u/SureDoubt3956

So, while I'm reading that the 'gold standard' recommendation is to pay a lab for necropsies, the farm I work for is old school mentality and doesn't want to pay for that. However, I'm sick of having mystery deaths on the farm that we never figure out; I would say our death rate is relatively low %, but whenever a death happens, it's a total mystery and very sudden. Because of this, I'm considering learning how to do necropsies.

Good idea, bad? What do I need, besides a scalpel, PPE, cleaning supplies, and a dedicated space? Where is the best place to learn goat anatomy/commonly found diseases? Is there an online resource or a book for this I can get? I found this procedure guide, but as a novice, I'd really like a diagnostic guide.

http://goatdocs.ansci.cornell.edu/CSGSymposium/DigitalFarmerNecropsyExamSheepWForm.pdf

Title. Speaking as someone who is a frequent library user, but has not participated in any with an athletic partnership program. I'm wondering how these programs work? How do the partnerships form, how do you go about acquiring funding, backend things like insurance, etc? Does anyone have any idea of where I could find, like, how this works from the perspective of someone who possibly would want to get such a thing going in their community?

thank you.

Hello. I have a PDF I want to translate from Finnish to English. I can highlight the text and right click with my browser function of course, but I would like to translate the entire pdf and re-save it as a pdf. Is there a way, or an app, that allows me to do this?

Thank you.

Currently chugging through this 400 page textbook and got to this section on stereotypic horses. I thought it was interesting so I wanted to share.

> In traditional equestrian training based on negative reinforcement, the horse is required to maintain a behaviour, ‘keep going’ (i.e. if signalled to trot, it must keep trotting until signalled to do something else). It is possible that there is an element of the unreinforced process of perseveration in maintaining certain responses in horse‐training. Perseveration is the term used to describe the behaviours of animals that continue to offer a trained response, even when it no longer yields rewards.

> It is recognised as a feature of stereotypic birds and rodents (Garner and Mason, 2002), but more recently has been reported in horses (Hemmings et al., 2007; Roberts et al., 2015). Interestingly, the studies have found that crib‐biting horses displayed a bias towards habitual response patterns, even in the context of minimal training. Roberts et al. (2015) reported that stereotypic horses (both crib‐biters and weavers) acquired an initial response faster than non‐stereotypic control horses, whereas Hemmings et al. (2007) did not find a significant difference between crib‐biters and non‐stereotypic controls in response acquisition. However, both studies concluded that crib‐biters required significantly more unreinforced trials before the previously learned response was extinguished. This resistance to extinction may potentially be beneficial in traditional horse‐ training based on negative reinforcement, and trainers rarely dislike stereotypic horses for reasons other than management problems.

> That said, it should be noted that the equine studies in this domain have positively reinforced subjects for pressing levers, so there is a need for caution when applying these findings to the ridden horse that is trained almost exclusively with negative reinforcement. The basal ganglia are implicated not only in stress but also in stereotypic behaviours and alterations in learning. Inside the basal ganglia, the striatum filters and relays information to and from cortical structures and is integral in motivation, action and learning. Chronic stress has been shown to alter dopaminergic modulation of the striatum. For example, crib‐biting horses have been reported with significantly higher receptor subtypes in regions of the basal ganglia associated with reward (the nucleus accumbens) and significantly lower numbers of receptors in the basal ganglia region known as the caudatus, the tissue involved in determining action and outcome (McBride and Hemmings, 2005). In rats, inactivation of the dorsomedial striatum impairs both reversal learning and strategy switching and is, thus, implicated in the perseverance of behaviours, including stereotypies (Ragozzino, 2007).

> In horses, there appears to be a difference relating to the type of stereotypy displayed: horses with an oral stereotypy (crib‐biting) acquired habitual response patterns (i.e. they performed significantly more operant responses during an extinction phase, where the response was unrewarded) compared to horses with a locomotor stereotypy, such as weaving, and non‐stereotypic controls (Roberts et al., 2015).

Our fencing is mostly pretty good, but I have one escape artist doe who can get out of a very specific section of fencing in a paddock along that's maybe 12' in length. Due to various constraints, the fencing cannot be made taller or altered in conventional ways (adding more wire, electric, etc) for several years. We have been keeping her contained, but I'd really like her in this one particular paddock if possible, since it's a dry lot.

Due to this, i've been looking ways I can possibly modify the fencing with the limitations I have. I've found out about how coyote rollers exist. Has anyone tried these on their farm? If so, are they good at keeping the goats from hopping the fence?

I have learned this can be a problem for a lot of mustangs, when going from out west to, say, where I am in the southeast. We have lots of bugs, higher parasite load, high heat and humidity levels, and wet ground. Do any of you have experience with certain populations which may adapt better to these conditions? If so, which HMAs were they from? Did they seem like a general HMA population thing, or an individual thing? etc.