Never make a bet with a vet

When I was still a student I want out on a farm call with a recently qualified friend of mine. We were to check a cow that had been steadily deteriorating since she had calved a few weeks previously. The farmer was convinced that she was anaemic from an "internal bleed" after calving.

Upon physical examination there were no clinical signs of anaemia, although the cow was pretty weak and depressed. A rectal examination revealed adhesions within the abdomen, and that along with the high temperature and her general demeanour, suggested peritonitis (an internal infection) rather than anaemia. We gave her antibiotics and anti-inflammatories but warned the farmer that the cow was pretty sick and most likely on her way out. We requested to come out and perform an autopsy "when" she died. He agreed and ended up calling us that very afternoon.

When we arrived he said to us, "Yeah, didn't think she'd make it. That internal bleeding always gets them in the end."
"Ummm, nooo," my friend said, " I'm pretty sure it's peritonitis."
"Nah," he insisted, "It's a bleed. I've had a cow die from it before."
"Oh," I said, now thinking that maybe he knew something we didn't, after all I was a student and my friend a new graduate so maybe he did have some secret farmer knowledge, "Did you autopsy her?"
"Nah."
"So how did you know it was an internal bleed then?"
He leaned back and fixed me with a knowledgeable smile, "Twenty years of experience!"
Riiiight. By now my mate was grinning.
"You care to make a bet on that?" She was pretty confident in her diagnosis.
"What did you have in mind?"
"Um, bottle of rum?" (And she's not even an Aussie!)
"Alright then!"
So, with bated breath, we sliced open the poor old cow and found...sheets of fibrin absolutely covering all the abdominal organs and originating from what looked like an old hardware disease site (where a piece of wire penetrates the rumen and results in an infection that is often walled off). Classic signs of, that's right say it with me, PERITONITIS. The uterus was in perfect condition and there was no evidence of any "bleeds".
Doctor Farmer was by now looking very subdued while my friend was not too professional to do a little gloating.
"Learn something every day eh?"
"Hmmmm."

We didn't actually expect him to come through with the spoils but the following week a bottle of rum was left anonymously at the reception desk with my friend's name on it. Who needs flowers when you have rum!