Week 1 part 2

Thursday, 5/18- This was the earliest day we had and I definitely stayed up way too late the night before, which I do not advise, but its interesting how easily I found myself eating and staying focused throughout the day. Normally when I’m tired, I cannot eat breakfast and my attention span is less than a fish’s, but I think having the instructors herd us around and tell us whats going on, and having the content being so interesting, made me shovel food down when I got the opportunity to and kept me wide eyed and ready. We went to Belize’s Central Farm, where they have dairy cows and breeding operations for goats and sheep. We had to be at the farm by 530am so we could be there to watch, and help, the farmer milk the cows, which were the only holsteins I saw in the country yet. For getting up at 4am, I was extremely disappointed when all we did was slap some disinfectant on the utters and then put vacuum tubes up to them, which even attached themselves via suction. I was disappointed it was so easy and minimal for us, but at the end we got an opportunity to hand milk the cow and that was a great experience. I was upset about how this went but its the reality now, milking is rarely done by hand so it is not practical to be taught about the large animal industry in that context. We also got the opportunity to feed a calf, which was the funniest thing ever. The farmer filled a big metal bucket up with milk, and at the bottom of the bucket was a giant plastic utter that the baby would run up to and lick a little before cautiously running away. After feeding the calf, we finally went back to Midas for breakfast at 730 and then turned right back around for the best part, AI AND PALPATIONS! The fun began when we got back to the farm. We went to work on the brahman crossbred herd across the way from the dairy cattle. They had the cattle herd into a single file line and trapped them one by one in “the shoot” to restrict their movement and make it easy to work with them. This is where the fun started. The farm instructor stuck on his should-high glove, lubed it up, and went straight into the first poor girls rectum and cleared the poop out to palpate her cervix through the tissue. Once he found it, it was our turn to dive in. Fortunately for the cows, only 3 or 4 people got a chance to work with each cow. I’ve been descriptive enough so I’ll save the details on when it was my turn, but I will say I was surprised by how different rectums are even from breed to breed of cows. After we all got a turn with the instructor telling us where exactly the cervix was, we got another round of palpations and had to find the cervix on our own. That was hard and I know large animal AI is definitely not in my future. The best way to describe this experience is “not positive or negative, but interesting” as I was telling the other group that were going to go to the dairy farm a couple days later. After the palpations, we knew we had another bat trapping session but since the work day started so early and the bat trapping occurred after dark, we had to fill some time. We decided to go to the Green Iguana Sanctuary. This was an awesome experience and I definitely recommend going to it, the picture of the iguana biting my face (thats not a kiss, there was a little blood after) was taken there. This iguana was extra special, she has an overbite and is known for her giving licks, but apparently if your body wash has palm oil, she goes in for a little nibble, since it is their main food source in Belize. We walked into their enclosure and it was crazy, there was 1 iguana, and then 3, and then 20 just everywhere. It was almost unnerving trying to not step on their tails. After we met them all and walked around a little bit, they brought leaves in for us to feed them and that was crazy. They swarmed to anyone that had leaves. The last girl in my group that had leaves had 20 iguanas sitting around her trying to get the last of her leaves. I definitely recommend future CELA students to go there when they get the time. After the iguanas we went on another bat trapping trip. This one wasn’t as exciting. We did not go as far out into the middle of nowhere, there was a lot of light pollution so we couldnt see the stars and we didnt catch a single bat. It was nice though because this was at Whistling Duck Farms where we did the horse physicals so we weren’t with Mennonites and we were allowed to get comfortable. We spent the time chilling in a veranda hanging on hammocks and talking with Dr. T. The alternative to bat trapping was spending money at the bar so I was happier going there.

Friday, 5/19- The last day of week one, and definitely the most exciting. Both groups met back up to do one large practical, and it was definitely necessary. We went to a farm basically on the boarder of Guatemala and had to vaccinate over 200 cows. It was hot and there was very little shade and these cows DID NOT like being herded down the shoot. At one point, we had a 3 cow high pile up. At another point, we had probably 4 cows stuck under the line of cows and then when we released them a calf got TRAMPLED. We all stood there with gaping jaws ready for the calf to be in pieces. Fortunately it got up and walked away with almost no limp. As all of this was happening, one of the girls on the program has a heart condition and she was suffering horribly out there. She passed out and we had to pull a row of seats out from the van so she could lay out in the shade. She kept saying she was fine and that she didnt need to go home, so none of our supervisors thought to drive her back, but all the girls and myself started bugging. The picture of all the girls leaning over the fence and giving shots happened after Kristen passed out, everyone got into high gear and we were running around everywhere. I'm sure it was the fastest they've ever seen students vaccinate 200 cows. It was easily one of the most exhilarating experiences of my career and left me feeling very accomplished. At one point I had to jump over the shoot and be inside the pen so I could vaccinate calves that were too small and far to reach from our side, I felt professional. After the practical we went back to Midas and all took a shower. On the bartenders suggestion we checked out another restaurant and then hit up a couple bars in town for the first time. One of the bartenders at Midas we made friends with took us out and I definitely recommend doing that if you want to go out here. Midas has a great bar but if you're used to going to bars at home, its nice to see the local bar culture, and the bartenders at Midas are very friendly and they make sure you're safe when you go out. Still, it was an early night for us because the weekend was going to be jam packed!