Selecting the Right Needle and Syringe Combos

Selecting the Right Needle and Syringe Combos

Do you often feel overwhelmed when it comes time to choose the right needles and syringes for your livestock? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Proper administration of injectable products using the correct tools is crucial for minimizing tissue residue, lesions, and reactions in your animals. PBS Animal Health is here to help simplify this process and provide you with key information to ensure you feel confident rather than perplexed when making your selections.

Types of Livestock Injections

Livestock can receive injections for vaccines, antibiotics, vitamins/minerals, anti-inflammatories, and more. Each product comes with unique instructions for administering the injection, so it’s vital to read the packaging carefully. Even if you’ve been using the same product for a long time, labels get updated regularly, and injection sites or dosages can change.

There are several routes of administration for livestock injections, including:

• Intramuscular (IM): Given in the neck or shoulder muscle
• Subcutaneous (SQ): Administered to the space under the skin
• Intravenous (IV): Injected into a vein; usually performed by or under the direction of a veterinarian
• Intranasal (IN): Delivered through the nose

As always, consult your veterinarian about proper and safe injection administration.

A Spectrum of Supplies

Syringe and needle sizes vary based on the species, the size of the animal, the amount of fluid needed, and the injection itself. For instance, an injection with a thicker viscosity requires a larger bore/smaller gauge needle (in cattle, often a 16 gauge needle). Intramuscular injections necessitate longer needles (1-1.5 inch) compared to subcutaneous injections (0.5-1 inch) because IM applications need to penetrate deeply into muscle tissue. With various animals of different ages and sizes, PBS Animal Health can help you figure out exactly what you need.

Once you’ve determined the size, you’ll need to choose between polypropylene (poly) hub needles and aluminum hub needles. Poly hubs are sufficient for single injections, but aluminum hubs are preferred by many producers and veterinarians for large animal applications due to their durability. Aluminum hub needles also enable multiple injections without the concern of the needle breaking off. Additionally, PBS Animal Health offers plated brass hub needles, which are detectable in metal-detection systems if a needle breaks off in an animal’s skin.

The range of syringes available on the market can make the selection process even more complicated. While syringe barrels share markings for cubic centimeters (cc) and milliliters (ml), we offer both luer lock and luer slip tips. Luer lock syringes provide a more secure connection as the needle twists and locks into place, while luer slip syringes are less secure but more affordable, generally used for quick, single injections.

All of the products mentioned above can be purchased individually, but PBS Animal Health also offers combo products with the needle and syringe already assembled. Luer lock syringe combos are available in soft pack or hard pack (individually wrapped in a tearaway package vs. plastic tubes). Due to ongoing supply chain issues, it’s essential to know what to use when and have backup products in mind if your favorites are unavailable.

Are you interested in learning more about veterinary syringe needle sizes? Contact us today to secure an expert consultation!

How to Give Cattle Injections

Proper administration of injection products is crucial for both the safety of the animal and meat product consumers. This article provides excellent information on administration methods specific to cattle. It highlights the importance of giving most injections in the neck to avoid injecting parts of the body that later become meat products. Administering injections in the neck ensures any resulting scar tissue is in a less critical area.

Hereford emphasizes the necessity of restraining cattle before any injection to avoid wasted product and potential animal injury. There’s also a useful chart available in the National Beef Quality Assurance Training Manual on page 58, indicating recommended needle sizes based on animal size, injection site, and product viscosity.

Helpful Tips About Giving Injections

Before administering injections, be aware of the following tips regarding cleanliness, needle handling, spacing, etc.:

• Gauge numbers in needles increase as the diameter gets smaller (e.g., an 18-gauge needle is larger than a 20-gauge needle).
• Don’t mix injection products as this can damage tissue and compromise the product.
• Clean the animal’s injection site to avoid infection from contaminants like mud or manure.
• If injecting multiple animals, change your needles every 10 or so heads to avoid bent or dull needles.
• Use a separate needle to draw additional doses from the bottle, not the needle delivering injections to the animals.
• When giving one animal multiple injections, space them out across several inches or inject on the opposite side of the neck.
• Consider becoming Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) certified. BQA training provides vital information about injection protocols that reduce damage to valuable cuts of meat and save the cattle industry millions of dollars.

Shipping Restrictions for Needles and Syringes

Be aware of the following shipping restrictions for hypodermic syringes and needles for residents of certain states:

• New York livestock owners must provide a Certificate of Need to purchase needles and syringes. Download the application here. Once approved, submit a copy to us via fax or mail.
• Needles and syringes cannot be shipped to companion animal and horse owners in Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, and Minnesota. Livestock owners with an agricultural exemption on file with us may purchase needles and syringes in these states.
• We cannot ship needles and syringes to New Jersey.

Find Your Syringe and Needle Supplies at PBS Animal Health

Whether you’re injecting cattle, horses, goats, sheep, or swine, PBS Animal Health has all the best needle and syringe products and combos you need. Browse our full inventory online or call our Customer Care team at +1 (800) 321- if you have questions. After more than 80 years in the animal health industry, we can help simplify this selection process to make your shopping a breeze.

Related links:
What are the benefits of silicone baby feeding sets l Melikey
Hydroponic Fodder Seeds vs. Traditional Fodder: Which is Best?
How Does the Administration of Different Types of Syringes for Veterinarians Work?

Contact us to discuss your requirements of Continuous Drench Equipments manufacturer. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.

DISCLAIMER: The information provided in this article, and all other articles by PBS Animal Health, is for informational purposes only. This article may have been prepared from multiple sources at the time it was written and is not intended to be used as a sole source of information in making any purchase or specific product use decision. We recommend you always consult with your attending veterinarian to properly diagnose any health-related condition before initiating any prevention or treatment program. Always read and follow each product’s current label instructions and warnings before use.

Want more information on Continuous Syringes E-Type factories? Feel free to contact us.