You Smell Like a Pig!

I have discovered today, that this is truly the worst insult anyone could ever give you. Today after a day of classes and a histology lab, we had a practical for handling pigs. They truly do smell terrible. As soon as we stepped onto the farm the smell was just revolting, and inside the pig enclosures, which are kept around 80 degrees Fahrenheit, we had to fight not to gag. Ugh.

The piglets were pretty cute, I have to admit, despite the fact that I will never want to be a pig farmer or pig veterinarian. It's just not for me. We vaccinated the little piggies today with a product called Circoflex, which basically protects the bacon precursors from something called "Pig Wasting Disease."

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Mama pig wonders what we're doing to
her babies
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Baby pigs suckling
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Me holding the bacon precursor,
post-vaccination
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After vaccinating the wee piggies, we trooped into a different pig enclosure where there were slightly bigger piggies who needed to be moved from one pen into another, so we used these ingenious devices called "pig boards," which are basically what they sound like: pieces of wood you use to push the porkers wherever you want them to go.

After doing this, which was pretty easy, albeit smelly, we proceeded to the big barn, where we met the large sows and boars. This is the breeding arena, basically, and there were different pens full of 10 or so sows each who had been "serviced" twice already that day, and were due for another servicing later that same day. The boars, who had pens all to themselves, were just lazing about waiting for their next big moment. What a life, eh?

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Sows
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The Boar
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So that was pretty much our day with the piggies. We went back on the bus, and I immediately took a shower before dinner, but even now I can still smell the pig. I feel like the smell settled in my lungs and every time I breath I can feel it. Ugh. It's just one of those smells that seeps into everything, and follows you around everywhere. Gross.

So moral of the story: If anyone ever tells you that you smell like a pig, slap them!

OR go wash yourself, you filthy animal! :)