Wednesday December 4, 2013

Day 28..

So, back to the lessons, where we started our morning of with new soil man Mark, who took us off in to Southill Close to conduct a test of the fields pH level and lime requirement. Working in groups we worked on the 'W' basis of five sample points to test throughout the field using soil samples from approximately 20cm below the surface. We then used a barium sulphate kit on each sample adding the sulphate, and drops before shaking vigorously then allowing to settle so that the pH reading could be established using a pH indicator card. We noted the results on to a table and will discuss our results in next weeks lesson.

We then started to look at the different types of welding most common on farms during our machinery lecture whereby the three most commonly used are Oxy-acetylene, Electric Arc and MIG welding. The differences being that oxy-acetylene requires a mixture of the gases - oxygen and acetylene to produce the molten metal; electric arc relies on the heat generated by the electricity 'arcing' to melt the metal and MIG - which stands for Metal Inert Gas, uses inert gas to melt the metal. Welding is the principle of using similar metals and melting the joint in to one homogeneous piece, this is particularly useful around the farm yard to fix broken trailers for example. Other techniques similar to welding include soldering - the form of using lead as a 'glue' and brazing - which uses brass as the 'glue' element.

This afternoon in our practical we went off to the ewe lambs to give them a 2ml shot of Heptavac P - a vaccine that is used to control pneumonic pasteurellosis in sheep of all ages as well as to control systemic pasteurellosis in weaned fattening and breeding sheep. This is the first one of two injections that they will receive with the next in 4 to six weeks time. To inject we grabbed a handful of hair, pulling it upwards, so that we could inject just under the skin - for the best distribution of the vaccine.
This method is called a subcutaneous injection where the needle is slid into the base of the skin that has been pulled into a 'tent' like shape.
Each ewe then received a purple dot to show it had been injected. While we had all the ewe lambs penned in we also carried out some routine health checks - by turning the sheep over and checking feet. Overgrown cleats were trimmed down with a pair of foot trimmers and the debris removed from the middle before letting them out again.