Across Yorkshire's moors and dales,
the world's most famous vets set the benchmark for animal care.
And James Herriot's legacy lives on.
His former trainee Peter Wright...
All my life, I've enjoyed doing this.
...has been a Yorkshire Vet... PETER LAUGHS
...for over 40 years.
There we are! How you doing, me old mate?
Peter's old partner Julian Norton...
Not quite the same as operating in theatre, is it?
I know.
...now has two practices...
I don't want to let him go.
...one of them in the town where Herriot worked,
surrounded by the North Yorkshire landscape he loved.
Everything that you can see, all across there, is Yorkshire.
And in the foothills of the Pennines...
That's a Hollywood smile!
...a new generation of town and country vets...
Ooh!
...also uphold the Herriot ethos.
I'm gonna feel a bit deeper inside to see what we've got.
Hey, hey! The teams are united...
Oh!
...and always determined to hit their target...
CHEERING
Yes!
...as they help animals of all shapes...
It's trying to grow an extra pair of legs.
...sizes...
Hello, gorgeous!
...types... Catch!
...and temperaments.
Now, don't be nasty.
It's definitely not glamourous...
Get that mucus out. ...but it's varied.
So, we've actually found gold, literally found gold.
It's rarely easy.
You've won Mr Wet T-Shirt.
But they continue the Herriot tradition...
It's alive. ...treating all creatures...
It's moving! I can't believe it.
...great...
PETER LAUGHS
Are you all right, little bird?
...and small. There we are, in.
Yay!
While times are always changing...
...one thing Yorkshire folk can rely on
is the weather remaining a complete unknown.
Hard rain falls.
And in the blowing wind,
the answer is usually to take shelter from the storm.
SHEEP BAA
But sometimes that's simply not possible.
Immediate travel can be the difference between life and death.
At the practice in Thirsk...
...Sue's just heard about a possible storm coming their way.
I've just had a phone call from Liz Cudlip,
and one of her bassets, she's been in labour for quite a while now.
She's been pushing and pushing and pushing,
getting really distressed and nothing's happening.
So, I've just now gotta go and let Julian know that she's coming down.
Be prepared.
She needs to get down here quick so we can sort it out.
Come on, babba.
For long-time clients like Liz...
Hiya, you all right?
...things have a habit of coming full circle.
You'll be fine.
So, her mum came here.
She was the first operation here,
which was Gina, and she was one of the puppies.
Are they all content? Yeah, they all seem brilliant.
Thank you very, very much. No, it's been good.
There's some flowers for your new opening.
Aw, thank you! That's very kind.
Our first patient. First customer, a happy customer.
Now Sapphire is expecting her own first litter.
But Liz isn't happy how things are progressing.
You just feel anxious and stuff and worried for her.
But Julian's a good vet, he'll look after you.
Liz? You all right?
Let's have a feel of your tummy. Good girl.
So, she's got a very round tummy. Er...
There's quite a few pups to feel in there.
There'll be a few, I think. But she's got...
Again, just like her mum, she's got that floppy feel inside.
You'll be fine, don't worry!
I think the flabbiness in there,
there's not any real contractions or movement going,
so if we're not careful, she'll get into that inertia situation.
Mm-hm. So we'll get them out.
Come on, Sapphire. We're going this way.
I'll give you a shout when we're done.
Look after her. I'm even getting a tear in my eye!
Right, the next patient.
Steady. Are you all right? Whee!
Right. OK.
Bassets have got really difficult legs,
but they've also handily got very big ears
so we can do the anaesthetic through here.
Nurse Amy knows it could be a dramatic afternoon...
In most operations we do,
there's only one patient to look after,
but in this one, there could be up to six or seven,
so, yeah, we've just got to be all hands on deck.
...and a steep learning curve for trainee nurse Sam.
So, have you not done a caesarean before?
Not properly, no.
I've only just watched, haven't we? But I've never been involved.
It's often chaos and panic.
It's always tense
cos there are quite a lot of things that can go wrong.
Brake's off? Yeah.
Right. Are we ready?
Gloves.
She all right? Yeah, yeah, she's fine.
This is actually the uterus. See how floppy that is? Yeah.
A normal uterus is much more muscular and sort of turgid,
so it's entirely the reason why she's not been progressing.
And her mum was exactly the same.
