no. it's very real. but i cannot talk about it, because i vowed to never get into argument about this again. dunno why, but i feel extremely strongly about this. or rather, against this. so, howgh - for the benefit of all.
Dag, it's really not all that bad. I've been up to my elbows in just about any part of a cow that will accomodate me, and I still haven't died after thirty-two years of it. Although the technical name for the apparatus shown in Gus's photo is indeed a rumen fistula, the procedure I commonly perform is instead a rumenostomy. The difference is that, instead of physically installing a foreign object to allow the collection of feedstuffs, I am interested in simply making an unclosable valve to let off gas. "Chronic bloaters", as we call them, are calves that have had a cessation of rumen activity, resulting in continual bloat and indigestion. By simply removing a small circle of skin (a little over 1" diameter) and pulling the rumen through the hole and suturing it in place, it instantly becomes impossible for the calf to bloat. It will take four or five months for the wound to heal, by which time the rumen will almost always regain normal function. It only takes about fifteen minutes and around thirty dollars to perform the surgery, so it works out well for both the calf and the rancher.
Learn something new almost every day at a2k...
thanks, cowdoc...
Cow doc, I think Dag's concern is more for the cows than those with their hands inside them.
yeah, the cows, that's it. i KNOW they probably don't care that much, but i still have a problem with it. not when it's for medical reasons. but when they install these gloves things so that schoolkids can poke their hands in the cow's stomach to feel the food that the cow is trying to digest. i know it doesn't hurt, yada yada yada... but it still feels so awfully wrong. plus, i don't see a great educational value in that. itis memorable, sure. but educational? dunno. i see more in a picture or on a computer.... i can't even say exactly why, but everything in me screams against the people sticking their hands into cows for fun. i sure as hell wouldn't want cows or people poking their hands into my stomach. it's just....gah.
There is also supposed to ne one at the University of NC. I haven't seen it, but Bear says he has.
I have had my arm up in the insides of a horse. Not that pleasant except to confirm there was a little horse on the way.
