I like the show and, even though Mike turned down that one job, I can't help but admire (feel sorry for) him. Growing up on a farm I got volunteered for so many dirty jobs I can't remember them all. It seems odd that when I watch Dirty Jobs I often think to myself 'I've done that!"
Some I remember:
Rotten afterbirth
Scooping manure every day
Pumping manure pits
Pumping human waste from impromptu lagoon (not farming but the town needed our pump)
Cutting pig/bulls/horses
Lancing boils on pigs
Disposing of maggot infested animal carcasses
Unplugging septic/lateral lines
I used to boast to my friends that I could tell what kind of animals, and what sex, a barn had in it before I opened the door. I have since lost that ability.
One of my earliest memories was of a large pig farm my dad did contract work for. He' doze a 1-200' trench for the owner to dispose of the dead hogs in. He' also fill in the previous trench that was full. Real pleasant place to play on hot days.
Pigman's post stirred a memory of something I allways considered a true mystery:
I just have to point out the errs of the people that said pigs smell bad and it was a dirty job raising them. When I was in the piggy business, the manure did not smell bad, the pull plug pits never got stopped up with a dead pig, pigs never die in the pens and are found the next morning half eaten and other dirty stuff they talked about.
Bob
Yeah, count the pigs in a pen the next morning and realize there's one missing. Search the pen and all you find is 1 ham. Were's the head? How did they eat that?
Of all the dirty jobs I've done only one truly got me. I was about 16. My dad ask me to load up 5 hogs and take them up to the vets. Even though it was 5:30 am it was already hot. I had been out the night before and was still feeling the effects. I unloaded the hogs at the vet's office and helped him give each of them a general anestesic, load them on the operating table, clean the area with some very aeromatic aneseptic cleaner and then push their intestines back up into their rectums and sew them shut leaving a small hole for them to deficate through. Ok, ok, it wastn't any worse than other jobs I had to do but there was something about having a hangover early in the morning, it being very hot/humid for that early, the smell of that aneseptic cleaner, and watching the operation that caused me to get a light head. The vet saw this and ask that I step back. I couldn't believe I was having any trouble...I had seen it all before. But I was going down when he grabed me and leaned me in the corner. I was embarassed.
I asked the vet what caused their intestines to turn inside out. He said it was due to them having a diet that was too high in protein. (Don't ask me what we were supplimenting their diet with.
)
One trick I used to play on visitors was to show them our unique technique for ridding an area of fly maggots. The pens stayed maggot free courtesy of the pig's taste for them. Where they were a problem was where the manure seeped under the gates. Our solution was to release the gates and move them out a few feet so the pigs could clean them up. This generally left a lasting impression on the visitors.
There's more, but I don't want to ruin your dinners.