Right, I'm going in.
So, there's the first one.
What you'll need to do now is rub like billyo...
Yeah. ...and make sure it starts beating.
So, you can be... If you need Amy to give a bit of guidance...
So, literally just hold it down towards your feet.
Yeah, gravity's good. Just so the fluid drains out.
Then number two, welcome to the world.
They're quite blue, aren't they?
Which is usually a sign that the oxygen's been a bit depleted.
Sam, how's your pup? Still a little bit blue.
So, we're just trying to resuscitate the pups at the minute.
It's becoming a bit more of an urgent situation.
A Yorkshire vet often has to brave the elements.
And with it still raining cats and dogs in North Yorkshire,
Peter's heading out to see a sheep.
Just had a call from a client who I've known for many, many years.
And she's very concerned
because one of her pet sheep has something strange
round its mouth and muzzle,
so I don't quite know what I'm going to find,
but we'll soon find out.
Peter's friend Tracy...
You're not a happy chap this morning, are you? No?
...is more bothered about her boy Harry than the weather.
So, he's a castrated male sheep, and he's about eight year old,
and he has this horrible rash which is quite painful for him.
It obviously is very, very nasty.
His lips are very, very blistered and raw.
We've given Peter a call to see if he can come and work his magic.
Peter. Morning, Tracy.
You've brought some nice Yorkshire weather with you!
Beautiful, isn't it? Beautiful. Isn't it just?
Right, I understand you've got a problem with one of your family.
Sheep. Yes, poor Harry, he's not a very happy chap this morning.
Right. He's very blistered round his mouth.
It's obviously a little bit infected which was the worry.
Let's have a look. I'll go round and meet you.
Hmm. Now that looks nasty, Tracy, I've got to say.
It's not nice, is it?
Let's have a look at you, Harry.
Hmm, that's not very nice, is it? It isn't very nice at all.
And the flies are buzzing round.
Is anybody else affected?
Yes, we've got one or two that are just starting.
Right. Start... Right.
I've got a couple of the other sheep penned up
that seem to be showing little blisters
in the corner of their mouths.
I am concerned that what we've got there may be contagious,
may be contagious to humans as well, so I'll go and get organised.
Poor Harry. Mm.
Coming up...
I'm just giving it a bit of a... bit of a rumble.
...Matt gets physical to fix a cow's tummy trouble.
Sweaty work, but it'll be really rewarding if she comes round.
The sheep that got the cream.
Oh, do you like the taste of that, Harry?
And trying to save the puppies...
They're just not quite where we want them to be just yet.
...needs everyone's help.
So, we just need more pairs of hands.
Near Thirsk,
it isn't the awful weather dampening Peter's spirits -
it's Tracy's pet sheep, Harry.
If my lips were like that,
blistered and ulcerated and cracked, we'd soon know about it.
But he has worked out what's causing his unpleasant problem.
This is a condition called orf
which is very unusual to have in adults,
in just a small flock like this.
There's secondary infection there as well.
This will be quite sore for him. Let's get this into him.
He's having antibiotics.
He's going to have some pain killers as well.
Right, Mr Harry.
It's caused by a virus, a pox virus,
and you can get it yourselves if you've got cuts on your hands.
And I'm going to put some antiseptic cream on there.
This is a human antiseptic cream
that's very good for this sort of thing.
It's soothing and it will... will help.
Good lad. Come on.
There you are, little man.
Oh, do you like the taste of that, Harry?
Is it nice? Yeah! Honestly!
I tell you what, that'll make it feel better, though.
Right. Now, then, that should... Yeah.
That should settle him.
So, if I leave you some stuff... Yeah.
...would you give him some more painkillers
in two days' time and a bit more antibiotic? Yep.
As for the others... Yeah.
...just leave it to run its course?
Stick a bit of this on. Yep.
Ideally, if you can put a bit on once a day.
Yes, no problem. And that should sort it.
Within four or five days, he should be looking a lot better.
Yep. A lot better.
Well, Harry's not bothered about the rain, is he?
No. No.
I think his fleece is maybe more waterproof than my coat.
Well, and mine. This is supposed to be waterproof,
but I can feel already my shirt's sodden.
I was just going to say it's running nicely down the back of your leg.
Right, Harry.
Right. Any problems, let me know.
