The last meeting of the Rockwood 4-H vet club was held at Dr. Rob Swackhammer’s veterinary clinic, the Upper Grand Vet Services.
First, we opened the meeting with the pledge. Then, Dr. Swackhammer showed us a sample of milk from a cow with mastitis, an infection in their udder.
Then, we were shown a little culture plate, where he puts some of the milk onto it and refrigerated it for up to 2 days to see what type(s) of bacteria grow on it. This helps him recommend what to treat the infection with. There were stations setup for us to learn how to do sutures (in rags), learn how to give injections (into oranges), and do some trivia.
My group started at the trivia station. We learned that you can find your pulse on your wrist and neck as well as your heart. Then we went to the suture station, and stitched up a rag. This was something that either went really good, or really bad. Unfortunately, it did not go to well for me.
Next, we went to the needle station, and practiced subcutaneous and intramuscular injections. It was really fun. After we were done needling the oranges, we cut them open, and it looked pretty cool!
After we were all done our stations, we finished the meeting with the 4-H motto, and munched down on some Timbits and chocolate milk.
submitted by Josh Brander
