Our reporters Chen Chen, Zhang Sijie, Li Yanan
Lu Ye, a 27-year-old female veterinarian, originally dreamed of becoming a doctor.
During the college entrance examination, her first choice was clinical medicine, but she was transferred to veterinary medicine "bewildered".
The difference between the words, the object of work and the environment are worlds apart.
Under the scorching sun in July, she and her colleague Wang Yingying put on thick protective clothing and got into the sheepfold with gloves.
One person hugged the sheep's head, the other quickly plunged the needle into the sheep's neck, and the bright red blood was instantly injected into the blood collection tube.
"Sampling back for a serum test to check whether the sheep is sick." After drawing the blood, Lu Ye touched the sheep's head, ignoring the pungent smell.
"Sheep, like a child, have to be coaxed."
In Qianyang County, Shaanxi Province, located in the dry plateau of Weibei Province, Lu Ye and Wang Yingying are the youngest two of the eight female veterinarians in the county animal husbandry and veterinary station, and they are also "golden partners" who often go to the countryside together.
All day long with pigs, cattle, sheep, chickens, ducks and geese, the work is dirty and tiring in the eyes of others, but the two girls are suffering and enjoying it.
"It is honorable and romantic to protect the health of animals in the county," said Wang Yingying.
From the laboratory to the sheep pen and the cowshed
Animals are speechless. In addition to enduring fishy, stinky, and stinky diseases, the most difficult thing is how to quickly and accurately grasp the disease.
"Although many cattle and sheep now wear ear tags and have medical records, they can't self-report symptoms like people. This depends on the veterinarian's eyesight, experience and skills." Lu Ye said.
Look and hear, ask the farmers how they feed them, and observe the typical clinical manifestations of the diseased body... Before the knowledge learned in these books can be used, the first thing veterinarians need to learn is how to protect themselves from harm.
Many veterinarians who are new to the profession have encountered the experience of being kicked by sheep and cattle.
Learning from the "painful" lessons of their colleagues, Wang Yingying and Lu Ye slowly figured out how to communicate with animals through practice.
"First observe the state of the animal group. When diagnosing an abnormal individual, we will appease it, such as stroking along the head to make it in a relaxed state. When encountering an individual in a poor state, sometimes we need everyone's help, using ' Baoding' technology will fix it." Wang Yingying said, in fact, sometimes animals also understand human nature, "if you are good to it, it will be more compatible with your diagnosis and treatment."
Different from people's imagination that "when an animal is sick, the veterinarian will carry the medicine box and go to the doctor", with the gradual trend of large-scale breeding, the development idea of veterinary medicine has also changed from treatment-oriented to prevention-oriented.
"Once a major disease occurs in an animal, such as highly pathogenic avian influenza, African swine fever, etc., there is no cure, and it can only be culled in a centralized manner. If it cannot be controlled, it will cause huge losses to the livestock and poultry breeding industry." Wang Yingying said that her main job responsibility is to do a good job in the prevention and control of animal diseases.
Qianyang is a county with a large animal husbandry industry, and there are 220,000 dairy goats alone.
In order to build a "firewall" for the treatment of livestock and poultry, Wang Yingying and Lu Ye's work schedule for the year is full: vaccinate all livestock and poultry in the spring and autumn, and conduct centralized immunization, January, May and September. Focus on programmatic immunization of dairy cows, and continue to carry out monitoring of brucellosis in dairy goats throughout the year.
From spring to winter, from the laboratory to the chicken coop, sheep pen and cowshed, they have little time to spare.
Similar to the need to conduct epidemiological investigations when an epidemic occurs in human society, "dispatch" is also an important part of Wang Yingying and Lu Ye's work.
Once cases of rabies, foot-and-mouth disease, brucellosis, etc. appear in the jurisdiction, they will immediately go to the village and go to the household for special circulation.
If the epidemic occurs in the surrounding areas, they should also quickly carry out emergency circulation, design protective measures for livestock and poultry in the jurisdiction, and cut off the chain of transmission in time.
Danger and tension are also the daily life of veterinarians.
Some diseases are zoonotic, and work requires "full armor" and thick protective clothing.
Walking into the laboratory of Qianyang County Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Workstation, there are piles of thick animal and poultry epidemiological investigation materials, which condense the efforts of veterinarians.
Opened one of the files of the dairy goat farm, from milk production, feeding methods to serum test results, vaccine injection time, dozens of items were classified and recorded in detail.
Wang Yingying said that the medical files of animals are treasures to her.
"Get closer to animals and feel at ease"
"A girl, why do you have to do this dirty and tiring job? Isn't it bad to change careers?"
34-year-old Wang Yingying has lost count of how many people have asked such a question.
Different from Lu Ye, who entered the veterinary clinic with a crooked fight, Wang Yingying had an idyllic dream since she was a child.