Yeah. Fabulous. Thank you very much, Peter.
Very good.
One thing about sheep, they have lovely coats on, full of lanolin,
and it turns water very well.
He'll just get on with it.
With his lovely coat that he's got on, he won't be feeling wet.
He'll just be saying, "What's all the fuss about?"
That's a good lad.
This has been quite stressful for the owner with the weather as it is,
particularly stressful for the vet who, as he gets older,
could be more of a fair-weather vet, I think it's fair to say.
SHEEP BAA
That's quite nice to see him a bit happier,
and hopefully, painkillers'll kick in and he'll be more comfortable.
Tracy's just invited me in for a cup of tea,
so it's a bit like the old days, really.
I've known Tracy a long time, and it'll be nice to sit down
and just have a cup of tea and a natter,
so that's my next job before I move on anywhere else.
Over at the Thirsk practice... There's another one coming.
There's another one.
...tensions are rising in theatre as Julian and Amy try to save
Sapphire the basset hound's puppies...
You all right, Sam? Yeah.
Are yours going?
...with the help of trainee nurse Sam.
So, these are just not quite the colour we want them to be
at the moment, they're not quite where we want them to be just yet.
Thankfully, owner Liz is unaware of the drama that's unfolding.
Anxious. It's just a waiting game, isn't it?
It's the horriblest bit of it all.
I've lost track of where we are.
There's four out there, and there's one in here,
and there's another one on its way, so we just need more pairs of hands.
Sam? Yeah?
There's another one. Can you grab Cathy?
With all hands needed on deck, Sue's come from reception.
I finished 15 minutes ago.
LAUGHS
We're still here cos we've gotta get these puppies going.
There we go! Also helping...
That is the last one.
...is vet Nikki.
Just keeping him in front of the oxygen.
We just have to keep an eye on them and just make sure they...
they don't sort of forget to breathe.
Is that all of them now, Amy?
Yeah. That's everybody out now.
I've just managed to finish sewing the uterus back together.
It's now just a question of cleaning everything up
and pushing it back in.
Are they OK out there?
SQUEAKING Yeah, we're getting there now.
We've just had a little squeak.
SQUEAKING
Oh, that's a good noise.
Last stitch now.
So far, it's been pretty successful.
Pups are alive and happy and mum's alive.
So, let's see the fruit of our labours.
Are they all all right? We're doing good now. Yeah.
Proud parents now!
You feel a bit like a parent, don't you?
Yeah. It's an achievement, isn't it? Yeah.
We'll check them for palates. That's the noisy one.
Yeah, we had a good look. SQUEAKING
Wow! Aw!
He says, "Dad! It's you!"
I'm not your real dad. PUPPY SQUEAKS
No, I'm not. I'm sorry about that. CHUCKLING
Welcome to Thirsk.
This is Thirsk's best air so make the most of it.
People travel all over the country
to get some of the Thirsk air, don't they?
And that's the first thing that you've breathed in.
I've not told Liz the good news,
but she'll be definitely happy when she finds out.
Do you wanna come and see them? Got some nice pups.
Yeah? Yeah.
And she's OK. She's doing good.
Hello, baby girl.
SQUEAKING Sorry! I'm sorry!
No, that's the noise we want. That's what we want.
That looks like a girl.
Boy. Boy.
Three of each!
They usually get stuff at the back of their throat, don't they?
So I suck it out and spit it out.
We don't mind, do we?
Helen, one of my colleagues down at Wetherby,
she puts 'em down her bra. Yeah.
Oh, yeah, she's done that as well. I've done that.
If I'd have been pulled up by the police, I'd have been like...
You could have shown the policeman your puppies.
THEY LAUGH
You'll have your hands full with these.
While Mum can take it easy for now...
What we can do is if we carry this like this... Will that work?
Just a sandbag to prop her head up.
Is that all right? Yeah, I'm fine.
Queen of Sheba.
...Liz faces a busy time back home.
It worked out well, really, in the end, didn't it?
Cheerio. Good luck!
And with luck having been on the team's side today...
Have you got any superstitions, Sue? Oh, yeah.
THEY LAUGH
...Julian and Eloise are starting to wonder...
Well, it's the usual, isn't it? Don't walk under ladders...
...if Sue had something to do with it.
