Northern Goshawk necropsy; Aspergillosis and Trichomonas

I saw a necropsy of a juvenile wild Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis gentilis) today, which sadly died after being brought into the clinic last week.

He had anklets put on his legs so that he could be perched and fed on the glove but was found collapsed on Sunday afternoon.

The bird died from chronic Aspergillosis seen as spores and large granulomas in the air sacs.
They think the bird had been ill for several weeks as the granulomas were so big and that would coincide with his capture and being brought into the clinic.



He also had secondary Trichomonas gallinae parasites seen in the mouth which were probably elevated due to immunosuppression.

Matriculation Ball

This weekend we had our Matriculation Ball which I guess it's the equivalent to a Freshers Ball in the UK.

There was a ceremony where all the Freshers stood on stage and put their head through the butt of a fabric cow and did a shot, then we were knighted with a Femur (thighbone) before putting an ink print of our fingerprints on a certificate.

The wierdness of it all kind of sums up this place but it was all organised for us by Slovaks in the older years and they did a really good job!

There was a sit down buffet style meal with free alcohol all night.

They leave bottles of wine, spirits and mixers on the tables for you to help yourselves and as soon as they see one of the bottles was nearly empty, it would be replaced with more wierd and wonderful Slovak Vodka or Tatransky Caj.

Weekend with Family

We've had a really nice weekend with family and am already sad that it's over; my mom and brother came over on Friday with Sian's parents and we dropped them back at the airport this morning.

On Friday we went straight from the airport to town for food which was a slight disaster...
Wierd nutty paste pancakes, pasta with jam and chopped up pasta with poppy seeds, spinach balls... You get the idea.

In the afternoon showed them around town and Uni then took them to fly the falcons:

Everyone was pretty tired so after dinner we separated and got an early night.

Saturday morning we met on Hlavna for late breakfast at Theatre cafe then spent the day at Košice zoo.

We missed out loads of things when we went last time so was nice to go again - the zebra, some of the birds and monkeys weren't on exhibit, I guess because it was so cold, but we saw the bears this time.
It's a really nice zoo, the only criticism I have is the big cats - they don't have enough room or enrichment so not great to see. They're in good condition but the tiger was pacing in a figure of eight obviously waiting for food and he didn't have ponds, balls, swings, logs etc like the enrichment they'd have in UK zoos.

Yesterday we did our own things with our families so we went shopping to AuPark and met up late afternoon. We went to look at food in M&S and there was a sale on so I got two pairs of jeans which should have been €40 each, one pair was €7.99 and the other €3.99!

We met up later for coffee in a really nice place, Cafe Frei, and decided to take them to Steel Arena to watch the Ice Hockey!

Košice were playing MHC Martin and tickets were only €5 (cheapest were €3!) which is awesome value for a night out.

Košice won, obviously, 3-2 but there were something like 35 and 22 goal attempts so was exciting to watch.

At one point a guy took a puck to the face and was knocked out...

We dropped them off at the airport early this morning and I'll be home in less than 2 weeks! :)

Graduation

Today, I graduated from Aberystwyth University with a BSc Hons 2(II) in Animal Science! :D

Had the most amazing week ever.
Spent it with my best friends in 30 degree sunshine, on the beach and in the sea!

Spent the day being a Smallholder!

I spent the day being a Smallholder near Aber helping a lady out who's just had her hip replaced.
I did a mini Dispatch, Pluck & Gut session and lesson for 2 people, to sort out a pen full of cockerels.

I dispatched them, showed them how to pluck and the others helped pluck. We then gutted them after leaving them to hang for a few hours.

I also made friends with goat kids, pigs and llamas!
She's struggling keeping too many chickens and ducks so I rehomed 3 to a friend and am trying to sell a few of her ducks for her.
Was a good day :)

After, we went to see Danny and Lady (the horses) to drop off 3 chickens and while we were there I tried to sort out a Silkie with really bad lice and Scaley Leg Mite problem - we gave her a bath but she was really struggling so had to dispatch her too.

