Week 2- Erin Ramsay

Week 2 of FHF Kenya Adventure

Week two has been both busy & rewarding so far. We held a walk-in clinic which was a great success! We de-wormed a lot of cows and inadvertently ourselves in the process. Also we saw a number of individual sick cows that needed more attention and specific treatments. We saw so many ticks- I am still itchy. With the aid of Dif Quick stain we were able to more definitively diagnose a number of blood born parasites and implement treatment. The local womens group presented us with gifts for our work at the walk-in clinic- I received a necklace

This week we have a number of information seminars with local farmers. Except we are taking turns answering general questions from the farmers with the help of our peers and the daktari (Dr. VanLeeuwen). It is a lot more challenging than I thought it would be. Keeping answers simple and straight forward has been paying off (I did drop an a scientific name for a tick by accident). Also, it is a challenge to speak slowly since all of the subjects are really interesting/exciting. All of these in addition all the key facts! It is going to take some more practice.

It seems we are travelling a lot this week- which is excellent given the interesting landscape. This week we are staying in the fairly busy town of Meru. We are spending a lot of time travelling back and forth between Thubuku and Exlewa Dairies. This week a fair number of stalls were demolished & re-built to be more functional (IE the cows would actually choose to lie in them). Lets just say I saw a new side of my travel buddies... I like it.

This week we are travelling with three University of Nairobi vet students (Susan, Allan, and Joseph) they are fun to have along. They are an energetic bunch! On my birthday they told me it was a Kenyan tradition to surprise the birthday boy or girl with a splash of cold water and then wash them... I was a little worried for a day or so- they gave me a card instead :O). Very cool.

This week we saw two really well managed shambas. There is a lot of room for improvement for most and these farms are shinning encouraging examples of what can be achieved here. These farms were paying close attention to feeding high quality forage and appropriate minerals. The calves were being reared in appropriate housing with optimal nutrition. These shambas had stalls of the ideal length, width, as well as good placement of the brisket boards/neck rails for the size of the cows.

At the end of the week we took off for Meru National Park. There were no cows there... However, it was pretty cool to see Murray and Erika's reaction to the wild animals- that was definitely a highlight. It was nice to hang out with the entire FHF team. I was a little concerned that Murray was going to sign up to become a park warden and not return to Canada. We managed to get him back.

Well I think that is all for now. Until next time!

-ER