Beef Unit: Preg Checking

If only in the livestock world a cow could pee on a stick and it could tell you if they were pregnant. Unfortunately that is not the case, and our wonderful large animal vets have to perform what is called, a palpation. You may have seen something like this on an episode of Dirty Jobs:

Sometimes I wonder if the Animal Science department at Auburn bases a lot of our coursework around what Mike Rowe does on the Discovery Channel....

Anyways, I have witnessed many a palpation while working at the sale barn in Amite, however none of them done by vet students.

We walked out to the silencer on a gorgeous day, only to witness 6 girls wearing the most unflattering things I have ever seen in my life: navy blue jump suits and shoulder length gloves. That alone may have been enough to make me think twice about changing my major to something other than Pre-vet. But what happened next may have sealed the deal.

This precious blonde vet student, stepped into the back of the Silencer applied a good amount of lubrication to her glove and shoved her hand up the rectum of the cow. This alone was not the worst part. Somehow, the cow resisted her going in, and forced back out, causing a stream of fecal matter to explode into the girl's face and mouth.

Needless to say I was horrified. The worst part was that she could not step out of the Silence until she had identified if the cow was pregnant or not, and how far along it was, all the while with Bovine feces still in her mouth and eyes.

All in a days work I guess, but I would rather not have it as a part of my day....

Despite the unfortunate nature of the situation, I was somewhat amazed at their ability to identify not only the presence of a fetus but also how far along the fetus was. There is no ultrasound in this situation, and the veterinarians and vet students were essentially having to identify the major structures of the reproductive tract by touch alone.

As amazing as it was, it was an experience that is definitely causing me to reconsider my choice of major. That, and the fact that chemistry is a nightmare are the two driving forces leading me to look toward other options for my major.