"When I was a child, I saw veterinarians treat cattle and sheep in the village, and I found it very interesting. When I was in the college entrance examination, my first choice was animal science and pharmaceutical engineering, and the graduate student went on to study animal medicine and preventive veterinary medicine."
After graduating from Xinjiang Agricultural University with a master's degree in 2013, Wang Yingying returned to her hometown of Weinan City, Shaanxi Province.
Since then, due to institutional reforms, she was adjusted to an administrative position.
Friends all said, "It's easy now", but Wang Yingying was anxious: "It's a pity to throw away the professional! If you don't stay with animals, what kind of veterinarian would you call him?"
In 2018, through the high-level talent introduction plan, Wang Yingying came to Qianyang County, which is more than 200 kilometers away from her hometown, to resume her old business.
"As a veterinarian, you should be close to animals and feel at ease," she said.
Wang Yingying's dedication to work has gradually resolved the confusion of her relatives and friends.
After graduating from Northwest University for Nationalities in 2018, Lu Ye worked as a veterinarian in Xi'an, worked in sales, went around, and finally returned to his hometown to start his own business.
"Girls can't be veterinarians without love. In the end, they still can't give up." Lu Ye recalled.
To be a veterinarian in the county, in addition to improving the professional level, how to integrate with the masses and become a "famous doctor" trusted by farmers is also a difficult problem that these young female veterinarians need to face.
"When I first started working, I spoke a lot of professional terms that the farmers couldn't understand, so I was anxious." Talking about the past, Lu Ye couldn't help but laugh.
In the process of following the seniors of the unit to the countryside, Lu Ye learned to "shut your mouth and open your eyes" first, listen to the farmers' demands, and observe how the teachers communicate with the villagers.
"There must be affinity. For example, when doing a flow adjustment, it has to be translated into 'understanding the situation' so that the masses can understand it."
The arrival of the two young people has also injected a new wind into the Qianyang County Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Workstation, which has an aging staff structure.
Since the end of last year, the epidemic situation in some parts of Shaanxi has been repeated, and it is difficult for staff to go to the countryside to carry out work.
Lu Ye and Wang Yingying worked together to set up the public account of "Qianyang County Dairy Goat Smart Service", and directly wrote popular science articles.
The technical points of livestock and poultry epidemic prevention in summer, the prevention and treatment of infectious conjunctival keratitis in dairy goats, and the common causes and prevention of diarrhea in lambs... Each article is concise and full of dry goods.
"The title of teacher is heavy"
In January this year, during the lambing period of dairy goats, more than 50 lambs from two farms in Qianyang County developed diarrhea of unknown origin.
After receiving the "emergency registration", Wang Yingying and Lu Ye quickly "went out".
After excluding major epidemic diseases, they found that due to concerns about the freezing of lambs, the farms were not properly ventilated, and the farmers were frequently replaced, and the epidemic prevention measures were not in place.
"This is a deviation from the breeding concept. To prevent disease, it is necessary not only to keep warm, but also to strengthen ventilation, as long as the bedding in the sheep barn is thick." Lu Ye analyzed.
With their help, it didn't take long for the problem to be solved, and the farmer called and thanked him continuously.
"We are happiest when we are recognized by the masses," Lu Ye said.
Engaged in veterinary work for nearly 10 years, Wang Yingying has experienced the changes in the breeding industry.
"For example, dairy goats used to be free-range, and some farmers just raised a few against the walls, and the environment was dirty and smelly. Now they are all farmed on a large scale, and some small farms also have mobile sheep sheds for cleaning and management. It's easy to get up," she said.
With the advancement of the reform of the veterinary management system, the work functions of grass-roots veterinarians are also changing.
Li Weidong, head of the Qianyang County Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Workstation, introduced that the county-level veterinary station has changed from focusing on diagnosis and treatment operations to focusing on disease prevention and control, animal husbandry technology promotion and industry supervision.
Compared with the work of the predecessors, Wang Yingying and her colleagues have a heavier burden on their shoulders.
They must not only ensure the safety of animals in the county, but also ensure the quality and safety of livestock and poultry products.
"We have to conduct regular inspections on these farms that run on the ground and swim in the water. Filling in the breeding files, whether there is a quarantine certificate for the transportation of livestock and poultry, and whether the source of the input is normal, etc., are all among our inspections." Wang Yingying said.
What makes Wang Yingying and Lu Ye most proud of in the past few years is that there has been no major epidemic or food safety problem in Qianyang County.
Through their technical guidance, some farmers have also increased livestock and poultry production and increased their income.
"In the past, a few people had prejudice against the veterinary profession. Now, more and more people are beginning to recognize and respect this profession." Lu Ye said, now, fellow villagers will call them teachers, "This title is heavy."
Although they are still young, Wang Yingying and Lu Ye are determined to take root at the grassroots level.
"There are several old party members in the station who have been working for half their lives and have become friends with many farmers. I also want to be like them." Lu Ye said.
(Participating in the writing: Zhang Jian)