everybody that was there today and introduced myself. We started by touring the facility I will be working in all summer. Newell II is located just west of Brayton about 4 miles on a gravel road. It's about a 25 minute drive for me, but I can handle that! Our facility consists of 1 farrowing barn, 1 breeding barn, and 3 gestation barns, all connected together through a series of tunnels and hallways. We also have 2 isolation barns on site for replacement gilts we receive from other farms.

Today I learned the basics about the farm: paperowrk, protocols, feeding, duties, the 1,000 day calendar that they use (today was day 849, week 21), as well as how they process information and represent it up on their display board. I learned how to preg check sows using an ultrasound probe and monitor. I was able to identify the open sows from the bred sows, which was very interesting to see. I also learned how to heat detect using live boars. For the Gestating sows we load a boar (rather, he loads himself) into this little buggie, and it robotically "strolls" him around the aisles. For the gilts we used 4 boars through the fence to heat detect. It was very interesting to see how a gilt/sow stands and locks up when they are in heat when a boar is around. You can almost sit on their back without them even flinching due to hormones and the "estrus" present. I also got to learn how to pull out dead hogs using a robotic lift (they are too heavy to lift by yourself!), I was able to watch a euthanasia, as well as see aborted piglets from a sow and the signs and symptoms of abortion. When all of the main duties were done we were assigned to help with general maintenance around the buildings as well.

I had a lot of fun today, and it was only the first day. Tomorrow I get to explore the world of the farrowing barn, processing pigletts, weaning, moving sows, and breeding! I am really looking forward to this summer of events!


.... Now, if only my Food Laws and Regulations homework and readings would do themselves!

Nighty Night from one Tired Woman!

<3 Roz

7 Years: May 22, 2005 - May 22, 2012

I turned 22 this year and I have endured more than I could imagine any 22 year old has endured.

I have grieved the life of a best friend, partner in crime, and brother. Breiton Scott Ackerman was born on July 10, 2000. After having two younger sisters, it was past due time for a brother of mine. The one brother I would ever have was taken away from me after 4 short years of blessings. I used to take many things for granted, always thinking that life could be better, that there was always something better and newer. I no longer covet the most up to date things, because things aren't what matter in life. I have learned that without Love, Life is not an enjoyment. Love runs everything through this world. You were brought into this world through the Love of a Savior and Christ that unconditionally loves you no matter what mistakes you make. 

I loved my brother like no one would believe. I wouldn't say that I favored my brother over my two sisters, but I would say that Breiton and I got along a lot better than we did with the middle two girls. :) When Breiton was instantly taken from our lives, it was the most horrifying thing I hope I ever have to endure. With no body to prove his death, we were all uncertain as to what the results of this accident truly were. Through much support of the community and Church, my family was able to close the search and declare my brother dead. After 7 years I still struggle with the fact that maybe, just maybe he survived and is still alive. Maybe somebody found him down the river, saved him, and "adopted" them as their own. I could only wish my brother didn't have to endure such an awful, scary death. It frightens me to think about what he was thinking when he fell into the water, if he fell into the water. It frightens me to think of how he truly died, and why he had to die. I've wished every day since May 22, 2004 that this was all a bad dream. I even asked my aunt, Erica, to slap me across the face the day after the accident happened, just to wake me up. I never woke. 

Although his accident has been a huge burden on my life, I have been able to live through the memories of my brother. He has blessed me with so many good, sweet, amazing grace about life, as well as the thousands of memories I had, and still have, with him. I will never forget the amazing love he gave me. The wonderful ear to ear grin he always had on his face. And, don't forget, the beautiful attitude he had about life. That boy was always in a good mood, even when he was ticked off at someone, you could always get him to giggle and laugh. That boy was an amazing character. After 7 years of never seeing his face, or hearing that goofy laugh and giggle, I miss him more and more each day. Although I miss him, I don't let it get to me. I have brought so many good, new people into my life that I thank him for making me who I am today.

I would never have pictured myself where I am today with a bright future ahead of me, dreams to fill, and blessings to count. Each day people take family, friends, and memories for granted, but I won't, I can't allow that to happen. In the name of my brother, I keep the positives above the negatives and live my life day to day, fulfilling what HE would have wanted for me. I can't let an accident like this keep me from living my dream. I hope to one day be able to gap this hurt with a son of my own, and I pray to God that he is just like my little brother once was so that I can watch him grow and live his own life to fulfill his own dreams. My own little football player who runs into doors, trips over his own feet, and can't sing a tune at the top of his lungs. I pray that God fulfills Breiton's purpose here on earth and that everyone can learn from such an immediate, drastic change in the life of many. I hope my story reaches many people to help them realize that blessings are worth counting. Don't take anything for granted because everything happens for a reason. Live like you are dying has been my motto since Breiton's death, and that will never change. Look at life as if you won't wake up tomorrow, count your blessings, and tell everyone who you love that you love them. In the blink of an eye they could be gone, you could be gone, and everyone's lives would be changed forever. 

With Much Love, 

Roslyn