Not for the Faint of Heart

Wow. Did we ever participate in an unforgettable Lambing and Kidding workshop this weekend. A friend of ours recommended it to us because she knows how much our younger son loves animals.

I signed us up for it, not really knowing what it would entail. Though we were total fish out of water, seeing as we only own a dog and a cat and will probably not be caring for sheep and goats at any foreseeable time in the future, it was eye-opening.

While the first day was a lecture and question-answering day in the West Sound Community Center, the second day involved live hands-on demonstrations at Coffelt Farm in the morning, then an in-depth anatomy lesson in the barn after lunch.

I can imagine how informative the first day must have been for someone who raises animals. There were about 20 of us present, and many people had come from other islands to be there. Our visiting instructor, Dr. Susan Kerr of Washington State University Extension programs, seemed to know every biological, nutritional, chemical, pathogenic, and husbandry aspect important in the care of sheep and goats. Most of it was unfamiliar to me, so you can imagine how much my boys were able to glean. It was primarily a practice in politeness and respect, and they kept wondering (quietly) why in the world I would ever sign them up for two full days of a topic with no pertinence to our present lives. But I love doing things out of our comfort zones, and I can always think of plenty of reasons to stick with something even when it can almost seem absurdly unconnected to our daily rhythms.

We were even treated to a wonderful homemade Asian-themed chicken soup with rice noodles, dark greens, cilantro, and bean sprouts from Wild Island for lunch, which was all part of this free, grant-sponsored weekend. The boys happily partook in the cheese sticks, cookies, and chocolates spread on the table throughout the day, which helped soothe their qualms about being there.

I was holding on for Saturday’s part of the workshop in particular. It was emotionally trying to keep the boys in attendance with me to get to that point. You see, there aren’t many workshops that say on the flier, “Bring your own frozen deceased lamb/kid if you want to complete your own necropsy,” and that’s the part that sealed the deal for my RSVP. I had to check that out.

So on that second day, after demos in tagging a lamb’s ear, banding a scrotum, banding a tail, slitting under a lamb’s eyes that have been constantly irritated by eyelashes, and after being treated again to a beautiful rice bowl lunch by Wild Island, Susan began the dissections. Ooh, those items don’t all belong in one sentence; the sentence alone is a bit queasy.

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Observing Susan doing a necropsy (a surgical examination of a dead animal) was unlike anything I’ve ever watched and exponentially more experiential than my college anatomy course. There were several animals that had died of natural causes that were placed on tables in a circular fashion, and Susan began with a mother sheep who had died in labor, her baby’s hooves still sticking out of her back end. Susan opened her body and respectfully took us on a tour through every organ and part, starting with the uterus and her partially-born lamb. Whoa.

Go no further if you might feel squeamish

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After over an hour, Susan moved to the fully-developed calf still in a uterus, minus its deceased mother. Susan handed the job over to two of the workshop participants, who drained the fluids and peeled away the uterine “skin” to reveal a beautiful, perfectly-developed bull calf.

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In the meantime, Susan began opening the body cavity of a baby goat kid and explaining all of its perfect, new organs.

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It isn’t often that you experience inner anatomy up close, and I think the three of us were emotionally ready to go home as the workshop was wrapping up.

I was so impressed with everything on the whole, and that it was offered free to anyone who desired more knowledge about raising their animals properly. Most of the off-island people weren’t able to make it the second day, and I felt disappointed that they weren’t able to take full advantage of it. But I was doubly impressed that we non-ovine-and-caprine people were allowed to attend the whole thing.

A huge thank you to Dr. Susan Kerr, Angie Shephard (Ag Coordinator for WSU Extension in San Juan County), WSU Extension, Eric Lum and Kate Mikulak of Coffelt Farm, and Wild Island Organic Food and Juice Bar in Eastsound. I don’t think we’ll be forgetting this anytime soon.

As a parting thought, I decided that if I were ever stranded on a deserted island with a small group of strangers, I would choose a group of people like the ones who attended this workshop – they care about living creatures, they willingly work very hard, they have a broad range of experiences under their belt, they can handle all kinds of unusual situations under pressure, and they’re very genuine and down-to-earth.

All photos here are Copyright Edee Kulper. They were taken in a legitimate necropsy course. No animal was killed for the purpose of performing a necropsy, and all live animals were treated with respect.