A few more pics from Tri-State...

Little did I know it, but Erica took a few pictures while I was on rotation!  Here's the proof that I actually helped out while I was there!

Surgery on one of the little songbirds...

Putting a bumper on one of the eagles

En Route to Corvallis, Oregon!

So after Food Animal Reproduction, I had an entire week off before starting the Camelid course at Oregon State (in Corvallis, OR).  Since I was already flying across the country, I decided to make the most of it and to check out San Francisco (where Brendan, my brother, now lives) and Portland.  So I flew from Philly to SF on Tuesday evening, after spending an amazingly relaxing weekend at home in Philly.  Brendan and Maria had to work Wednesday and Thursday, so I was mostly on my own to explore the city.  Brendan and I did get to take Raleigh to the dog park on Thursday afternoon (where I practiced being "zen-like") and to have dinner with Cherie and Lance, friends that Brian and I met in Guatemala a few years ago. 

View from Telegraph Hill... I went looking for parrots, but didn't find any.

Silly sea lion!

Happy birthday, dear sea lions, happy birthday to you!

Makin' some noise!

Surprisingly sunny San Fran!

And, as expected, not so sunny!

Little Raleigh, looking adorable!

Raleigh running at the dog park!

On Friday morning, Brendan and I flew to Portland for the weekend; neither of us had been there before, so it was a great chance to explore a new city.  Despite being mistaken as a couple multiple times and being accosted by a very strange woman ("Do you have a dog? I have a dog too!", we made it to Portland uneventfully.  We met up with my friend Amanda, a friend from Philly who moved to Portland a few years ago and was gracious enough to host both of us for the weekend.  We started out with lunch at a lunch cart near her home, where we split a ham and cheese crepe and a kimchi quesadilla; although it may not sound like much, the kimchi quesadilla may be the greatest ethnic food combination I have ever tasted...  Amanda then took us to the arboretum where she works, where we got really excited by the Monkey Puzzle trees and learned the difference between Witch Hazel and Stinging Nettle (for a ridiculous video about a stinging nettle eating competition, click here).  From there we explored the Japanese Garden and then, since we had worked up an appetite, stopped at Voodoo Doughnuts.  That night, we went to eat at Bye and Bye, an awesome little vegan restaurant near their home.  Yes, you read that right, Brendan and I ate a vegan meal, and it was pretty awesome; if I had Amanda choosing my food or cooking for me, I'd definitely survive being vegan! 

Right in front of two Monkey Puzzle trees!  How exciting to see them in Portland!

Brendan and Amanda at the Japanese Garden

Hanging out with the dog/dragon

Eating our voodoo donuts!

The next morning, we decided to drive to the coast.  We were hoping to play in the tidepools at Haystack Rock, but unfortunately, we were thwarted by this thing called "High Low Tide".  Apparently, not all low tides are created equal, and when there is a high low tide, playing in tide pools is just not allowed.  But it was far from a wasted trip!  We wandered around the coastline, had an awesome lunch of fish and chips and clam chowder washed down with microbrew beer, and were horrified by the Tillamook Cheese monstrosity.  When we got back to Portland, we had beer at another microbrewery with Renee, an old friend that I hadn't seen since high school!  Then another great dinner with Amanda and Matt (does it sound like all we did was eat?  mostly, it was...). 

The coast was surprisingly (to us anyway) cold... Portland was 85 degrees, the coast... not so much!

Super cool mossy trees

Haystack rock at high low tide (it's a thing, trust me)

Cannon Beach lookout!

Cow!

Brendan made a friend... that is, until the lamb realized that he had no food to share.

Visiting with Renee... Seriously, we haven't seen each other since high school.  Don't even try to figure how long that is...

The next morning, after a trip to Powell's (the best bookstore in the world) and another food cart meal, it was time to head our respective ways... I got the joy of taking the Greyhound bus from Portland to Corvallis, which, as always, was an exercise in ridiculousness.  Every time I ride the Greyhound bus, I'm reminded of a few things... 1. I am far more normal than I think I am. 2. Patience is a virtue, or, in this case, 100% non-negotiable.  3. Third world countries have us beat on buses, hands down.

 
 But I did make it to Corvallis in one piece and only a half hour late, which might even be a record for Greyhound!  A day later, the Camelid course started, which I'll tell you more about next time!

Food Animal Reproduction

Food Animal Reproduction was only a week long, but we packed a lot of awesomeness into that short week!  This rotation focused mostly on dairy cows, although we did have a morning in the swine unit as well as a morning ultrasounding (supposedly) pregnant sheep.  Oh, and we did do breeding soundness evaluations on beef bulls as well!  Anyway, one of the big goals of this rotation is to introduce us to ultrasound in cattle and to teach us the technique for fetal sexing in dairy cows.  Awesome?  Yes!  So on our first day, we got oriented to the ultrasound machines using reproductive tracts from dead animals and practiced palpating cows without the use of an ultrasound.  For me, this was a great day, as I finally managed to figure out how to retract cow uteruses (I won't go into the details, I promise). 

Trying out of of the ultrasound machines with goggle viewers- it's like a virtual reality video game!

Learning to use one of the new ultrasound machines; this one attaches to your waist!

 One day, we learned about bovine embryo transfer.  Basically, you breed a cow that has been superovulated (so she makes more than one egg) and take out the fertilized eggs.  These eggs can then each be put into another cow.  Although our cow didn't end up making any fertilized eggs, it was really interesting to see the process from start to finish!

Flushing the embryos out of our cow

Collection jar for all the little eggs!

Checking to see how many follicles she ovulated via ultrasound

Through the rest of the week, we started ultrasound into our cow palpation, starting by just looking at the tract; by the end of the week, we were all pretty good at sexing little cow fetuses when they were just 60 (or so) days old.  It was pretty amazing to see their little legs kicking at the probe!

Learning to ultrasound cows!

My favorite ultrasound machine; loved the virtual reality goggles!

     

But fetal sexing wasn't all we did! One day, we spent the morning ultrasounding sheep to see if they were pregnant.  It was a little disappointing, since none of them were, but it was fun regardless!

 

 Another day, we spent the morning in the pig barn; we checked a few pregnant sows with the ultrasound to look at the babies, and took a look at one sow that had just had her piglets to make sure there were none left.  All in all, it was a lot of fun rotation, and we learned a lot of practical skills!

Ultrasounding a mama pig

One day, we learned about cow reproduction while eating ice cream at a local dairy... it was pretty much heaven!

Our last day of fetal sexing, all together now!!!

And finally, all of us poop covered and happy at the end of the rotation!