Regardless of whether or not you have any interest in natural methods at all for your daily management, I very much believe that these 5 herbs (or at the very least the first 3) should be kept on hand at all times. I certainly wish I would have had these 5 herbs on hand when I got started and that I would have known how to use them. I haven't always done things naturally, but the more I do it the more I appreciate the way each generation of my Nigerian herd that I take away from conventional methods gets stronger.
All 5 of these plants are fairly easy to grow, but some like comfrey and particularly echinacea will take a couple years to get established before you can harvest. You can find seeds and possibly plant starts for each of these herbs from Strictly Medicinal Seeds. If you prefer to buy them instead of growing, then I recommend Discount Dr. Christopher for high quality herbs and generally the best pricing.
So, lets get started.
#1 Cayenne (powder and tincture)
If I could only have one herb for dealing with emergencies then this would be it! It is the best blood stop powder I have found and it is antiseptic so it is great for those unexpected accidents that happen at the most inopportune times! I have used it on myself for bleeding cuts and it does not burn, but it occasionally gets a little bit warm; not painfully so. Unless you get it in the eyes or other mucous membranes in which case it burns like fire. Although, It won't harm the eyes, in fact, I know that some people even intentionally put a small amount into their eyes to enhance the circulation and improve eye sight. Cayenne is also excellent for stoping a heart attack, stroke, hypothermia, or any other emergency situation involving the cardiovascular system. It is also a good appetite stimulant and is very high in vitamin B and C. If you take into consideration all the above uses of cayenne you can imagine that it makes for an excellent herb to have in your birthing kit to use for newborns that are not getting up very quickly; or maybe only barely alive, or does that are hemorrhaging. It is best to use the tincture in these situations because it will give you the fastest response. I have used this on newborns many times and I firmly believe that it has saved their life on several occasions. It even saved a newborn duckling that was barely alive! I cannot recommend enough that you keep this herb on hand, in both tincture and powder form. Just make sure that if you buy it or grow it that it's a 35000 to 40000 HU variety of cayenne pepper, you can go hotter but there isn't a significant medicinal value. You can also use this herb to drive other herbs into the system faster when you have an emergency situation and need their effects to get where they need to go, FAST.
#2 Lobelia Inflata Tincture
I have used the tincture to immediately stop a seizure and I even discovered that you can take about 20cc of it in a drench gun and use it for a doe that is birthing and very tight inside by squirting it into the birth canal to relax and soften the muscles and tissue, making it noticeably easier to get your hand in within 15 or 20 minutes to reposition the kid. It also helps if you give a drop (orally) to newborns that have a lot of congested mucous in their airway to dilate their bronchial tubes. Another great thing about this herb is that it can actually help guide the effects of other herbs to right where they need to go in your creatures body. Which is called a "Lead Horse Plant" in herbalism.
This herb can also be used as an emetic (vomit inducer) if used at higher dosages, which can be helpful if you need a creature to expel something poisonous. However in low dosages it can actually help settle an upset stomach. You have to be careful not to overdo it with this one unless you want the emetic effects. In which case I would use 3-4 cc/ml per 30 pounds of animal every 10-15 minutes until vomiting starts.
Lobelia is controversial because of a compound in it called lobeline that is dangerous if used by itself (extracted from the rest of the plant) but when you take lobelia in its WHOLE state it is one of the safest herbs out there since it is impossible to overdose because of the emetic affect.
#3 Comfrey Powder
Its old fashioned name is "Knit-Bone" because that is exactly what it does; Knits broken bones and wounds back together. A few years ago, a 300lb. fuel barrel fell from 10 feet on my dad's heel as he was trying to get out from under it when it flipped off the front of a tractor loader. His big toe was the only thing that wasn't broken. The X-rays showed that everything else in his foot was dust. He talked to three different orthopedic specialists, all of whom said that without surgery he would never walk again normally and that even with surgery he would probably always have a limp and chronic pain. The surgeries would have been extensive and used multiple screws and plates. He elected not to do surgery and I had him taking 15-20 Dr. Christopher's BF&C capsules every day as well as using it in the salve. Seven weeks latter he started walking without a cast and within a few more months you couldn't tell that it had happened. Comfrey is the main ingredient in that formula and with what I know now, and having my family herbalist training from Dr. Christoper's school, I would have told him to take 50 of those capsules per day along with a half gallon of comfrey tea each day.
