Internship Days 23-27

Monday, Tuseday, Wednesday: Nothing new and exciting. I've been doing the same old stuff as always. We have been busy farrowing, like always, weaning, giving shots, treating sows, checking feed, and I have been doing a lot of work on my data collection. I give my presentation for my research on July 27th, so we're not too far off!

Thrusday: Typical day at work. We had a seminar at 2, which I missed, because my boss informed me and the other intern at my barn that it was at 4. They did a necropsy seminar, which would have been extremely fun, but I missed. After that we all met out at the Audubon County conervation club where we preceded to shoot clay pigeons. This was a blast. Some of the interns had never shot a gun, some of us had enough experience where we didn't need instructions! :) I haven't shot my own gun in nearly 2 years so, it was high time for me to practice again. I shot a 20 gauge Remington 870, identical to mine, only mine is a youth model. I hit 7/25 targets my first time and 14/25 my second time. I had a blast, along with the other interns and our mentors. Afterwards we ate pizza and joked around. It was a lot of fun!

Friday: Today the interns didn't have to work at our regular farms. Instead we went and toured the Fremont, NE Hormel Plant. This was very interesting for me. I have been to the Denison, IA plant and have seen all of the processing side of the plant, but had never seen the kill floor and unloading section of the plant. It amazed me at how fast they were able to process a hog. I had a lot of fun learning about the plant operations and it was very interesting to see all the different types of jobs that are offered throughout a plant like that. We all had to laugh because we realized that we were going to a meat packing plant on Friday the 13th. I told everyone it wasn't going to scare me because I was born on Friday the 13th and nothing has ever happened to me on any Friday the 13th throughout my entire life! :) I don't know whether that helped them or harmed them in their thoughts, but, whatever! :)  After the plant we stopped at the De Soto Wildlife Refuge on our way home, we got to stop by the river and see some birds (not the hundreds like Dr. Bob said we would see, but we saw a few!), as well as stopping at Dairy Den for ice cream. It was a great day to get out and about and away from the farm! Plus, it gives me the weekend off for down time! :)

Interns 2012 at De Soto Wildlife Refuge. July 13, 2012.

<3 Roz