Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 143 Reciting from the Text
After waving goodbye and leaving the restaurant, the cold air rushed into his neck, causing Chen Fan to shiver and shrink his neck inward.

He looked up at the sky and saw large snowflakes falling to the ground. He quickly put on his straw hat and raincoat before stepping into the snowstorm.

However, instead of going back, he went to the veterinary station.

Since we're already at the commune, we might as well go and see if we can gain some experience, at least to make up for what we lost yesterday.

I couldn't activate my veterinary skills yesterday because I didn't treat the foal myself, which is a huge loss.

Upon entering the veterinary station, the mournful cries of livestock could still be heard from behind, as if the large animals here had never stopped coming.

Upon reaching the backyard, they saw Station Chief Zhou and others in the livestock shed, looking helplessly at a large water buffalo.

Station Chief Zhou and the others heard footsteps, turned around and saw him. They were overjoyed and immediately shouted, "Master Chen, you've come at the right time! Take a look and see what's wrong with this cow?"

Chen Fan was taken aback. Could it be such a coincidence? There were always patients every time he came?

And as soon as I arrived, they called out to me, asking if there was anything wrong with it.
At this moment, he seemed to understand why the leaders of the production team attached so much importance to veterinarians. When livestock got sick, there was no veterinarian to treat them, so they had to be brought to the commune's veterinary station. The long distance and difficult transportation were minor issues; the real problem was that the disease was delayed, and minor illnesses could turn into major illnesses, and major illnesses into serious illnesses. That was when all hope was lost.

Chen Fan didn't waste any time and walked over to look at the listless water buffalo lying on the ground.

Water buffalo were originally the main livestock of the production team, and their priority was the first. They would never grow to be thin, let alone very strong.

The water buffalo in front of us not only had sunken eyes and looked weak, but its ribs were also clearly visible, which was very abnormal.

Chen Fan squatted down in front of the water buffalo and called out softly a few times, but it didn't respond at all. He frowned and carefully observed its condition.

Station Chief Zhou stood to the side, bent down, and asked in a low voice, "How's it going? Any leads?"

The people around him were also watching him expectantly, their nervousness almost written on their faces.

Chen Fan turned to look at him, frowned, and said, "I need to check the book, but I brought it all home."

Station Chief Zhou immediately replied, "We still have more here. The ones we gave you were all in multiples. The veterinary station's archives have copies, and there are also single-volume periodicals."

Chen Fan stood up and asked, "Where?"

Station Chief Zhou immediately led him inside, saying with a wry smile, "There are plenty of books in the archives, but none of them are readable. The most educated among us is Dr. Wang, but he only has a junior high school education. Without a teacher to guide him, he only has a superficial understanding of many things and can't even read the language. How can we dare to prescribe medicine according to his prescriptions?!"

Chen Fan pursed his lips, unsure of what to say.

A doctor in his twenties standing nearby, the same doctor who treated the mule yesterday, introduced himself with great honor, "Hello, Master Chen, I am Wang Shiping. I hope you will give me your guidance in the future."

Chen Fan's lips twitched slightly, and he quickly said, "No, no, I'm just an amateur. I should be asking for your help."

Wang Shiping sighed and said with a wry smile, "We only have some old methods and experience. We're not as educated as you. This little bit of knowledge probably won't be enough for you to learn in two months. Once you come here, attend the training course, and get your rural veterinarian certificate, then it will be our turn to ask you for advice!"

Chen Fan gave an awkward laugh, speechless.

He now understands that the standards for village doctors are low, and the standards for village veterinarians are even lower. As long as you dare to deal with livestock and memorize some symptom treatment methods, you can pass the exam and become a veterinarian.

As for so-called experience, it means that adjusting the dosage or combining several prescriptions can achieve better results.

Why couldn't the previous production team trainees pass the test on something so simple? Chen Fan could only express his incomprehension.

They quickly arrived at the archives. Chen Fan skipped over the books he had already read and began searching for information related to cattle. However, after searching for a while, he couldn't find any cases similar to this particular cow.

At this moment, Station Chief Zhou suddenly said, "This is the third cow this year. Last time when it snowed heavily, two cows had the same symptoms. We tried many methods, but we still couldn't save them."

Upon hearing this, Chen Fan was stunned. A third head?
That's a high incidence rate.

Moreover, it snowed heavily last time, and it snowed heavily again this time. Could there be any connection between the two?
He hesitated for two seconds, put the book back in its original place, and then walked to the veterinary journal shelf, saying, "Station Chief Zhou, could you please take down all the latest journals and turn to the table of contents?"

The books contain established diseases, while the journals contain recent research findings. Since the books don't cover them, we can only try our luck in the journals.

Station Chief Zhou and several other doctors immediately set to work, moving all the journals to the ground and then opening them up to the table of contents.

Actually, there weren't many. There was only one kind of journal, namely "Jiangnan Agricultural Science" (purely fictional). This was an agricultural journal sponsored by the Jiangnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences and two universities. It was founded in 1955 and was published monthly, targeting all agricultural-related institutions in the province.

Similar magazines exist in almost every province, but their content varies.

Chen Fan skimmed through the books, starting with the most recent one. The first book he saw was titled "Buffalo Hypothermia".

He quickly picked up the magazine and opened it. After a moment, he looked at Station Chief Zhou and asked, "Are the cow's symptoms sluggishness and low body temperature?"

Station Chief Zhou's eyes immediately lit up with surprise, and he nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, that's it. Did you find it?"

Chen Fan handed the book to him and said seriously, "This says that this disease is called hypothermia in buffalo. It can occur all year round, but it is most concentrated between December and April of the following year, with the peak period being from February to April."

There are four main causes of the disease: wasting disease caused by ingesting moldy fodder, parasitic infection, natural physical decline due to age, and finally, overwork and poor feed. After heavy work, the oxen did not get adequate rest, and in winter they were only fed coarse straw…

Station Chief Zhou is over 50 years old, and the other three veterinarians are all around 30 years old, but at this moment they are all like primary school students, standing aside and listening attentively.

Chen Fan read it aloud and finally said, "Right now, we can only say that the symptoms are very similar to those of buffalo hypothermia. Whether it is or not, we will only know after the medication is administered."

He then began to read the prescription as suggested in the journal.

He is completely clueless about medicine now and is just reciting from the textbook.

However, Station Chief Zhou and his colleagues were experienced doctors who knew all kinds of commonly used herbs and Western medicines like the back of their hand. Every time Chen Fan read out a medicine name, they would take out one, and soon a pile of medicines was piled up on the table.

It not only has Western medicines for injection, but also herbs for decocting Chinese medicine soups.

Chen Fan didn't know how to inject, so he could only watch from the sidelines.

When the decoction was served, seeing that Station Chief Zhou and the others were about to feed it to the water buffalo, Chen Fan quickly said, "How about I give it a try?"

Although he didn't understand why, Station Master Zhou certainly wouldn't refuse such a small matter, and carefully guided him from the side.

Chen Fan carefully inserted the iron tube for feeding medicine into the water buffalo's mouth, saying to it, "Open your mouth and take the medicine, and you'll feel better after taking it."

The water buffalo finally let out a "moo" and opened its mouth.

Before the medicine could even be administered, Chen Fan received a notification that his experience points had skyrocketed. His veterinary skill experience points jumped to 10. He only needed to treat one or two more livestock to reach level 2.

(End of this chapter)