Diary of a Vet Student

I'm being so slack this week, I'm really frustrated with myself because I seem to be spending loads of time thinking about doing work and even sitting at my desk holding my work, but I have done zippo all day and in fact i've really done zippo all week. I'm a waster. Ug. Really must pull myself into some sort of work mode, but at the momentall I seem to do is to find really good excuses not to work, eg end of fourth year exams - it doesn't really warrant three days off work. Firstly I'm not a fourth year and secondly prior to the last three days I had another three days off work too.

Anyway. Lectures this week have been really good. We got to clicker train dogs and horses on Tuesday afternoon and on Wednesday we were practising our behavioural consulation techniques with actors. We've also been studying stereotypies inn horses, which is really fascinating, so I'll read up on that after writing this. Yes that'll be productive.

Yesterday from 8.30am to 4pm i was observing the chickens on my project. I'm studying how the spatial arrangement of trees on their range area influences how many free range laying hens use the range. Every two weeks I rotate the tree arrangements in each of four separate hen paddocks, so yesterday was tree re-arrangement day, which was very exciting. I thought I was going to have to go down early this morning to finish the job off, but luckily we got it all done, so I spent the morning practising the talk I had to give at lunch time for prospective students attending the open day of our course, which was going on today. So that was productive, but nor really productive in terms of me passing exams in May!

Have spent lots of time swimming this week and trying to attend capoeira - the martial arts dance thing I do, but it has been cancelled twice in a row - so leading me to resort to plan B: the pub.

I started preparing for my outreach project this week. This is where we have to inform a section of the public about an important welfare issue, so i think i'm going to target farmers and promote free range systems. It's really exciting and you can really do anything you like.

We're also visiting Bristol zoo on Monday to assess welfare there. Can't wait.

Anyway, going to do some work now and go clubbing in bristol later.

Byeee

Hello. Hope you had a great Xmas. I did. Worked on the Vetsix conference for the first week of my holidays. Spent the second week rellie crawling, eating and playing shirades, whilst the last two weeks were spent setting up my research project on free-range hens and whether or not they like trees. Ok so I had a good two weeks, in truth the last two were a tad hairy, due to freezing conditions, spindley weedly dying trees and flesh eating chickens, who refused to look and behave naturally even when I videoed them.
Luckily most of the creases of the project have been ironed out now, but there were a few moments when I was beginning to think it was impossible, e.g. when screwing four digital cameras to the side of a range house in the snow, whilst all the chickens remained in the house because they were too cold to come out. At the moment I’m driving over to the farm twice a week to make my observations. I’ll do that for ten weeks and then I can start analysing my data and writing my conclusions. It’s quite satisfying now that everything is running okish, and now that I’m at university again I can avoid my cruel Uncle who had started to sing “chick chick chick chick chicken lay a little egg for me” every time he called at our house. He also offered to buy me the “Chicken Run” DVD for my birthday, but I told him to .. well I told him.
Anyway. It’s good to be back. This term we’re off to Bristol zoo to do another welfare assessment, but this one is to be behaviour-based. I’ve also got to do an outreach project, which involves informing the public about a particular welfare issue. Not sure what to do yet. It all sounds really good though.
All of the Bristol vets are cramming for big exams at the moment so us wee intercalators are twiddling our thumbs a bit. Hopefully a big boozy night out in Bristol on Saturday with remedy the situation.