Wednesday November 20, 2013

Day 22..

Tyre construction - that's how we stared the day! Relating this to a tractor, tyres are an important part of the job because the tyres and wheels must be suited to the type of work you are going to carry out. Along with different wheels such as dual, cage, row crop and low ground pressure, the purpose is to get as much traction as possible for the tractor to work most efficiently. Cage wheels are usually made of metal and added to the outside of the rear wheels. They are slightly higher than the rear wheel so as not to touch concrete, on a road for example, but when working in a field as the ground softens, these wheels then support the weight of the tractor. We then had a 'show and tell' with nuts and bolts! Remember the nut is what screws on to the bolt! There are numerous types of nuts and bolts, big and small! But once again, there are specific ones for specific jobs. We then had an introduction to spreaders and sprayers and began by distinguishing the difference between what is sprayed and spread and for what purpose..

Pesticides (to kill)
= herbicides (weeds) = molluscicides (slugs, snails) = insecticides (insects) = fungicides (fungus)

Fertilisers
= N (nitrogen) = P (phosphate) = k (potassium)
As well as sulphur, and trace elements such as zinc and magnesium.

In our afternoon practical session we went to a field of lambs to administer them with Animax bolus - this is a mineral 'pill' designed to give them a booster to their system, as they are currently not good doers - slightly under nourished, poor quality. first the flock was herded in to a penning system and generally health checked over, we then sent them through the crush to carry out the administration. This was done with a dosing gun designed to fit down the back of the throat (over the back of the tongue). Sheep over 30 kg received two bolus pills and anything under just one (these are big tablets in the shape of a bullet). The bolus is slotted in to the stainless steel holder and pushed down to the trigger point, with the other hand you open the sheep's mouth placing your thumb over the tongue, but leaving room for the gun, when far enough down you press the trigger to release the bolus which should then end up in the rumen depositing the nutrient as required. Each sheep that received a treatment also received a coloured mark for tracking purposes.

We then went off to check on two rams that have been lame for a few days. Ram one was still lame, he was turned over and a small swelling was visible in his near fore foot, the treatment here was to inject 8cc of an antibiotic medicine - 4cc in each of the big back leg muscles (this spreads out the fluid). All four feet were then sprayed with purple spray (antiseptic) as an extra precaution. This ram will be monitored and re-administered with medicine in five days if required as it was a 'long lasting' treatment. The second ram was easy to catch because he was very lame on his near hind. Once tipped over there was a very visible abscess type wound, foot rot was ruled out because there was no significant smell, the cleats were cleaned up, but the foot sore to the touch, so here 10cc of antibiotic was administered, again half in each back leg muscle and all feet sprayed. But as we let him go it was very apparent that this wound was causing pain so Dom decided that we also should inject this ram with a pain killer, as this would give him almost instant relief. This was one shot in the behind muscle! The painkiller medicine will need to be administered daily for a few days but the antibiotic is long lasting, so five days before any more (if required). Hopefully they are both now on the mend and can carry on with the job! in hand...