Handed in my Dissertation!

Have finally finished and handed in my dissertation!!

I tested 5 essential oils at 9 different concentrations to test their ability to kill Poultry Red Mite... and it worked! :)

Lambing Photos 2013

Cantering on Danny!

I went for a ride out on Danny this week and cantered him for the first time!

The first time we were walking around he field, I asked him to Trot on... He went straight into a Canter!
My bum stayed connected to the saddle the whole time and felt so smooth. Was really excited after haha
Think I must have relaxed my hips properly 'cos I wasn't expecting it.
The other couple of times I did it he Cantered straight away but I wasn't as relaxed and had my heels up so my bum was bouncing a bit in the saddle.

Still, I'm learning and was good fun!!!

Hack out with Danny

Have had a couple of riding lessons with my housemates and we went out for a Hack this weekend with Lady (who we've been helping to break in for a few months) and Danny. I loved it!
Boxer at the riding school is really good but (I now realise) doesn't really listen to me... Danny is really good and actually listens, stops when I say etc.

We went out for a Hack on Saturday with Nat (brother) and then again on Sunday afternoon
Few photos...

We even got Nat on a horse!!

Jumping Daf on the Beach!

We took Dafydd to the beach today to exercise him and teach him to jump.

Must have spent 2 hours playing and trotting around the beach but he loved it!!
As much as I hate running I loved it too! :))

Started Riding Lessons

Have been helping to back a couple of horses and my friends we're doing it with have been saying for ages we should have Riding lessons...
Thought it was just for girls and that I'd squash all the horses etc but we finally decided to book lessons and it was really good!
Have worked with horses for years at the farm + at work, so know a bit about them but never ridden.

We've only done Rising Trot but is good so far! My horse is called Boxer and he's got a really big trot so I spend half the time making him slow down so he doesn't overall, but think I'm setting the hang of it. The woman asked if I'm sure I've never ridden before 'cos I looked quite good :P haha

Looking forward to Lambing 2013!

I'm really looking forward to another season of Lambing!

I have the new job at the Uni farm which I think will be about 6 weeks split between me and Cody - not sure if we'll be in pairs, on our own, or what yet though. At least at the Uni farm there's somewhere warm to sit and do Dissertation work, if we're quiet with the Lambing!

Richard from Glanystwyth rang me a few weeks ago to ask if I could go Lambing for him again this year. It'll be 3 or 4 weeks of 9pm-6am which is quite a lot when we have lectures and Uni too.
I asked the 3 girls who have come for the last 2 years but they didn't want to come 'cos of Uni etc which is fair enough. A few other people on my course want to come this year but have never been Lambing before, so it'll be really good to have help but will need to help and teach them how to Lamb too...

The 2 farms are so completely different...
First the Uni farm is a modern, almost clinical, performance-recorded system where we don't pull much and have to measure and record every detail for research:

Then Glanystwyth is a traditional Welsh farm with a massive shed with 1,200 Organic ewes and lots of little barns with lambs in:

Not sure when Uni start but Glanystwyth start in 2 weeks! :)

Why do you want to be a Vet?

I saw a Medical student post something with made me laugh and wanted to make a Vet version...

The question wannabe Vet Students ALWAYS get asked it, "SO, why do you want to be a vet?"

Lets make a list of things we need in a career:
Mentally and practically stimulating challenge
Variety in work with new scenarios everyday
A world of species and specialisms in which to be able to explore
The opportunities to make a difference to animals and animal-owners lives
And most importantly of all, I wanted to wear my blue pyjamas to work everyday

Snow in Aberystwyth

Student Onesie

Acceptable for Student to wear a onesie?

Royal Welsh Winter Fair 2012

Went to the Royal Welsh Winter fair at Builth Wells yesterday.

They had reindeer, cows, sheep, horses and chickens!

Wanted to buy these Apricot Call Ducks!

(snotty) Sheep with a rug on

Sleepy piggies

My favourite was "Rhianna" wonder cow!