Month: March 2012

Posted on by

Stillborn piglet dissection

Stillborn piglet external view
Stillborn piglets make an excellent alternative to rats for dissection

This little piggy is the latest and greatest in whole animal dissection specimens.   They are either stillborn from large litters or smothered by the sow in the stall and come from a farm breeding pigs for meat.  They are usually disposed of as farm waste but we are collecting them and diverting them from the waste stream for dissection.  They are less smelly, cheaper, closer to human anatomy than a rat and aren’t being bred just to be euthanased for science, so each piglet used in the classroom represents a rat that hasn’t had to be put down.

Each piglet typically weighs 600-800g. The piglets are collected and frozen without any chemical preservatives which reduces your chemical exposure in the lab as well as eliminating a source of exposure to the kids in the classroom. It also makes the piglets safe to dispose of in landfill with other normal waste.

piglet dissection internal view
The organs of the stillborn piglet are clean and clearly identifiable

As they generally have not yet fed or only briefly suckled, the intestinal tract is pretty clean and there is little smell to the specimen.  Each organ can easily be identified and removed for further exploration.

piglet dissection internal closeup
Closeup view of the piglet urogenital system

The detail in the circulatory system of the piglets is particularly amazing. You can see in the photo above the veins and arteries of the urogenital system clearly visible.  Once the overlying organs were taken out, the spine was visible and a section could be removed to allow the spinal cord to be seen.

There is a lot more that can be explored with these specimens and we will be spending a lot of time working on them so we can develop some really good resources to allow you to get more bang for your buck.  In the meantime keep an eye out for workshop announcements that will give you the chance to get your hands on one.  We are expecting to be able to bring them to you at ConQEST 2012, if not before.

See you there,

Miss Vivi

 

Posted on by

Oh what a feeling: the Toyota ad with the glass organs

I loved this Toyota ad showing glass artists making an entire person out of glass immediately. It combines two of my favourite things in the world – glass and science. The ad isn’t being played on TV anymore, which is a shame. Compared to most car company advertisements it is quiet and classy and beautiful instead of being loud and brash and blokey. The delicacy of the glass organs evokes all the frailty and beauty of the human body. A masterpiece.

Miss Vivi
ps. don’t forget there’s only a couple of weeks left to enter the t-shirt competition, so get writing and send in your top tip for a labbie.

Posted on by

Every family needs a farmer

gympie beef and bean farm
Our neighbour grows beef and beans. This is the view of his farm from our back verandah.

It’s the Australian Year of the Farmer – and every family needs a farmer.  This family in particular needs farmers.

We live in the country.  Our property is surrounded by beef, dairy, macadamia, banana, deer and small crops farms.  Slowly but surely these farms are dwindling in size and variety as town moves out and the career farmers move on.  A local abattoir has recently closed and properties running a few pigs and cattle are now left without a nearby facility to have them slaughtered for their family meat.  Their choice, now, is to pay to have them transported over a longer distance to another abattoir, hire an on-farm butcher to come and do the job on the property or not bother growing their own meat.

If I hadn’t moved to Gympie Dissection Connection would not exist.  That’s no exaggeration.  Gympie is in the perfect geographical position to get good quality stock, get it packaged and get it on the road – and this is where I met Mr Vivi ♥  The closure of small and medium sized abattoirs threatens our ability to source good specimens for you.  You know how difficult it is to get stock out of the really big export abattoirs and that’s because they are under much more pressure to produce more meat in less time in order to remain viable as a business.

Since I started the business we have been buying almost all of our meat from local butchers and I can tell you the quality is head and shoulders above the meat I used to buy at the big supermarkets.  Home smoked bacon and ham, handmade sausages, t-bones from a beast that came from a local farm that the butcher could give me directions to if I wanted to visit, duck dressed at the abattoir and cooked in my kitchen on the same day – there’s nothing quite like it. And the value for money at the butcher is incredible.  We often buy a quarter of a beast or an entire pig and share it with another family.  Where else are you going to get Black Angus beef t-bones or free range shoulder ham on the bone for about $6.00/kg?

When you buy specimens from Dissection Connection you are keeping countless numbers of families afloat.  The meat industry supports Mr Vivi and I, the growers, the butchers, truck drivers, slaughtermen, admin staff, cleaners, electricians, plumbers, engineers and even the public servants that regulate the industry – just to name a few.

Abattoirs keep small towns alive.  They provide full time employment, apprenticeships and traineeships for people that would otherwise have to move to the city.  They bring people to regional towns that would otherwise not be able to grow and thrive.  And they keep you in meat for the barbecue.

Every family needs a farmer.  Every family.  When you buy specimens from us you are are buying 100% home grown Australian produce – not specimens chemically treated and imported from America.  Well done you!  Now – how about going one step further and grabbing some meat from the local butcher and having a barbecue with your mates this weekend?

Miss Vivi

ps. there are some great classroom resources on the Australian Year of the Farmer website

 

seven days without beef makes one weak
Australian beef growers bumper sticker on a ute I pulled up behind at the servo. The man in the background is the beef grower.