Sticking my hand up a cow's rear end!!

Vets are renowned for having to do the jobs that are a necessary thing in regards to the animal profession! One of these is putting your hand in crevices that aren't considered the normal. I, myself, performed a rectal examination for the first time a few weeks ago and it's nothing like I've ever done!

This was to check to see whether this certain cow was 'bulling' (on heat) and whether it was ready to be artificially inseminated or put with the bull. To see if a cow is bulling you get erratic/over-active behaviour normally in the form of head-shaking and jumping/mounting onto other cows. As well as this when you feel the cervix from above (in the rectal examination) it is a formed and hard round tube that leads to the ovaries.

As I have been doing this farm work for a few weeks now, I have performed these nearly every time so this will help me get used to the basics of feeling the inside reproductive anatomy of a cow and it's all really interesting!

I'm sure I will get a lot more of this kind of thing when I do lambing in Easter next year! If anything, working with the cows has been my favourite placement so far and I learn something new every week.