One of the requirements of my first year at school in the UK is to do 12 weeks of animal husbandry experience. We're required to do 2 weeks of dairy, lambing, horses, pigs, and 4 weeks choice.
At the recommendation of a fellow vet student friend at UCD (dublin) I spent two weeks at a wonderfulsheep farm in Buncrana, Ireland. The farm had about 750 ewes, when we arrived 350 of them were still left to lamb. We helped out in all aspects of the farm - which involved feeding everyone that was still being housed, administering any required meds, moving ewes and lambs as required, and the most exciting bit - helping out with lambing. By the end of the 2 weeks arm length gloves had definitely lost their novelty! I really enjoyed lambing - and will make a point in future years to spend time with some farm vets during the spring - to get more repro experience with the farm animals.
Here is a video I made to show you what it was all about!
