Fans of the popular livestock nursery at the California State Fair can now catch the births of calves, piglets, goats and lambs online, thanks to a new service called VetLiNC, coordinated by the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.

For 25 years, Ben Norman, a UC Davis Cooperative Extension veterinarian emeritus, and a team of roughly 50 trained veterinary students have provided fair-goers with the rare treat of viewing the births of farm animals up close and personal.

This year, with the use of four interactive Web cameras inside the livestock nursery, VetLiNC streams live video footage of the births and newborns from the veterinary school's Web site to computer users who have Internet access.

"We're quite pleased that we can broadcast the nursery activities via the Internet to folks who are unable to attend in person or would like to catch a few more glimpses throughout the fair," Norman said. "Last year, thanks to the generosity of local producers who loaned us their animals for this event, veterinary students assisted with the birth of more than 100 animals. This provides an unusual educational opportunity for the public and valuable training for the students."

VetLiNC can be accessed online through Sept. 3 during selected daylight hours at .

VetLiNC also will produce footage that will be edited into videos that can supplement science lessons in animal health, food-animal husbandry and food safety for K-12 grades.