The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: moprabbit on December 01, 2016, 10:09:44 pm
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The time is coming up for me to inject my girls with Heptavac. I've always done it in the neck and struggled slightly. I wondered if there was anywhere else I can inject? Someone told me the only reason for injecting in the neck was so that it didn't damage the main 'carcase'. My girls aren't going for meat so that wouldn't apply. I once saw my vet inject on the side of the sheep about half way down.
Thanks
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I'm no expert, but we did our lambs over the ribs this year, and I found it much easier (ribs don't wriggle as much as necks). A sterimatic injector (http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=71975) makes life easier (and safer) too.
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The other reason for injecting in the side of the neck is so that if the sheep develops an abscess, which heptavac is very prone to causing, then you will know exactly where you injected, and that it's unlikely to be CLA.
Choose a spot where the skin is nice and loose, whether it's in the neck or over the ribs.
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Echo getting a sterimatic injector it makes life a million times easier. As long as your ewes aren't too fat you shouldn't have a problem doing it in the neck, I found overly fat ewes a bit of a nightmare to do but the sterimatic injector simplifies it somewhat.
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Oh, the other thing that's blindingly obvious for neck injections (but took me ages to figure out ::)) - bend the ewe's head towards the side you're injecting to loosen the skin.
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If you part the fleece then pull up the skin to make a little tent and can inject at a slight angle towards the base of the tent. I use a half-inch needle for subcutaneous injections, which makes it much harder to go through the bottom of the "tent" and out the other side.
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Thanks for all the replies there are some very useful tips which hope fully I'll put into practice.