In a farm survey conducted years ago, farm wives and partners were asked what was the worst job on the farm they had to help with. From memory I believe, helping weigh bulls was right up there at the top.
Having farmed about a 1000 bulls as part of my stock mix, I can understand the reluctance. While I never had an injury during that time, I was constantly amazed at the power,speed and destruction of these large animals.
Raising bulls is a specialist operation and the knowledge and facilities needs to match this enterprise. My farm advisor stated once, that some of his best farmers raised bulls,....and some of his worst! With farms getting bigger, and staff required to service them, farm safety is now even more important, and the penalties for slackness are getting severe.
Share with us your hairy bull stories, and tell us how you farmed these aggressive but often very profitable animals, safely.
Experienced staff at Broadbridge Transport have been given the task of finding a safer way of unloading bulls from stock trucks, the company owner says. The move comes after Kevin Jones, one of the company's stock drivers, was attacked and seriously injured by a "mad" bull while unloading at CMP Marlborough, near Blenheim, on Tuesday last week.
Broadbridge Transport owner Weir Broadbridge said unloading bulls was a "dangerous business" and he was racking the brains of his most experienced drivers for safer ways of unloading stock. Mr Jones told The Marlborough Express last week he should not have been hiding behind a gate when unloading the bulls.Mr Broadbridge said he should have left the crates, or been on top, when he released the bulls.
"You don't realise how big they are. A 650kg bull is huge. The bull was stressed before it even got on the truck." Mr Jones, 50, was unloading his truck at the meatworks last Tuesday night when the bull charged at him, breaking his leg badly.
The Department of Labour says it has been called to 32 serious harm incidents involving cattle in the 12 months to November 11, including three in the Blenheim region.
1 Comments
Bulls are easy if you take your time. Those steers from the Chatams are something else, I find stags the worst but then I was bought up with bulls. Of the 1000's I've handled only a small percentage were a problem, risk is often not where we expect to find it, which can be a problem, but farming I think it's much safer today,the moving parts are covered, our tractors have cabs and brakes,4 wheelers are better on a hill than any landrover. Most bulls are behind electric wires a lot of their lives and used to people, if there is a problem it could be from the move to more Jersey in our cows and a lack of stockmanship.
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