In keeping with the Harris blog eclectic content, I knew you'd want to stay abreast of the latest in veterinary technology, the haptic cow.“With this technology, students can feel something that feels like the inside of a real cow, but I or another instructor can be following their movements on a monitor,” said Baillie, who teaches at the Royal Veterinary College in London. “This means we can say, ‘Come back a bit or go left a bit.’ It actually means you can direct them.”One of my favorite parts of All Creatures Great And Small was the story of the farmer brothers having to rotate the cow while the vet held on to the calf inside, so as to untwist the uterus. Not sure if this is one of the options on virtual Bessie, but perhaps there is an iPhone app coming up for it.
Not only can professors follow a student’s exact movements and critique the technique, but they can also keep track of how much force is being applied. If a fledgling vet gets too rough and exceeds the number of Newtons considered safe by experienced vets, virtual Bessie will belt out a cautionary “Moo-oo!”
Maybe Keith will eventually be able to pursue his cow raising ambitions. Good to know this kind of emerging technology will be there.
1 comment:
As self educated future cattleman I am aware arm insertion may be neccesary at some point. My plan conviently avoids this till I have become more familiar with cows from the outside. I am not sure this educational aid would change my plan. I always think of this guy at the stock sale whose job it is to verify the sale of "bred Heifers" this internal inspection is necessary for as many as 275 head per sale, a long day for him.
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