10:48am Wednesday 20th June 2007
A HEALTH and safety expert has warned farmers to treat beef bulls with the same respect as dairy beasts after a man died.
Norman Hunter, who died at his farm in Gunnerside, Swaledale, North Yorkshire, in March, is believed to have been gored by a young bull when he entered a cattle pen to check for missing ear tags.
An inquest in Richmond yesterday was told that Mr Hunter's body was discovered by a neighbour in the utility room of the farmhouse. It is believed that he staggered from the yard before he collapsed.
Police initially thought the 46-year-old had been attacked by intruders, but later ruled that out.
A post-mortem examination showed that Mr Hunter died from crush injuries to his chest, lungs and liver.
Charles Challis, an inspector with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), told the hearing that Mr Hunter had probably entered a pen with three in-calf cows and a two-year-old Belgian blue cross limousin bull.
It is not unusual for beef bulls and cows to be housed together and the cows were unlikely to attack because they had not yet calved. Mr Challis said: "A young bull is very playful, has a strong head and it will butt.
"It may have simply gored him or rolled him along the ground playfully, rather than aggressively.
"With a bull, there is not much difference between play and aggression sometimes."
HSE guidance was to separate a bull from cows before entering a pen, or to have someone on hand to watch the bull, the hearing heard.
Although dairy bulls were more aggressive than beef animals, most bull accidents investigated by the HSE involved beef cattle because farmers were generally not as wary of them.
He said; "I would remind farmers that a beef bull can be a dangerous animal. Often it is a home-reared animal that the farmer has grown up with, but the point comes when it matures and is a strong and potentially dangerous male animal prepared to show its dominance."
Coroner Geoff Fell recorded a verdict of accidental death.
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