# I did it!!!



## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Been wanting to learn how to draw blood. No one around to show me how  so I've been watching YouTube videos for months!! Bought a exposed doe but didn't much want to kill her so decided I had to try it out on someone else. Well when I walked out and saw the doe that I warned if she got her head stuck in the fence one more time she was either going to be butchered or off to the sale I decided she would be a good test goat. After stabbing the poor girl about 5X which she took very well I got it!!! (And she lives to go to the sale Saturday) so for anyone that is like me with no one to help I have advise! That dang vein moves, it wasn't hard to find but to actually keep it in place was not easy so I had my mom with me and I put my finger on the vein like it shows in the videos but the she put her finger on either side of it to keep it in place and that's finally when I got it. But anyways I'm so dang proud of myself right now


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## PippasCubby (May 13, 2015)

Yay!!! Nice work! :stars:

It's almost embarrassing how excited I was when I did my first successful blood draw. 

Good luck with your next one!!!


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

That's awesome!  
I'm currently trying to get up the nerve to draw blood, too. Lol. I'm gettin there


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Lol same with me. I sent the picture to everyone I knew saying look look!! And they were all yeah good job (eye roll) well my brother did ask me if she lived threw it lol 
But it really wasn't that bad! I know half my problem was I was still worried about hurting her, I mean I tell her I'm going to kill her at least twice a day when I have to get her head out of the fence but still I didn't really want to. But even with missing and not putting the needle in all the way the worse she did was snort at me, no screaming or other goat drama I had in my mind. The only thing was her vein didn't pop up like it did in the videos I watched. If I didn't know about what I was looking for I think it would have been a lot harder


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## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

Good JOb...its so much easier when we can do it ourselves!!! :clap:


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## lilaalil (Sep 5, 2014)

I was so excited too, when I did this. I couldn't believe it. I had my brother and sister help me; I thought I would be way too squeamish (I am usually the squeamish one) but when it came down to getting it done, I ended up being the only one that could do it! And I had morning sickness at the time; made me ridiculously proud 

One of my does was a real punk though, she would jump and rear every time the needle touched her, even locked into the milk stand. My 6-foot-tall brother had to use all his strength to hold her somewhat still.


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## NyGoatMom (Jan 26, 2013)

:stars: I'd be happy too!!


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Good for you!


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Thank you guys. I'm so proud of myself right now.
I totally feel for you on morning sickness since I have the flu or something going on but it was perfect! She was right by my stand so no dragging or anything. I couldn't pass it up. Although I'm feeling kinda cocky right now I think if I get one that jumps around like that I'll probably chicken out. Or maybe some how toss to the ground (???) I don't know


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

Yeehaw Jessica! Did you happen to shave the area first?


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Oh yeah! I didn't even attempt it before I shaved, so now she's gonna look kinda stupid going to the sale but Honestly she's one of those ones I really don't care if I get $5 for her I just want her gone. But on a good note I only had to get her out of the fence the one time now and we would have been on at least #2 so maybe I should just keep practicing on anyone who gets their head in the fence lol


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

How much harder do you think it'd be be draw the blood without shaving?


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

I don't think it would be harder as long as you can feel the vein. Hers didn't pop up like it does on the video so I had to go by feel anyways. But, ok I guess I'll have to admit this lol so I had a issue with cocci and lost 3 kids, so I kinda skinned them out (I don't like things going to waste) so knowing I wanted to draw blood one day I got a up close and personal view of what's under that skin. So I wanna say it would easy to find without shaving but I'm not sure if it was only for me because I knew where to look and feel.......if that makes sense :/ but if you go out and feel a goats neck on the side see if you can feel that vein


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## dlbyron (Jul 8, 2016)

Awesome job, Jessica!:wahoo: I'd be doing a happy dance too!


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Thank you


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## margaret (Aug 30, 2013)

Nice! 
Congrats!!
It's really pretty easy once you get the hang of it
Took me awhile to get around to learning, but my vet showed me and I'm really glad I can do it myself now.


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## margaret (Aug 30, 2013)

Suzanne_Tyler said:


> How much harder do you think it'd be be draw the blood without shaving?


