Day: July 2, 2019

Bloods are collected from the tail of each cow on the trial. Once returned to the laboratory, tubes which contain the bloods are weighted evenly and placed into a sorting machine called Centrifuge. Here the blood and serum are separated. From this I can then remove the serum content, place in a new tube the place in the freezer until testing.

Each test plot was measured using a rising plate meter and quadrant/clippers. Rising plate meter records grass height while clipping the grass allows me to bring it back to the laboratory where i can complete research and evaluate mineral status

After a cow was milked into buckets, they were weighted to find out total weight. A sample was also taken from each bucket and examined for milk solids such as fat, protein and somatic cell count.

Sterile clothes were used to clean the top of each teat. Each teat was stripped and then milked into individual tubes labelled and corresponding to each teat (RE = Right Front). Tubes were placed in ice until returned to the laboratory where they were placed in the freezer. Later in the week milk samples will be plated to examine if there is any diseases such as mastitis in individual teats of individual cows.

Photos were taken from the back and under belly of cows. Flies were then caught from the back and under belly from the cows, as well as fly traps located around the farms. Once caught, flies are placed into secure bags and played in ice until returned to the laboratory freezer. Once in the laboratory, test are carried out to examine if flies contribute to the spread of diseases and what diseases it is.

Wednesday the 26th and Thursday the 27th of July, I made trips to Amish and Mennonite farms in Kentucky. This was a great opportunity as I got to experience the cultures and how each performs with little equipment as we have in Ireland. On these farms duties carried out were
1- Catching flies from backs and under bellies of cows
2- Milk sampling cows
3- DHI testing
4- Forage sampling
5- Blooding cows