But one of my most bizarre ones... Are you ready?
...is if I drop a spoon, right, I won't pick it up.
LAUGHING A spoon?
I've dropped a spoon in the...
How many spoons do you currently have on the floor of your house?
Well, none cos Louis will pick them up,
but if he's... when he was working away,
he'd come home, and if I had nobody else in the house, he'd find spoons.
If I dropped... Not that I drop a lot spoons!
Spoons all over the floor.
What happens if you pick the spoon up, then?
I don't know cos I've never done it.
So how do you know that bad things happen?
I don't know. It's one of those strange things, right?
I don't even know where it comes from,
right, but I heard it a long time ago.
Would it not work if you picked it up and put it in the washing bowl?
But then something bad might happen.
Well, maybe something good might happen,
like the spoon might get cleaned.
THEY LAUGH
Near Huddersfield...
...dairy farmer Sally is concerned about one of her herd.
Come on, darling. Come on, pet.
And she's waiting for Matt to arrive.
There's two things with this cow -
she's not been eating and her muck's off.
The second thing is her rumen - the cows have four stomachs,
the rumen is on this side...
...and it's gone extremely hollow.
She's just really quite unwell at the moment, so...
They were the alarm bells that we thought
we'd better get Matt to come and see what we can do with this cow.
And Matt already has a plan,
which involves a traditional method
that dates back to the days of James Herriot.
What we're gonna do is take some stomach content from one healthy cow
and move it into her in a process called transfaunation.
It contains all the gut microbes that they need,
and it contains all of the good bacteria
to hopefully really kick-start her and get that gut moving,
hopefully stimulate her appetite,
and it's one that, fingers crossed, it'll start an improvement.
Morning, Sally, you all right? How we doing, Matt?
Not bad, yourself? Yeah, not bad, thanks.
Let's see what the craic is. Get me gear. Lead the way.
For the start of this procedure, we need to pick a healthy cow
that's got no other problems going on,
and we've just found our candidate here.
She's fit and healthy, she's looking well,
she's got loads of content in her stomach,
so I'm just going to borrow a portion of that
for our patient today.
Right, let's give it a go.
Do you want me to get hold of her, or...?
I'll get hold of her and put it in. Then if you can hold it in and...
Yeah. ...I can advance it
and make sure we're going down t'right track. Come on, lass.
GRUNTS
So, I'm just feeling now. I'm just gonna advance the pipe.
Oh! Right in my eye.
Make sure it goes right down the right hole.
There we go. We're in the right hole.
So, you can feel the pipe going down past your hands here,
and it's just gently advancing everything.
I just wanna give that rumen a bit of a push.
Come on, lass.
Sweaty work, but it'll be good work,
and it'll be really rewarding if she comes round.
So, what I'm doing here is just getting everything moving a bit
so we can get the good juices out, so just giving it a bit of a rumble.
GRUNTS
If this doesn't work, then, unfortunately,
we might be out of options.
MOOING
Coming up...
They're cute.
...can Shona bring two cute but naughty donkeys into line?
They've just started squabbling. Right.
Lightning's having a go at Bobby. Lightning, steady on!
The weather's better, but is Harry's future bright?
Let me have a look. Let's have a look at you.
And hopping mad...
I don't know how you even do what you're doing!
...to raise money for rabbits. Oops!
LAUGHING
Oh!
Near Huddersfield...
Let's see how we do.
...Matt's performing a traditional procedure at Sally's dairy farm...
Good girl.
...using the stomach contents of a healthy cow
to try and save a sick one...
If it works, lass, you can have a badge.
A donor badge.
...known as transfaunation.
It's quite a tricky one.
So, what we need to do is just suck out some of her fluid
and the good bacteria that's there, and then we need to take it over
to the sick lady and tube that straight into her,
and hopefully, that'll really get that rumen turning over,
get that stomach kick-started
and hopefully start pushing us in the right direction.
Whoa! Look at all that good stuff there.
We call it liquor, but it's not liquor I'd want to drink
on a Saturday night, I know that much.
You happy? Yeah.
Lovely. There we go. Good girl. Look at the state of me!
Good girl. HE LAUGHS
Right, let's go get... Mrs Cow.
Get the little lady and we'll get her...
this pumped back into her.
Should have worn my waterproofs.
