A bit more VWB

Hey Guys!

We are seeing and doing so much with VWB, that we have to just keep writing blogs about it. Our time is winding down with this organization, but we are so grateful to have been able to come to Uganda and have this experience. 

What the Ugandans lacked in handling facilities they more than made up for in hospitality. Here we are vaccinating for lumpy skin disease. 

After most calls we would be invited in to 'please take something.' Here I am drinking milk tea and eating bananas, something I did a heck of a lot of. The milk was always from the farm, and usually the bananas were from their plantation as well. 

Of course we did more drenching this week, were you thinking that was over? 

Right after our weekend in Bunyoni, we gave a producer talk to the 20 farmers in the Rushenyi cooperative. These farmers have formed a co-operative to help support each other. They have meetings to share knowledge, provide small business loans to members, and they collectively employ a veterinarian (Kwesiga). 

At the producer talk, Jared or I would make one of our points and Kwesiga would translate it into Runyankole. We talked about brucellosis, pasture management, tick control, mastitis and record-keeping. It was a pretty interesting experience, because we learned a lot about the impact of our talk after the fact. We couldn't understand a lot of the farmer's reactions, but apparently we had stimulated a lot of discussion about brucellosis. Many farmers did not know it was zoonotic, and when we explained how people can get it from drinking milk and eating meat from infected cattle, we really drove home the importance of trying to control and eventually eradicate it. 

We spent the week visiting the beautiful Ugandan countryside. We are still seeing emergency cases, doing afternoon rounds and teaching Kwesiga to palpate. 

At the end of this week, we traveled to Mbarara to demonstrate an epididymectomy surgery at one of the training farms. This is also known as a 'teaser bull surgery.' The goal is for one of the trainers to gain this skill, and then teaser bulls could be sold in the area to local farmers that are trying to improve their heat detection.  A sexually intact male bull is one of the best ways to detect a cow in heat, so this is why just the epididymides are removed. The bull will still have testicles and the testosterone that comes with them, and will still search for cows in heat. Without epididymides, the plumbing for sperm is simply interrupted, so he can't get anything pregnant. In order to advance the herd genetically, the cows will instead be impregnated with artificial insemination.

We started with some classroom work to review the anatomy and the surgical procedure. 

We had castrated some bulls the day before, so we brought the specimens for the students to get some hands-on experience before the real thing. 

Before we began the procedure on the live bull, Jared demonstrated how to give an epidural. This would only anesthetize the caudal 1/3 of the scrotum, so we topped it up with more local anesthetic into the ventral area of the testicles and scrotum. 

There is actually a bovine in the center of that circle. We had about 12 people watching the surgery, the more the merrier. 

Moving on to the second side after the first was sutured up. 

We had a great day, it was great to see how enthusiastic everyone was to learn a new skill. They also told us they would name the bull 'Jared' after this, as a memento. I guess it is better than being named after a steer?........ 

Here are some pictures of Rubaare town, where we were based out of. On the right is the vet pharmacy where we got a lot of the vaccines and dewormers that we used daily. One of the challenges we faced was availability of medications. There are so many things you either can't get here, or they are known to be so counterfeit that it isn't worth buying them. 

Another issue is the fact that farmers can walk in and buy pretty much anything. Without a veterinarian in the equation, animals are commonly mistreated with the wrong medications. If it was an antibiotic, that contributes to antibiotic resistance. The same goes for inappropriate use of tick controls (acaricides) and dewormers (anthelmintics). 

Our lunch spot that we went to most week days 

Pictures of the market, which was every Wednesday. It was a super chaotic place. They even sold cattle here in a soccer field, and they were all loose and running around. Madness. 

We are getting the full experience out here. Some things are super motivating, others are downright depressing. I am very grateful to be able to experience this all first hand. 

Until Next Time!