The Art of Milking and Wrestling Cows

I know I haven't been keeping up on my blogs very well lately, so here's an update of my past week.

Last Friday evening I attended my first ever Fringe Show: How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse.

I loved it. It featured four 'teachers' from the School of Survival (S.O.S.) who enthusiastically tried to get the 60 people in attendance better prepared for when the zombie apocalypse would occur (because it will happen). The entire basis of the performance involved the audience to participate in a game called the Eliminator. You had a card with A and B on it and the crowd was asked a series of questions pertaining to zombie survival. The first question for example was which would be the best weapon? A: Machete B: Sponge (they got harder). I was unfortunately eliminated several rounds in when I said I would get rid of the weakest person in my group when the zombies attack (which sounds like me if you think about and now you know to NOT come running to me when we are being overrun by the undead because I am not sharing my rations or waiting around for your needs...). There was also a short question and answer session in the midst. One audience member wanted to know what kind of weapon would be best for when the zombies take over, a gun perhaps? According to the one 'teacher', he said that it is very hard to get a gun in the UK and when all of the uneducated people panic and decide they need to defend themselves they will all flock to the places to get a gun and will be followed by zombies. I, however, am from the United States and have had enough battle simulations through Nazi Zombies and Resident Evil that I could hold off an undead attack on my home with the shot guns that can be found there and my trusty dog (however I'm fairly certain the Jack Russel would be used as bait). The best part of the evening (besides eliminating myself) was the played at the end the theme from Battlestar Galactica which made me very happy.

Beside zombie preparing I have also been working on various farm animals for my classwork. On Friday I wrestled a cow which involved trying to hold the head of a full grown 700 kg cow that refused to give it over and instead tossed her head all over the place (looking at her teeth was out). After pulling my arm and being sore on the weekend I came back to class Monday for the milking practical where I milked some Scottish Holsteins and decided that I missed how clean the American farms I had been on back home are. Not saying they were awful, but have to remember what happens there is going into the milk and I don't think I'll be drinking anything less than pasteurized here. Only thing I did all day was get whacked in the head by a cow's tail when the milking machine wouldn't stay on because I hadn't yet realized that they had turned the vacuum off due to a problem...

Yesterday, horse practical. Very easy and I left an hour early. My practical exam will be: take horse out of stall, tie up horse, pick up feet, talk about markings etc, walk and trot around, put back in stall. Easy! I expect to pass this one no problem!

Today: Sheep. There is a sheep farm on campus (hidden back along somewhere) and it extends all along the hills around near the school. We worked with the fat lambs (meat lambs) and then some breeding ewes. By the way, I have to measure everything in kilo's. I am working on this and have learned that 1 kg is approx. 2.2 lbs. The biggest ewe there, a suffolk, weighed nearly 100 kg or about 220 lbs or, as I try to think about things that relate, about the same weight as my brother running around on all fours.
<-- She's much smaller, but this is the breed.
I didn't rump that one, but I did rump some smaller mule ewes (crosses) that were about 70 kg (or 154 lbs- more than me, I weigh about 60 kg). I did get to practice on the lambs that were much easier and know I can say that I can rump sheep right and not like how I 'learned' on State...

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