I do mine without shaving. The vein is huge, so once you learn how, it's fairly easy to find it even through the hair.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

I'm thinking after a few more I'll go ahead and consider myself a pro lol!!! But we will see how this next girl goes on the first. I'm sending that in to see if she is bred and she is huge and not very friendly so that will be the true test :/


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## sunnyjane (Jan 9, 2016)

Can you share what videos you watched? Also what size needles did you use?


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## lottsagoats1 (Apr 12, 2014)

Way to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Ok give me a few on the video. But needle I made a post on here and there was a few different answers but it was explained by one person that since the blood is thick she uses a 20. If they could it would be a bigger one. We use a 18 and 20 on the cows and I looked at the 18 and it scared the crap out of me lol so I went with the 20. It didn't go flowing in or anything but I got that 1/2cc pretty fast......fast enough for my liking  let me see if I can find those videos. Also search on here I remember someone posted a video on here as well


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Ahhh I can't copy the link on my phone because I have the YouTube app. But if you go to YouTube and put in drawing blood on goats there's a bunch that pop up, even the one I was talking about on here which is called drawing blood on a baby goat by freedom star. That one was probably the best explained one but there's others that show them doing it without shaving as well


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## Mandara Farm (Sep 12, 2010)

Fantastic! I haven't advanced to that yet - lol - but I can appreciate it!


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Lol it took a lot of talking myself into it. It wasn't like learning to tube where it was well it's gonna die anyways so might as well give it a try lol but now my list is down to learning to put a IV in and to learn to AI and I'll be one happy gal


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## Mandara Farm (Sep 12, 2010)

>>>Lol it took a lot of talking myself into it.

I can imagine! I had to learn to give my goat an IM needle straight into the neck a few weeks ago and it made me super squeegy! Ahhh!


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

I'm still talking myself into those IM shots  I can almost do the SQs with my eyes closed, but straight in.... :hammer:


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Ugh to this day I still hate IM shots. Every time I read a bottle and see SQ on it I do a little happy dance inside lol I can do IM shots just fine I just dislike doing them for some reason :/


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

What length and gauge needle go you use for IM shots?


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Good work.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

I use 1" 21. I use that on everything, the 20 looks a little bit for kids so my thought process was just have one size but that's out the window if I'm going to draw blood for preg tests now lol


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## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

Yay!! Good for you.... I pulled blood for the first time a few months ago..


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

Jessica84 said:


> I use 1" 21. I use that on everything, the 20 looks a little bit for kids so my thought process was just have one size but that's out the window if I'm going to draw blood for preg tests now lol


Okay thanks! Maybe I'll get up the nerve to do it soon


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## margaret (Aug 30, 2013)

Suzanne, I'll show you how next time I see you.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

margaret said:


> Suzanne, I'll show you how next time I see you.


Yes take her up on it, if I had someone offer it to me I totally would have jumped on it. I say it's not a big deal now but I was so nervous about it, and I probably wouldn't of stabbed the poor girl so many times as well. Actually I'm still a little nervous because the one I'm drawing blood on tomorrow to actually send in is not very friendly with me and she is super strong, so I might be changing my attitude about it lol


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## margaret (Aug 30, 2013)

Jessica84 said:


> Ugh to this day I still hate IM shots. Every time I read a bottle and see SQ on it I do a little happy dance inside lol I can do IM shots just fine I just dislike doing them for some reason :/


Lol, same here. I watched my vet do IM shots, so I'm a little more OK with it now, but SQ is soooo much easier!


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

I tried paying attention when the vet put a IV in a doe for me a few years back but it did not look easy......but it was also a IV. And that's one thing I do want to learn. My brothers friend works at a vets office and she gave me like 20 IV thing a bobs (sorry don't know what they are called) but I've yet to even attempt to learn that


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

margaret said:


> Suzanne, I'll show you how next time I see you.


Okay, thanks!!


