The UNL Husker Mobile Beef Lab will be in Burwell on Wednesday, May 2 at Big Red Feeds. This is no ordinary lab as it contains a live steer with a hole big enough to reach an arm into. The steer underwent surgery when it was ten months old. To create the hole in the side of the calf the area was numbed, a hole cut into the hide and after the muscle was teased apart, a rubber donut looking fistula was inserted into the hole. As the wound healed muscles sealed the area holding it in place. When the steer is not being used for the lab a rubber plug is put into the opening to keep the steer from dehydrating. In the past students and people have had opportunity to put on a glove and reach into the cow to rub the sides and bottom of the cows stomach.
The mobile beef lab helps students and communities get a feel for how biology and chemistry are linked.