MOOING
This is the precious juice.
Don't... Whatever you do, don't spill that!
I'm quite used to this cow.
Are you all right if I go in and put the pipe down?
Yeah, indeed, you got that good relationship going on.
There you go. Thank you.
Come on, pet. Come on, darling.
Come on, lass.
That's it. Good girl.
We've got a good amount, it's nice and green,
it stinks, which is always good,
and so hopefully, it'll be just what the doctor ordered.
Or what the vet ordered. You happy for it to go down?
Yeah, fire away, I've got a feel on it.
Good girl, good girl.
We've got gurgling.
Ah, that's a good start. That is a good start.
Sally's just got the pipe well into the stomach now.
We've got a bit of gurgling, which is a good sign
things might be turning over,
so hopefully, this stuff might be just what she wants.
In we go.
Good girl, good girl.
Won't be a minute. Last bit, last little bit.
Right, just going to detach it, get the rest of that running.
There we go.
Are you happy with that? Yeah, let's get that out.
Ow, she just bit me!
HE LAUGHS Gratitude, eh?
Good girl.
That's it, yeah. Let's get her started on penicillin.
Let's go for a full week, and I'll re-check her on Monday.
Hopefully, that should have kick-started everything.
Sounds good. Thank you very much.
Right, well, I shall leave you to it.
Come on, pet.
Sally has a strong bond with her herd.
I've worked with cows all my life and I would never be without them.
It's the reason why I get up in a morning.
And Matt's hoping his transfaunation has transformed this girl's future.
Now, we've just got to wait and see.
It's up to her to start eating,
it's up to her to get things going herself
and all we can do is continue to provide her support,
and fingers crossed for the old girl.
At the practice in Wetherby...
Did he behave himself for you? Absolu... Whoo!
...there's always been a lot of love for rabbits.
Come here! Yeah, no, he's good, yeah.
Let's have a cuddle. KISSES
So practice director Nat, to raise money for a rabbit charity,
has got the whole team hopping.
LAUGHS
This week is Rabbit Awareness Week.
They are sort of the third most popular species of pets.
People can generally buy them pretty cheaply,
and sometimes they just sort of end up popped in a hutch
and the kids lose interest,
so every day, members of the team are doing 100 skips
to attempt to raise a little bit of money.
Right, do a... do a flip! I can do doubles!
No, I can't!
The two Lucys... Faster!
...have jumped at the chance to make money for bunnies.
When I've been in between each operation, I've been doing 100.
As you can see, these guys are absolutely knackered.
Yeah, I know, I'm out of breath!
Whoa! Look at Nat go!
You're gonna take off soon!
Do you wanna join in skipping? I can skip, yeah.
Get them trousers tightened. I'm gonna have to tighten my belt.
I don't skip as often as I should
unless I'm in a really good mood when I'm coming back from the shops.
But... With a skipping rope?
No! No! Just like, you know, that kind of skipping.
That's from the pub, that. After a pint.
LAUGHING What? What's so funny?
You're meant to do like that.
You're doing two jumps for every skip.
You add in, like, an extra jump, don't you?
Julian's radical rope technique...
That's how I do my skipping.
...could make Lucy an unhappy bunny.
Oops! I don't know how you even do what you're doing.
I feel like that is harder.
I can do it with one leg, look! What is he even doing?
Look, now he's doing it one-legged.
Oh, my God, that's actually pretty good!
What is he doing? That?
Go on, Lucy! That is harder than it looks, that.
Do a backflip!
Out of breath now? Yeah!
LAUGHING
Oh!
The wild rabbits have been enjoying a glorious day in North Yorkshire...
Come on. That's a good boy.
...where Peter's come to see his friend Tracy
and her pet sheep Harry...
Do you want one as well?
You don't mind sharing with the dog, eh?
...who he treated recently.
Last time I saw Harry, the rain was pretty incessant.
It's a superb day today,
ideal for being out and about, really.
Harry had a nasty infection,
a thing called orf which is a pox virus infection,
which can be passed onto humans.
And I'm just wondering how Harry's got on.
Now, Tracy. Now, then, how are you doing?
I'm all right, thanks, are you?
You've come to see your patient. I have.
Harry, can I have a look at you? Can I have a look at your face?
Let me have a look. Let's have a look at you.