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## TDG-Farms (Jul 12, 2013)

Great job!!! There are a lot of veritables but once you get a few under your belt its not so bad. The fear of hurting the animal fades. That is until you give one a hematoma and question yourself lol. I have thousands of draws under my belt and I am still a little apprehensive when I find a goat with a small or odd placed vein. Bugs me when I dont get it on the first try. Just did 16 babies not a month ago that went on a dairy shipment. Ug! Such small veins! 

The best advise I can give is to make sure you have a good holder. A person standing over the goat holding the head firmly straight forward is the biggest thing. Makes it much easier. I have learned recently that you can use a sheep stand with the piece that you can lock their face into place. Still nice to have someone there to hold the goat though.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Don't go talking about hematoma and such lol the only reason I got the guts to do it was because I told myself I couldn't hurt them lol I can't imagine doing small kids right now :/ I'm still going to make the buyers draw the blood if they want them tested on the kids. I am mainly just wanting to know if questionable does are bred since I'm breeding twice a year now (two different groups not the same goats) 
But the stand is what I used as well as my dad holding her......yeah it was a 3 person job lol but I think I can do it by myself if I raise that head holder thing all the way up so their head is up as far as it goes. I'll have my husband help me today or tomorrow (need to call the place and see what I do on shipping it to them) then I need to figure out how to do it by myself or with 2 small kids helping me since more often then not its just me and the kids :/


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

First- dang it Dave!! You had me a nervous wreck lol
Second- No it is NOT easy doing it without shaving! This doe was a pain in my behind to catch so I didn't want to drag her over to the stand so I tried getting her out and about where I can't shave her. Poked the girl 3 times, had Dave in the back of my mind so got the extension cord and shaved her. I saw where I was in the right spot on 2 of them but just didn't get blood but got it on the first try when she was shaved. But I got the blood and since the place is in town and I have to do back to school shopping I'm just gonna drive it down. I called the place and the guy was super nice and said he's gonna give me a tour of the place lol


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## TDG-Farms (Jul 12, 2013)

lol sorry. I shoulda said a hemotoma is no big deal. If you do happen to create one, they will absorb it soon enough. I have dont a few dozen over the years. No worries. 

Another good suggestion. If you are sure you are in the right spot, it might just be that you have gone to far and done a through and through. Back the needle out a bit slowly and try to pull the plunger out again. 1/2 needles work best I find.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

That's a good idea! Because I'm pretty sure that's probably what I did. Thinking maybe with the hair there I didn't go at the right angle and went more horizontal and went threw. When I'm by myself I would need to drag them over to the stand anyways which has a outlet but if I have help it would be nice to just get it done in the field especially with ones like her that took a half hour to catch. So I'll have to try that next time!


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

That really wasn't so bad  
I drew maybe 4-5 of Meg's goats :dancedgi:


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Right!!! For years I kinda rolled my eyes at people talking about how easy it is and all along it really is easy! Great job though! And how awesome someone could show you. I'm still on #2  but that might jump up come October first depending on if anyone isn't showing signs of being very bred........I give up on this pooch test stuff


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

:lol: Well, practice makes perfect. You'll get the hang of it quick. If the goat is even straining their neck a little, that makes it much harder, and the thicker the neck the harder it can be.
Why do you hate IM shots? I HATE doing SQ shots! :lol: 

But congrats, learning that bit makes things a lot easier. Now come back to me when you've drawn blood from a cows tail :laugh:


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

:-o That sounds tough!!!


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Lol I except your challenge  I have been shown and walked three and I've read and I still totally suck at preg checking. Not to mention sticking your hand in a cows butt sucks lol when I dropped that sample off I talked to the people and it's only $2-$3 for a cow! Depending on what the 'going rate is'. So I told my dad that's how I'll be doing things and he seemed to like the idea. Lol he's pretty game when I say something. After I tried cutting my finger off for like the 100X ear marking I told him when he croaks that stuff is gonna be a no go, we don't ear mark any more


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

Yep, I pay $2.50 for cow preg tests :greengrin: not as easy as a goat if they're not halter broke, you have no chute or head gate :lol:


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Oh you bet I have a chute head gate and a squeeze lol we need all the help we can get to stay in one piece on most days


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## VVFarm (Dec 14, 2015)

Congratulations! That's something I need to learn how to do.


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

Thank you!


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