How to - Drawing blood

I'm not going to do much of a tutorial on this as I know there are already a bunch of great ones out there on the world wide web.  Here is a popular one - and the one I learned with -

http://goatconnection.com/articles/publish/article_151.shtml

Blood drawing isn't for every goat owner - some of us are a little more nervous about it then others - needles, blood and jugular veins, oh my!  But for the performance herd on the larger number scale it can be quite costly to have the vet run out every time you need a sample.

Why would you need to draw blood?
Many goat tests are run off a blood sample -
If a CAE free herd is important to you it's recommended to test once or twice a year even.  Pregnancy tests on your does to see if they've settled, and many more.

Once you get the hang of it it's quite a simple procedure.  I have found the recommended 1" x 20G needle works best in most cases.   I use this most always on everything - its easier to buy a case of all the same for larger herds.  But if you want a low down on what to use -

The 1"x20G is Perfect for standard size does -

 Bucks have a lot more muscle and thickness to their necks and it may be harder to find the vein.  I have used a 1"x18G needle and a 1.5"x20G and 1.5"x18G needle with successes.  I do not recommend using anything lighter or shorter then the 1"x20G for bucks.  It would be easy for them to snap a smaller needle off in their neck - not fun.

Mini's and younger animals are quite the opposite - having thiner and finer necks usually.  With these the vein is more readily available near the surface of the skin and a 3/4" length needle will work fine.  I still use a 1" usually - just don't plunge it in all the way as it goes through the vein and you get a syringe full of air.

Most blood samples are stored in the red top vacutainer tubes - 10 mL size.  I usually get mine from Amazon -

http://www.amazon.com/Vacutainer-B-D-Red-Top-mL/dp/B0018EKKX4

My first time out for a blood draw we had about 20 head to do, so I got in my practice.  I did shave necks as recommend that first time.  Now I only shave or trim the hair usually on the bucks and only if it's when they have their winter coats in.  Otherwise, it's usually easy enough to find without a shave.