Ah, that's it. Ah, now we can see. Oh, that's beautiful!
Now you'll be all right on the family photos, won't you?
You can't tell now, can you? No. It's unbelievable.
He's had all the TLC. Oh, yes.
I know that cos I know what you're like with your sheep.
You're enjoying that, aren't you, Harry? Eh? Are you pampered a bit?
I think you are. Just a little bit, yes.
And Tracy thinks that on this pamper day,
Harry deserves more than just a massage.
I've just noticed he could do with a little bit of a...
Little bit of a pedicure? Yes.
My old boss Alf White used to say,
"If you do things for nothing, some of these Yorkshire farmers,
"they'll still want a bit knocking off", but I'm doing this for Tracy
because we do go back a long way.
Might even earn you a pint, Peter, if you're really good.
Now you're talking, Tracy. HE LAUGHS
He's a big bugger, isn't he? Eh?
By crikey! Yes.
Does he get to choose his colour of polish next?
I'll leave that one with you, Tracy.
Fantastic.
I think that's better, Trace. Lovely. Thank you very much.
Yeah. There we are, Harry. I hope you appreciate it.
Shall I give you a back rub as well?
That's it. Yeah.
That's it. That's it.
That's it, Harry, yeah.
You see, vets are useful for some things, aren't they, Harry?
You can add back scratching to your career list.
Yes, I can tick that off now.
Well, shall we let him go? Yeah.
Perfect. Freedom. Freedom, Harry!
He's off.
Is that you done for the day now, then?
It certainly is, so I hope my wife has some tea ready.
I hope she has.
Yeah. Make the most of the nice evening.
It is, it's lovely, in't it? It's gorgeous.
And what a view you've got, haven't you?
And I know you're exactly the same as me, we never take it for granted.
No, definitely not. No, make the most of it.
But where your sheep live here, not only are they pampered to death,
but they have a fantastic view as well.
They do, whether they appreciate it, I don't quite know, but yes.
Well, it's nice to see you, Tracy. And you. Thank you very much.
See you again. Hopefully see you at some point.
And I won't forget about that pint. No, definitely not.
At Cannon Hall Farm...
Thank you very much.
...while most of the time, Rob and Dave are brothers in arms...
Now, then, Bobby.
...the same can't be said for another dynamic duo,
miniature donkeys Bobby and Lightning.
These two are starting to be full of testosterone,
and they'll never live together happily.
And up to now, they've been the best of chums,
but they're starting to nibble one another a little bit.
Come on, then.
Good boy. There's a bald patch there, Rob.
Yeah. Good lad.
Yeah, there's a little bit of hair missing on Bobby.
They're proving to be a little bit of a handful.
Lightning is bullying Bobby a little bit.
Lightning! Steady on.
And now their friendship is in danger of turning sour.
I suppose they're just a couple of teenagers, Rob.
They want calming down,
and the only way to do that is to castrate 'em.
Shona has just arrived from the Huddersfield practice,
and the two naughty little donkeys...
Right, Lucy, Meg.
...will be outnumbered. So, we've got a team of three.
Meg's one of our nurses in the large animal department,
and Lucy's a vet student with us at the minute.
Hello!
Hiya, Shona, how are we doing? They're cute.
Patients of the day!
Well, they've just started squabbling.
Right. Lightning's having a go at Bobby.
Right. And I think the only solution is...
Yeah. So, how old are they?
They've just had their first birthday.
Oh, very good. Right, OK, good age to do them, then.
That's fine. Not much of a present, but never mind.
You've got to be a bit careful with donkeys compared to horses.
Older donkeys need to be done under general anaesthesia in a hospital,
but younger ones, you can do them in the field.
So as long as they're dropped, we should be fine.
I'll have a listen to the hearts and then we'll give them some sedation.
Right, that's fine. The tickers sound absolutely fine.
It's important with donkeys that we sedate them
while their mates are around.
If they get stressed, then the liver shuts down, basically.
So it's really bad for them to stress them and separate them.
So, that's a catheter just straight into the vein,
so that Lucy can top him straight up if we need a bit more.
Yeah. Eh up.
Is Lightning kicking? He's bolting.
Make sure Lightning doesn't strike twice.
Can I just get in there a minute?
Can you just extend his head slightly? Brilliant.
