It's often said that there's nothing more content than a cow chewing its cud, especially a cow in a float tank, a big outdoor bathtub designed to help strengthen weakened muscles. This is just one of the treatments administered at the University of California at Davis Veterinary School, one of the busiest and best in the country.

California Heartland recently spent an entire day there. Our guide was Dr. John House, a transplanted Australian and animal lover. He does everything from checking up on lambs orphaned in an El Nino flood to doing procedures that seem downright distasteful, but are nonetheless interesting, like extracting rumen juice from one of a "donor" cow's stomachs. The cow has a hole cut in its side that's covered with a thick plastic plug. Once the hole is unplugged, Dr. House inserts a rubber hose, siphons out the rumen juice, and gives that nutrient-rich liquid to cows with digestive problems. One procedure can yield as many as six gallons of fluid.

Large farm animals are susceptible to many of the same diseases as human beings, such as influenza, cancer and heart disease. Some maladies you might even call "psychological," like those afflicting a mare that rejected her newborn foal. Both mother and baby are at U.C. Davis Veterinary Hospital for observation. The mother isn't allowing the foal to nurse, and so must be milked by hand. According to Dr. Nathan Slovis, this can be risky. He says, "You've got to use your instinct, to know when they're going to kick, when they're going to bite. There are signs. You've got a horse's ears pinned back. You know they're going to attack you."

Just like any other hospital, not all of the patients make it here. Still, the U.C. Davis Veterinary Hospital has a high success rate, attracting students and faculty from around the world. The patients we saw are all doing fine. To find out more about the school and its services, just go to the U.C. Davis website at www.ucdavis.edu.

If You have questions or comments about this story, please E-mail Executive Producer Corita Gravitt at corita.gravitt@mailexcite.com.