Vaccinating

[p2p]

I have some heifers I need to vaccinate. One shot subcataneously and the other intramuscular. They are corriente roping heifers and are about 350 lbs. I want to be as careful as possible as on the first shots I gave several lumps in the neck and I don't want to hurt them too much.
Thanks

 

[Dusty Britches]

so what is the question?

Give them the IM shots in the neck. draw an imaginary line of where you think the neck bone is. Make a triangle of the neck bone, shoulder bone and top of the neck line. Put the IM shot in the center of that triangle.

SQ - I used to pinch the skin, pull it up and inject into the "tent". After reading on here, I now just angle the needle down and under the skin at an angle. Not real clear instructions, but someone else will explain it.

 

[jnowack]

The lumps are mostly caused by the immuno response to the vaccination. Some will get them worse than others. Severe lumps could be an abcess caused by contaminants carried into the injection site by the needle. If they are abnornally large then you should probably have a vet check it out.

 

[p2p]

Thank you both. The lumps aren't severe, but it just seems like I am hurting them because they are so small and it is so hard to get the needles through the skin (can't tell that I am a rookie can you) Also, the intramuscular, I went straight into the neck with the needle and I think that was wrong. Anyway, I just don't want to be hard on them. I am using a 16 ga needle 1" for the intra and 3/4 for the sub...is that right?

 

[twabscs]

I use 18 GA needles on calves. This will help a bit on getting it through the skin. With a fresh 18 GA needle it should go in very easy, IMO.

 

[jnowack]

Most people use 18 guage. A 16 is pretty big. I use 20 guage for most things unless it is thicker and won't flow through then I use 18 guage. I use 1 inch for SQ and 1.5 inch for IM.

 

[p2p]

Thanks for the info. I will get the smaller gauge tonite. Maybe that is part of my problem.
Also, intramuscular, straight into the neck or at an angle?
I really appreciate the feedback

 

[Dusty Britches]

IM - straight into the neck. Perpendicular to the body.

 

[p2p]

Great, thanks again.
I only have six new ones to do. Eleven total. Not much, but I want to take very good care of them. We just sold five of them and I am not cut out for this, I want to keep them all. Especially roping cattle, you never know how someone is going to treat them. Anyway, I appreciate the advice.

 

[CUZ]

p2p . . . it'll get easier the more you do it. I still laugh at myself over our first sub q experience. For years we gave the black leg shot in the muscle of the back leg and one day we got a bottle of medicine that said to give the shot sub q. So Dad, my son and I had a ten minute discussion over what sub q meant since none of us were familiar with the term. Finally Dad said he thought it meant just under the skin, so that's what we did. I looked it up when I got home that night and found out he was right. Since I was the "needle" man it took a while to get the "feel" for giving a shot in a new way.

Hang in there
Cuz

 

[p2p]

Thanks Cuz...you hit it on the head. I am the biggest dork trying get it under the skin, I feel sorry for them. Hopefully I will get better as we go along. We are finishing our third year and this is our fourth bunch, we started with four, got up to seventeen and are now down to eleven. I love it but it is a lot of work...

 

[C HOLLAND]

Cuz, same here but My Wife is a nurse and she had to tell me the diff between SQ and IM.

I give all the shots now and dont have any trouble with it, I have another post on here about the lumps too. There is nothing you have done wrong it's just the reaction some get from the shots.

I use a 16 gauge 1" needle for all my shots, I just go in about 3/4 way on the SQ just under the skin where I pinch it up.

 

[p2p]

C Holland, what a good idea. I am going to look at some of those posts re: the lumps, I sure thought I was hurting them.
I just kept shoving the whole needle under the skin and there wasn't that much to get under.
Thanks for the tip.

 

[p2p]

Thanks for all the help yesterday. The smaller gauge needle was so much better. I got them done last night and did not seem to hurt anyone. I lost some dosage through where the needle attaches to the syringe, so I hope everyone got enough. I didn't want to poke them a second time. It only happened on two of them, but one of them was my weaker one. She is healthy, but just not as strong as the others.
Anyway, thanks again.

 

[somn]

Just another thought too. Always try to never vaccinate cattle with wet hides.

 

[p2p]

somn
thanks, I would have never thought of that.
I checked on them last night, I have kept them in for a couple of days to keep an eye on them, and they look fine. I will turn them back out on pasture tonight or tomorrow.