Comfrey is technically banned by the FDA for oral use (because they know that It works!). This is because scientists did experiments with one of the compounds in comfrey and found that it can cause liver damage if used by itself (extracted from the rest of the plant). So, that was used as a reason to have it banned. What they did not tell you was that comfrey has such small amounts of this compound that it takes 40 cups of comfrey tea per day for 40 years to reach the overdose!!!
Anytime one of my own goats gets injured (which thankfully isn't a regular problem) I would be using comfrey liberally both internally and externally to speed the healing process significantly. Beyond rest, physical support, or stitches, wounds and broken bones can potentially be treated alternatively, which is why I recommend having comfrey around even if you aren't interested in natural protocols as your main program for your herd.
#4 Echinacea Powder (preferably from the root)
Echinacea is an excellent immune stimulant, in fact, it is my favorite immune booster and I think it is even better than vitamin C, though, you could certainly use both simultaneously in a situation. It is such a strong immune stimulant that it is one of the best herbs for venomous snake or insect bites. I love using this one for pneumonia and anything where the immune system is lowered or there is an illness going around.
The key to its effectiveness is that it needs to be a fairly fresh herb or root (2 years at most). It is why a lot of people don't get good results from using store bought echinacea. Good echinacea will make your tongue tingle.
It is only effective for five days in a row before you need to take a two day break from using it before you can use it for another five days. It's a very safe herb so during that five days you can use it heavily. The two day break is to give the immune system a chance to reset from the hyper stimulated state and will make it more effective than if you used it non-stop.
#5 Raw Garlic
A powerful immune stimulant, antioxidant, anti-bacterial, ant-fungal and ant-viral herb! Two cloves of raw garlic are equivalent to an adult human dose of penicillin in its anti-biotic activity. However, you can use a lot more than two cloves at a time and it will not harm the good gut bacteria like antibiotics do. If you are using it for medicine it needs to be fresh and raw because the most important ingredient oxidizes within 15 minutes of cutting a clove open. Sometimes if they need it, my dairy goats will gobble the raw cloves right up (peel them first). Other-times, I will run the cloves through a garlic press, mix with molasses, and spoon it into my goats mouth immediately. Garlic is very easy to grow and will survive in less than ideal conditions. Use whatever fresh garlic you can find, but if you decide to start growing it try to find a porcelain family garlic as it has the highest medicinal potency. Music is a fairly popular porcelain garlic.
To Summarize...
Use cayenne tincture for: Stroke, internal or external bleeding, heart attack, shock from pain or an allergic reaction, hypothermia or any time an animals body temperature has dropped too low, slow or struggling to get going newborns, pain, and running other herbs through the system faster. Use cayenne powder for: As a topical for external bleeding, pain, to stimulate appetite, energy booster, everything the tincture is used for if you don't have the tincture (mix the powder with hot (not so hot it will burn) water to speed its absorption). Use lobelia for: Guiding other herbs where they need to go, seizures, dilating the bronchial tubes, relaxing muscles and tissue (especially in the uterus during birthing), as a vomit inducer if something toxic was just eaten. Use comfrey for: Wounds, broken bones, bruises, as a blood stopper if you don't have cayenne, burns. Use echinacea for: Stimulating the immune system, counteracting venoms, mastitis. Use garlic for: Viral, fungal, cancerous, or bacterial issues, mastitis, abscesses, immune system.
Dosing...
Generally I use around a 1/4 tsp. of herb per 30 pounds of animal, but in an acute situation I will work up to triple or quadruple that amount over the course of half a day and give every 3 hours that the animal is awake. In an emergency I will use quadruple that immediately, and then back down over several hours to minimize the chance of getting an acidosis problem started with too much of something new to their digestive tract. For tinctures I will use about 2cc/ml per 30 pounds of animal. In an acute situation I will triple or quadruple that and dose every 3 hours just like with dry herbs. Except for the lobelia, since it is a vomit inducer I won't go more than double that 2cc/ml per 30 pounds unless I want the emetic effect.
Of course, per the FDA I have to add a disclaimer to this since I am not a medical professional. *These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. This information is for educational purposes only.