Cattle Boss surgical tubing 4m (13')

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Surgical tubing is one of those supplies that gets bought for one job and then used for a dozen. On a farm it becomes a tourniquet for raising a vein, a length of line for a gravity setup, a siphon, a stretchy tie, sleeving to pad a chain or a wire, and a way to protect a hose from chafing. Four metres is the size to buy if you have a particular job in mind rather than an ongoing need. It gives you enough for several tourniquets or one decent run, and it costs a fraction of the fifteen metre roll. If you know you will keep cutting pieces off it all year, buy the long roll instead, because the price per metre is much better. Rubber is what makes it useful. It stretches, it grips itself, and it stays flexible when it is cold, which vinyl tubing does not. The flip side is that rubber perishes: sunlight, oil and ozone all age it, and old tubing goes tacky then splits. Store it out of the sun and away from fuel and oil, coiled loosely rather than kinked. Wash and dry it after anything wet or bloody. Replace it when it feels sticky, looks crazed or has lost its snap, particularly if you are using it as a tourniquet where a break at the wrong moment costs you the vein.