Open House '99
This year the Minnesota Veterinary College Open House was held on April 11th. The weather was cloudy, a little chilly, and drizzly at times. Despite the weather, there was still a good turnout of people. My mom figures there were at least a couple hundred people stopping by my goat display. I had my goat display set up again, although it wasn't as big as it's been in past years. I've been very busy since last June and just didn't have as much time to put into it. This is the fourth year I've had it down there. The first two years Leah Maher & I did it together, but she's had other things going on and it hasn't worked out for her to do it this year or last year. I didn't sit at my table a lot this year, because I wanted to look around, tour the vet hospital and go to the seminars about getting into the DVM program and things like that. I hadn't been able to check out all of the other things going on the last three years because I've been occupied with my goat display. My mom sat at the table most of the time this year, so I was able to look around (thanks Mom!).
Daubert's baby goats were a big hit this year, like they are every year. There was always a crowd around the goat pen. The fistulated and painted cows weren't on display this year, but there were a couple lambs, some piglets, a calf, and the usual llamas and horses. Throughout the day various demonstrations were given; including goat milking (of course!), horse shoeing, llama packing, dog agility, and a Percheron (draft horse) presentation. There were two seminars given, one was "Admission to the DVM Program" and the other was "A Glimpse Into Vet Student Life," which was a student panel from all CVM (College of Veterinary Medicine) classes. I attended both, and they were interesting. I never got over to the Raptor Center, but according to the info sheet I have on the open house, there were bird exhibits, a falconry booth, and tours of the raptor clinic and surgery. I'll have to try and get over there next year. There were over 50 exhibitors/booths at the open house, ranging from the college's Zoo, Exotics, & Wildlife (ZEW) club, to animals shelters, Purina, and many others. The sheep, goat, & llama club had t-shirts this year and I found a great t-shirt at the SCAVMA (Student Chapter of the American Veterinary Medical Association) booth- The Top Ten Reason Why I Want To Be A Veterinarian. My mom bought me the vet shirt and Ann got me a sheep, goat, and llama club one (thanks!). Yes, I do want to be a veterinarian.
The best part of the day was seeing my friend Ann, who got there while I was on the tour of the vet school. The week before Ann had invited me to stay with her for a couple days after the open house, so after she arrived we packed up most of the display and my mom & sister headed home. Ann wanted to look at a couple things before we left. After we finished packing up the display and helped Dauberts pack up, we headed to Ann's house. I stayed with Ann until Wednesday and got to go to work with her at the vet clinic. Ann brought me home Wednesday afternoon, but things didn't stop there, they just got busier! Thursday I had to give a speech, which I hadn't yet written, at the Minnesota Conference on Adolescent Females about my mentoring experience (speech may be in a future issue of the GGG) and then my family left for our trip to New Mexico! I'm going to write about our trip and the many wonderful goat items I found in an upcoming issue of the GGG.
Pamela Peterson
Riverview-Ranch Alpines and various other critters
Cotton, MN
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