WEE WEE WEE Went the Piggie

If any of you know me.. you know that I LOVE piggies and I especially love their squeal! From the very moment I got my drivers permit I would always go WEE around corners and my mother would yell at me, until the day that a car insurance company decided to use the squealing piggie in their commercials and my mom had to change her ringtone for me! Well today I got to play with my favorite little critters! Its the day before my physiology midterm and no1 really wants to go to lab, but when its a lab on handling piggies you can't help but leave all thoughts of studying and just enjoy their extreme loudness! :) 

My group started with large pigs/sows and had to move them from one pen, down a race way and into another pen. Next we split into smaller groups and half of us took turns moving two pigs from the pen and into the scale race. We had to guess their weights and I got to finally use my knowledge of 1kilo = 2.2lbs! :) I was pretty close at guessing weights but it will just take practice

Next we had to practice snaring a pig without actually tightening the snares around their upper jaw because you don't want them to get snare shy and so you just let them bit the little rope/cable and get it all the way to the back behind their upper teeth and then you can tighten the snare and then they are restrained.

Lastly we played with piglets. We practiced catching them by their back legs and then lifting them up to your chest to hug them with one hand under their chest! They really don't squirm once you got them upside down by one leg. Next we had to put our feet into a V shape, catch a pig and put their butt into the V. Then Tip them backwards so their bellies are facing out and their back is leaning against your legs and you slowly walk back until they are on their back and you squeeze their shoulders between your heels so they cannot roll. Once they are secured they can still kick and wiggle and scream like hell but as long as they can't roll on their shoulders they can't get away. Now you check their hooves and legs and tail and castration scars and anything else you want to check in your exam, next you grab front feet and back feet with a finger between each leg for better grip and spin them 180degrees and resqueeze them between you heels at the shoulders again and then you can check their eyes, ears, nose, mouth, teeth, neck and front feet. Lastly, you grab a piglet, lean against wall or rail and do a wallsit (wall squat) and make a V out of your legs so you can put the piglet upside down on your lap. You hold their front legs towards your belly and then another person can grab their snout and straighten their neck inorder to do a blood draw on the piglets right side of their neck! :) It was a super fun day!

Me and my bestie Heidi below

And even though I have an exam tomorrow, there is a speaker coming in at 5pm for the traveling vet student interest group that was just created this semester and I can't wait to hear what he has to say about his travels.. then its home to do revision and cramming and off to bed early for my 830am exam! AHHH! :)

OH and this is my new sleeping bag from Katmandu that was originally $200, that I got for $80! :) LOVE IT!! SOOOOO EXCITED FOR WILDLIFE TRIP THIS WEEKEND!!!

and you can see my new orange backpack I got from my birthday! Its HUGE and AMAZING!! :)