Internship Day 12

Today we had a meeting at the main office in Audubon at 8 AM. I was able to sleep in until 630! Woo. It felt nice to have a morning to slowly get ready for work and have time to wake up before leaving! I normally roll out of bed and head off to work in my pajama's because I shower in when I get there and then I just wear my pajama's home and put new pajama's on! :)

Our meeting this morning started at 8. All the interns had to present what they learned at the World Pork Expo last week Thursday. I talked about the We CARE program (http://www.pork.org/Programs/32/wecare1.aspx#.T9fkrNVtoTY) because I attended a seminar that was based off of this program and the progress they are making to inform not only producers, but consumers as well. I also talked about the showmanship class for the swine show that I watched. One of the other interns used to show pigs, so she taught me what showmanship is about, how to be a good showman, and what the people do to prepare their hogs for the show.

After our meeting I headed off to the sow unit that I am assigned to for the summer. I didn't arrive until 9 AM so weaning and releasing the sows was already done. We were short handed today due to some people taking the day off and therefore I assisted with monitoring and rounds. I got to learn how to treat sows and temp check. I walked around with a thermometer and stuck it in the sows' butts to read their temperatures. We take their temps a day after farrowing to allow time for them to rest and recover. If their temperature is above 103 degrees F then we treat them with prevail and penicillin. I got to "attempt" at treating a sow, but I ended up chickening out because their skin is extremely tough and I couldn't manage to get the needles through their skin. :) The other workers just laughed at me because I chickened out, but I will attempt it again sometime soon! It was interesting for me to experience.

I assisted with many more births throughout the day as well. I have really been enjoying the monitoring rounds that I get to assist with. I posted a couple of videos below to show you what it looks like when a litter is born. My favorite part about farrowing is watching them try and get up immediately after birth. They wabble and hobble all over the place in their slimy covering of the placental membrane until either we wipe it off with towels, or they rub it off against their mothers belly/ udder line.

http://youtu.be/B9V2vjW4k3c

http://youtu.be/YNrbWbfbDFI

Here are a few of my daily sights at the farm. Pictures courtesy of random websites. I SO wish I could take pictures in the facilities, but for welfare purposes, we are not allowed photos. I will just have to keep the images safe engraved into my brain. :) 

<3 Roz