The Rural Voice, 2001-11, Page 22Anything but cuddly
Farm animals are among the reasons farming is the most dangerous of
occupations. Understanding how animals think can save your life.
one of his Wingfield
Jn
plays, playwright Dan
Needles tells of
amateur farmer Walt
Wingfield being attacked
by a ram — and waking up
in hospital later. The
audience howls with
laughter as actor Rod
Beattie tells Walt's
harrowing tale.
In the movie City
Slickers, tenderfoot
cowboy Billy Crystal is
pulled across dusty prairie
and through sagebrush by
a runaway steer.
It's hilarious on stage or
screen but when a friend
who normally can see the
funnyside of any situation
told of the time a dairy
cow got her down and
attacked her again and
again until she thought she
might die, there was no
hint of laughter in her
voice.
When we think of danger on the
farm usually the vision of tractor
rollovers or people being caught in
PTO shafts comes to mind. These
grizzly dangers are indeed the largest
cause of farm deaths but between
1991 and 1995, 24 people across
Canada were killed in animal -related
farm accidents.
One U.S. survey of 15 states
showed animals were a factor in one
of every eight injuries reported,
ranking second to farm machinery in
the total number of cases. The good
news is that animal -related injuries
are, on average, less severe than
those involving machinery. Still,
many animal -related injuries are
serious and involved considerable
loss of time, money and productivity.
The same survey showed most of
the victims were males when it came
to cattle and hogs, but females
By Keith Roulston
.JC " 1
Cattle are the
20 THE RURAL VOICE
most frequent cause of animal -related farm
approached males in the number of
injuries involving horses and pets.
Going by age, children from 5-14
were most often bitten by dogs, but
cattle -related injuries were most
frequent among the 45-64 age group.
Horse -related injuries were suffered
most often by youngsters from 5-14
and young adults, 15-24. The most
frequent target of dangerous pigs'
were people from 25-64.
Experience with animals would
seem to count for a lot when it comes
to handling animals but research by
the Canadian Agricultural Injury
Surveillance Program (CAISP)
shows that senior men, 60 years of
age or older, account for nearly 60
per cent of work-related fatalities
involving animals. Farmers who have
handled livestock over a long time
may have developed a feel for
animals and their ways but even they
can be caught off guard, CAISP
accidents.
concludes.
Cattle account for
the vast majority of
fatalities involving
farm animals.
According to Clemson
University's extension
service, cattle
accounted for 68 of
144 animal -related
deaths in the
workplace in the U.S.
from 1992-1994, ii 54
cases -the victims
being farm workers
who were attacked,
mauled, rammed,
gored, trampled or
pinned against some
surface.
The U.S. survey of
15 states showed most
cattle and hog -related
injuries were suffered
in farm buildings and
adjacent yards while
most accidents with
horses happened outside in yards,
fields, lanes, woods and along public
roads.
Understanding animal behaviour
is a key to safe handling. Dr. Temple
Grandin, famous animal behaviour
specialist with Colorado State
University, says humans unwittingly
encourage behaviours that can later
become dangerous. For instance
never, she advises, play butting
games with calves. It's cute when
they are young but very dangerous
when they grow up. Never allow a
bull calf to push his head up against
you. Tell him to get back. If you
want to pet the calf, stroke him under
the chin, on the rear, or on the
withers (shoulder). Stroke him
anywhere except the forehead where
pressure will encourage butting.
Ed Price of the University of
California found that bull calves
raised in groups were much Tess