India Ink: Can We Ride The Ostriches?

Tuesday 6/26/12

In the morning, we went into the lab to get more information and get some experience with PCR and elisas. We split into two groups – one went to the Brucellosis/Tuberculosis (B/TB) lab and one went to the Newcastle lab. I was in the Newcastle group, so we worked on extracting DNA for a PCR that was going to be run in the afternoon.

When we were headed to our van to drive home, Daryl was pulled aside by a man with tea in his hand, so we thought he was a legit guy from the vet school. He didn’t know English, so he told us to come with him and he was going to show us. Daryl must have thought he was saying “Dean” because that’s where he took us – to the Dean’s office. He had us all put our names on a piece of paper. Everyone around was laughing at us, and I know they spoke English better than him, but no one was saying anything. Daryl asked for tea, but then he tried to charge us so we didn’t get it. When the dean walked by, he didn’t even acknowledge us. Apparently, the Dean did not need to see us, so we had no clue why we were being held by some strange man who worked there. We had to call our professor to come save us because he wouldn’t let us leave. Being abducted in a foreign country? Check.

In the afternoon, the B/TB lab didn’t have any more samples to run and our professor was super busy, so we stayed around the Hostel.

Wednesday 6/27/12

Wednesday morning we went into the lab for a lecture about Rabies. Since we don’t have much rabies in the US in our pets anymore, they had some videos to show us that we wouldn’t see in the US. We then reviewed our B/TB data, planned how to put our presentations together, and listened to another lecture on alternative forms of milk. From the research, they found many different things being added to milk to get better prices or make it cheaper for themselves. That lecture made me realize that I never want to drink the milk in India!!

After lunch, we travelled to a peripheral vet clinic that is associated with the TANUVAS veterinary college. We visited various farmers and their farms, interviewing them for our economic losses of mastitis project. Two of the people from the B/TB lab had to come with us as our translators because none of the farmers spoke any English. It was frustrating because it took a very long time due to issues with translation and understanding.

A crowd of cows.

Some of the farms had 100+ cows!

I just love these cows!

Thursday 6/28/12

The entire day of Thursday was spent traveling to and visiting the Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVK) farm. This farm is set up as an example for farmers in the area. This is the same farm we started at for the chicken collections, but this time we actually got to see the other animals. We saw cattle, water buffalo, goats, sheep, pigs, and ostriches. This is the only larger-scale ostrich farm in India. They were huge! And we got to pet them! We didn’t get to ride them, however, because they are not considered tame yet and are still pretty wild. Bummer! For lunch, we had a variety of Indian rice and other side dishes, which were all way too spicy for me. We had rabbit and pork as well. I actually did try the rabbit, but it was way too chewy for me, too spicy, and when I ran into a who-knows-what bone, I was done. Then the girl next to me got a liver and I was definitely done eating the rabbit. One bite was sufficient to know that it’s not going to be my favorite meat! In the afternoon we collected milk samples for the B/TB project and then headed back to the hostel.