And then, Lucy, if you wanna get the clippers ready.
We're just gonna act really quickly cos we don't have long
with these anaesthetics.
He's in a nice dreamy place now.
Plenty of local.
So, what I'm gonna do now is push all the fat back.
Lot more protection on the nads than ponies.
Because he's relaxed, everything's dropped,
so we've got a nice position.
So that shows the pain relief's really working, doesn't it?
Yeah, definitely, yeah.
If you pull, pull it towards you.
Tail's twitching.
While Shona talks nurse Meg through the procedure...
So, this goes nut to nut. Nut to nut, yeah.
Nut to nut. Yeah.
...student Lucy is doing her bit.
Just been monitoring his breathing and his heart rate
and just making sure that they're nice and stable.
He's been all good.
And while she's happy with what she's hearing...
Just be prepared, he might kick now when I pull him.
Here goes.
...the same can't be said for Rob.
It's a good noise, innit? No.
Not if you're a man. That is not a good noise.
Everything's gone soundly with Bobby.
I'm glad to see Bobby's coming round.
Good boy. Look at that.
But while bully boy Lightning might be a good friend after all...
Lightning's checking on him, isn't he? Good boy.
...he's expected to be a much sparkier patient.
Right, Lightning, it's your turn.
Still to come...
Right, lady.
...has Matt's transfaunation turned things around?
I'm just gonna make sure her ticker's all right
and have a listen to her stomachs
and make sure they're turning over good as well.
And the basset babies...
That's a good machine. ...are up to all sorts.
Oops, you've had a wee.
It's just that exciting, isn't it, coming to the vets'?
Near Huddersfield,
Matt's back at Sally's dairy farm.
Last time I saw Sally, we were here to look at a particularly sick cow.
Now, she had a multitude of problems going on with her,
and we decided to do a procedure that involved
taking good healthy stomach contents from one cow
and transferring it into her
to really give her a bit of a kick-start.
Here we go, pet!
Transfaunation isn't a particularly common procedure that we do,
but it is one that when we do do it,
it can produce some really staggering results
so I really hope that it's helped her.
But if we haven't had any good progress,
unfortunately, we might be on to a losing battle with this one.
You all right, Sally? How we doing, Matt?
Not bad. Yourself? Yeah, not bad, thanks.
She's got a bit more fullness to her.
She doesn't look as...
Well, she certainly looks more energetic, anyway.
She's got that wild look in her eye back.
So I'll give her a bit of a wide berth
as she's got a bit more fight to her and give her a check out
and make sure things are heading in the right direction.
Sound. All right, lady.
MOOS
She's not impressed. I'll be done with you in two minutes, promise.
Yeah, she's definitely brighter in the eye there.
I'm just gonna make sure her ticker's all right,
and I'm gonna listen to her stomachs
to make sure they're turning over good as well.
I mean, even though from this angle, she probably looks quite thin,
that is a lot better than what she was.
I can actually feel a degree of grass and a degree of feed in there.
Good girl.
I'm just having a listen to her stomach
and make sure it's all turning over nicely.
There's no gas anywhere, which is good.
Sometimes, it takes a minute. I'll just check this other side.
Let's have a look at that colour.
Nice and pink. Lovely.
Lovely. Everything's heading in the right direction slowly but surely.
I think we've made some improvements there.
They're gradual but we're heading in the right direction,
so hopefully, with a few more weeks of TLC, she should be good to go.
Oh, sound, that's good news. Glad it's worked.
Keep going, lass.
Till next time. Yeah, thank you.
See you. See you in a bit.
This cow was not so good,
so it was very much a last attempt with the rumen transfaunation.
But she's ruminating well enough.
We want to integrate her back into the main herd now.
Spent quite a lot of time with her
these past few weeks, caring for her.
Just got to know her a bit, really.
She's a nice cow, so best outcome, really.
In Thirsk... Careful!
...Liz and her daughter Hannah
have come back to the practice in style
with Sapphire and her six bouncing baby basset hounds.
Come here, you little monster.
Two months ago,
Julian and his team delivered the puppies by C-section.
Sit still. Sit still!
Hello! You all right?
Today, they can't escape their eight-week injections...
Right, watch that doesn't jump out. ...and check up.
That's a good machine! LAUGHING
Everything all right?
How are they all getting on? They look rather spectacular.
