May 30, 2010
After the long weekend which I spent in Amsterdam, I met my host student Johanna at the train station in Hannover, along with the rest of our group. Johanna and I quickly got separated from the group in the crowded station, but this just gave us more time to talk. We made it to the restaurant on our own eventually. I really liked staying at her place while we were in Hannover; she took really good care of me. I’m not just saying this either: I actually did get sick while I was there and she nursed me back to health! We also had more free time than usual, most of which I spent hanging out with Johanna. I think it gave me an excellent opportunity to experience life in Hannover, an opportunity that I would not have gotten if I had stayed in a hotel or hostel.
Tuesday we were given a tour of the veterinary school’s small animal and farm animal clinics and visited the school’s teaching and research farm. Their small animal clinic is huge and very nice. My favorite part of the tour was seeing their pack of beagles, which they use as teaching dogs for their students. I had a beagle growing up, and they are some of my favorite dogs! I think I enjoyed seeing the research farm more than the farm animal clinic, which surprised me, but then again there wasn’t much happening that day at the clinic. At the research farm, not only did we see the way livestock are raised on commercial operations, but Dr. Surie also explained the rationale behind these practices. For instance, laying hens are kept in very close quarters in an effort to keep them from having enough room to fight and kill each other. When hens are given more space but still kept in large groups, they are actually more violent and have enough room to cause serious damage. I was not aware of this and had always assumed that chickens were packed together so tightly for economical reasons alone. We also learned more about the differences in how livestock are raised in Europe versus the U.S. For example, in Europe alternatives to castration are being developed, since this practice is considered inhumane and unnecessary. My favorite part was definitely the ingenious milking machine, which is fully automated and eliminates the need for workers to be present for any portion of the milking routine. Each of the cows, which are loose in the paddock, wears a collar containing a chip that the machine reads to determine how often she should be milked. The cows approach the milking area freely when they feel like they need to be milked, and the machine reads the collar to determine whether or not it is time for her to be milked. The machine cleans the cow before and after, attaches itself and then detaches from each quarter as it empties. It even takes milk samples and records somatic cell counts to monitor for mastitis. I milked dairy goats by hand twice a day everyday all through high school, so I am in awe of this machine and would love to see a goat-sized version someday!
Later that afternoon, a group of us went out with our hosts to see some of the city. The Hannover students took us up to the top of the capitol building, where we could see the whole city. It was such a beautiful day, and the view was great, but it was very windy! The interesting part, though, is the elevator, which runs right up the side of the building’s domed roof. This means it runs at an angle instead of straight up and down, and the floor never feels level. By the time Johanna and I got back to her apartment I was feeling very sick, so I stayed home and went to bed early, missing the barbecue the students had for us.
Wednesday we were able to get some hands-on experience with some of the veterinary school’s teaching cows, performing rectal palpations and collecting eggs. I had not palpated a cow since before I started veterinary school, so this was a good refresher for me but more than a little humbling. I had never successfully located an ovary before, so having someone walk me through it was an invaluable experience. I watched as a couple of my classmates succeeded in collecting eggs from one of the cows. Afterwards, we visited a stud farm full of beautiful well-groomed stallions. I was surprised to see all of the training facilities, but we soon learned that the stallions kept here undergo a lot of training, especially in dressage. We watched while they collected a stallion and then went through the whole process with us of preparing the final product.
I spent the rest of the day with my host and a few others from our group touring the city. That night the Hannover students had a party, and even though I stayed out way too late again, it was worth it.
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