h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

...but my most horrid task so far.

I lived on a farm as a child, and we had about 30 sheep. When I was about 11, we had a very wet summer, and the wool rotted on them before shearing. One day, one of the sheep broke out of the pasture, ran to the barn, and collapsed in front of us - and we saw there were maggots under the wool, and the entire side of the sheep was raw - flies had laid their eggs in the rotting wool, and the maggots were eating the sheep alive, right along with the wet wool...

My stepdad was out of town, my sister was ill, and had to mind the baby, and so I was given the task of kneeling on the necks of the sheep to hold them down and help my mother pull out all those maggots, cut away the wool and rotting flesh, clean the wounds...

I decided then and there that I didn't want to be a vet after all. But we only lost one sheep, and on that one, the ribs were already showing!