They're all lovely little wicked devils.
They look fantastic, don't they?
They've not tried to escape or anything like that?
They're trying now, I think.
Right, then, pupster.
An emotional reunion like this...
Handsome, aren't you?
Don't go out on a windy day with ears like this.
...can be just too much.
Oops! You've had a wee. We'll just put that under there.
It's just that exciting, isn't it, coming to the vets'?
He's wicked, this one. Mischievous, very!
Watch this little devil here.
Get in. I don't want them to jump out.
I can't begin to imagine what your house is like. It must be chaos.
They're into everything. Little devils.
Ripping newspapers up and stuff like that.
Julian needs an extra pair of hands with the boisterous babies...
That hurts. ...from trainee nurse Sam,
who helped deliver them in her first-ever caesarean.
Look at all your babies!
I think they recognise you, Sam, look.
Aw! You just wanna get in there, don't you?
So, this is a boy.
There was a couple that came out a little quiet on arrival,
so we had to give them some oxygen, get all that fluid up.
That sounds perfect.
They're doing amazing, they're very chewy.
When do they stop chewing on things?
We've got one 18 months,
and she just chewed off the side of my cabinet.
That sounds good. Another boy.
It's really nice to see them come in after all that... all that work,
to see that you're thriving.
Is this the last one to look at? Yep.
Clear MOT.
Good! Well, they all passed the test,
they look really good.
Very healthy and very happy.
Perfect! Thank you very much.
And Mum's all right, is she?
She looks... Yeah, she's spot on.
She was, once upon a time, the same size as these,
delivered here, so it's like the circle of life continues.
JULIAN CHUCKLES
This is quite a milestone for the litter.
Come on, then. It's the start of the next chapter for them.
Some of them are going off to new homes.
Stay, you little monsters.
It was lovely to see them growing and getting stronger,
all wagging their tails.
Cheerio. All the best! Bye, Sapphire. Well done.
Liz is absolutely devoted to Sapphire and the pups.
Come on, then. They're absolutely thriving now.
They're all grown, very healthy and very, very cute.
Watch they don't jump out.
Whoa, whoa, whoa! You little...
JULIAN LAUGHS
At Cannon Hall Farm...
Are we all right doing Lightning?
Yeah. Is he ready?
...Shona's dealing with the feistier
of Rob and Dave's two miniature donkeys, Lightning.
Well, he's full of himself, ain't he? Eh!
He's wanting to go, ain't he?
Having already castrated his pal Bobby,
to save their testosterone-tested friendship...
Hey, hey, hey, good lad!
Lightning was always likely to be more trouble.
He's the dominant part of the duo, but he's laid down peacefully now,
and hopefully, we can get this done quickly.
So, it's a little bit tricky to grab one of the testicles,
the little beans.
There's a technique to fishing for testicles,
it has to be said.
Right. Blade.
Thank you.
So just pushing the testicle up to the skin
and then we cut through the skin onto it.
Shona has help from vet student Lucy.
He's good, he's nice and stable at the minute,
yeah, so just keeping a close eye on him.
But it's nurse Meg who's really taking two for the team.
Well, I've got the glamorous job of holding the testicles.
Always lovely, isn't it? Always a pleasure!
And maybe the donkey team spirit is returning already.
Bobby's become really cuddly since the operation,
and I think he's just checking in on Lightning here.
Ready? Yeah.
I was more asking Rob, really.
I don't think Rob's ever ready for that noise.
CHUCKLES
Come on.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
Very positive to see Lightning up so quickly.
Bobby's recovering well. I'm very optimistic about what's happening.
Bobby's already started eating a little bit of straw.
We've done a good job there.
It's been good having a big team to help for these little donkeys.
I don't think we could have fitted any more people around them!
Right, then, get in touch if there's anything going on.
We hope not to ring you, Shona.
Thank you very much for what you've done for us.
That's all right. That's all right. I'm glad they're looking OK.
See you next time. See you. See you, girls.
It's really important for donkeys that they can stay in their pairs.
They pair bond, and it's actually really bad
for their health to get separated. So it's all gone smoothly,
all gone routinely and I think they'll be absolutely fine.
Lovely to see 'em back together,
not squabbling and getting on like house on fire, just like us.
Come on, let's get some more jobs done.