Bandit
April 23, 2006
Even if she were still alive, she’d have a hard time seeing you.
There would seem to be some rather widely-regarded guidelines for humane handling of cows like Bandit—without reliance on bolt guns, bone saws, and rendering—from the animal agriculture industry’s most lauded, most often-quoted spokespersons. We’re just not sure Los Angeles Pierce College is sold on them.
These would seem to be opportunities to engage in what the college’s veterinary sciences curriculum purports to do and offer: train future veterinary professionals in a “hands-on” experiential environment. We’re just not sure what they’re teaching.
There would seem to be a number of veterinary opthalmologists in the state, no less than 10, listed here. And there would seem to be at least one in the neighborhood of right around the corner. This would seem to be, at the very least, a chance to fulfill the promise of herd health care as an integral part of curriculum. These Los Angeles Pierce College cows are, after all, a crucial educational component. We’re just not sure what you’re learning. It wasn’t current therapies or surgical techniques. Does there seem to be a pattern here?
If you’re having trouble connecting the dots you can always read about herd and flock Healthcare With Heart and it won’t cost you a dime. You can even get bona fide and verified hands-on experience in the same, and it still won’t cost you a dime. In other words, you don’t have to subsidize their neglect, or pay to watch—from an educratically safe distance, of course—as they slowly rot and die.
NT-12
April 20, 2006
Do you like cartoons? Most children do as long as they’re not too scary. Here’s one they might stare at over and over again.
Do you like apples?
NT-12 did. She just couldn’t stand up to eat them without help anymore. Or drink, or swallow, or breathe.
1. Caseous Lymphadenitis with:
a-Nephritis, suppurative (abscesses), multifocal (embolic), bilateral
b-Internal abscesses in: abdominal wall, diaphragm, liver, internal iliac lymph nodes
c-Positive serology for C. pseudotuberculosis
Etiology: Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis
2. Stomatitis, locally extensive, necrotizing, with plant material. Probable traumatic (food) etiology
3. Low copper and vitamin E status
4. Sarcocystis spp. infestation, severe, incidental
5. Glomerulosclerosis, multifocal, chronic
6. Fungal culture pending
7. Scrapie results pendin
Pathologist’s notes state: “These sheep had multifocal health problems including caseous lymphadenitis, copper and vitamin E deficiency and severe Sarcocystis spp. infestation. Please consider reviewing the health and nutritional management of the flock to control/prevent these problems in other animals.”
How’d ya like those apples?
Papa Billy
April 17, 2006
Papa can’t pose for you at the Pierce College Farm Walk. He won’t nibble your fingers or polish his horns on the trees. The secrets of why his dark, chocolatey color faded, his muscles weakened, and his legs failed were trucked away with him to his death. And if he can’t make more of him again, he’s of no use or value to them.
Charlie.
They’re waiting for you. Not here, but where all perfect souls go.
Thomas
April 13, 2006
He was a big feet, big ears, nuzzling, wooly beast. Wheat Thins junkie, hug-bug, itch my cheeks, head-press you in the chest type of sheep.
Thomas can’t meet you at the Pierce College Farm Walk, poke around in your pockets for treats, or scratch his head on your hip. Hoisted, lowered, then trucked away for disposal. He can never tell you why he was ill or why he died. We can only tell you how Thomas spent the last night of his short life: alone in his pen, weak, inappetant, febrile, and struggling to breathe.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
Save his flock, and a little part of Thomas may still be around to greet you.
The importance of being goal oriented
February 28, 2006
Big-ticket wishlist item for Los Angeles Pierce College farm’s annual event, Farm Walk 2006: is it a new tin roof to keep these pregnant goats dry overnight,
or even a new tarp on the old roof over these pigs, now down to a few sq. ft. of dry space?
Nope. It’s another one of these:
It’s a water hose. On wheels. And it has a handle and it rolls itself up automagically! Best of all, it’s YPM™: you people’s money.
