Farmer Killed TB testing

RE: Farmer Killed TB testing

Andreas Ege — Fri, 30 Sep 2022 09:42:24 GMT

Sad these things happen. Had a farmer air lifted once after getting injured during a Tb-test, almost died after an allergic reaction to the morphine they gave him. Wild cattle and a sub-optimal set-up, to put it mildly. Back to square one after he recovered.

Unfortunately I think the British way of handling cattle is inherently unsafe, at least around the Welsh-Herefordshire-Shropshire border I did all my cattle work in Britain. With the race and crush system the cattle is already worked up before you do anything to them, as they only ever get put through this if something happens they don't like. When I came over to Britain at first I wasn't sure if the cattle is more difficult/ dangerous because I was only doing beef cattle/ suckler herds compared to almost only doing dairy in Germany but even the dairy cows are wilder than the German dairy, in average. (edit: at least that's how it was about 14 years ago)

In Germany, all dairy and most beef farmers use self-locking feeding barriers and this makes a huge difference. Cattle is much easier to handle, they go in the feeding barrier multiple times day in, day out and nothing nasty happens, so they are much quieter to start with. I had one farm with a big number of fairly wild suckler cows and fattening stock. They put self-locking feeding barriers in a couple of their sheds and I was testing the first bunch of cattle - mostly pregnant cows or cows with calf at foot - a few days after they were put in, and testing was so much easier and faster than the race and crush system used for the rest. Same with a group of heifers a bit later. Were testing them very quickly just with one vet and the farmer. After releasing the tested animal straight away they normally just move away and then are back in the barrier to feed a few minutes later. Obviously, that takes investment, isn't suitable everywhere and doesn't work for a really nasty animal. But most of them just want to get away from you.

The notion that the vet becomes responsible for a farmer's safety during a visit is in my opinion just ridiculous. Of course, we could refuse to work and leave if the farmer takes ridiculous risks, but that would mean every vet has to do it to a similar level of safety concerns. How realistic is this? On one of my jobs I didn't have the support not to visit a farm after a crush side door blew in my face and the farmer admitting he knew about that and that the previous vet had insisted of tying the door closed for that reason. The boss blamed me for not checking the equipment beforehand - sorry, I can rattle that crush as much as I want, I'm not gonna put anywhere near as much force on it as a 300kg+ beast crashing into the yokes at full speed. Even as an experienced cattle vet respected by most farmers I hardly ever managed stopping farmers from doing something stupid, a less experienced vet or even recent graduate won't have the slightest chance. I'm more than willing to take responsibility for my end of things including assistant staff I might take with me, but I'm not willing to take responsibility for the farmer's end of things.

RE: Farmer Killed TB testing

cairncross — Fri, 30 Sep 2022 04:52:47 GMT

Guess this depends on areas and individuals , Cousins cattle in us only handled once per year is my only experience , small holders here tended to be reasonably equiped , it was the larger farms which here in NI always seemed to have short term rental land and facilities where no one was willing to spend anything on facilities.

I suppose we tale a far bigger risk simply by joining the profession the risks of losses to mental health is probably greater than to animal accudents

RE: Farmer Killed TB testing

niamhjl — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 14:44:38 GMT

The original link is for an old incident, but there has been a very similar incident in the same area in the last week, here is a link for the current story:

https://www.fwi.co.uk/business/business-management/health-and-safety/dairy-farmer-killed-by-bull-during-tb-testing-on-welsh-farm

I find the commentary in the article interesting, with at least 2 people quoted as blaming the TB testing “system” for the death, rather than the animals behaviour, or health and safety procedures on the farm.

RE: Farmer Killed TB testing

Arlo Guthrie — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 13:56:42 GMT

[quote userid="5464" url="~/001/nonclinical/f/life-in-practice-discussions/30432/farmer-killed-tb-testing/239347#239347"]Story is from 2013[/quote]

Oops!

RE: Farmer Killed TB testing

Chris Geddes — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 13:52:28 GMT

Sad, but news? Story is from 2013

RE: Farmer Killed TB testing

Neil Wheadon — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 13:18:14 GMT

[quote userid="3169" url="~/001/nonclinical/f/life-in-practice-discussions/30432/farmer-killed-tb-testing/239344#239344"]Whilst I understand this is a terrible tragedy for the family and the vet involved, it's one of those things we risk when it comes to working with large animals. My personal view is that we don't need a knee jerk reaction to a rare set of events. I work with cattle every day and have has some injuries, but generally try and keep as safe as we can. If you don't want to take the risk, farm rabbits instead. [/quote]

Whilst I wouldn't quite say it like Michael, farming isn't safe. Never underestimate it. I recall lots of vets deployed to DEFRA post FMD, TB testing that simply couldn't work there way round a crush, getting hands damaged.

I recall a conversation with a farmer a few years ago about various accidents. A wife wondering where her husband had gone, crushed by a tree, farmers killed by bulls and the most bizarre, Mr Meatyard (yes really) run over by his own landrover which he left running whilst feeding bullocks that did a gentle circle and ran him over.

A friend was college had his career finished when checking cattle in a crush, someone had 'borrowed' the linch pin from the back gate, cow kicked backwards... an air ambulance was needed

The closest I came to death was blackberry picking, looked down (no idea why) and was about to fall in the slurry tank where someone had left the manhole cover off

I'm sounding older, but check these out https://maflingo.com/1970s-public-information-films/ I vividly remember seeing Apache's at school as we were all shown it. We need to talk about danger

Neil

RE: Farmer Killed TB testing

Bob Russell — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 12:59:12 GMT

I have had broken ribs, trodden on feet but oddly enough never been kicked! I have had some pretty scary moments treating and testing bulls.

Farming is a dangerous occupation and I have to say, tragic though this is, it is what occasionally happens. I am sure far more get injured or killed in machinery accidents.

I hope the vet has good insurance because I seem to remember a vet being held responsible for an injury in the past during testing. It seems he/she should have known it was dangerous and refused to continue with the test.

Rotten thing for the vet to have witnessed though.

RE: Farmer Killed TB testing

Michael Woodhouse — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 12:36:33 GMT

Whilst I understand this is a terrible tragedy for the family and the vet involved, it's one of those things we risk when it comes to working with large animals. My personal view is that we don't need a knee jerk reaction to a rare set of events. I work with cattle every day and have has some injuries, but generally try and keep as safe as we can. If you don't want to take the risk, farm rabbits instead.

I'm absolutely certain that a helmet would not have helped with anything (cow or horse related), but I've explained my view to Jill, and no need to reopen that can of worms.

RE: Farmer Killed TB testing

Richard Carter — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 08:48:48 GMT

[quote userid="19228" url="~/001/nonclinical/f/life-in-practice-discussions/30432/farmer-killed-tb-testing/239329#239329"]not huge herds semi wild on the plains or pampas. [/quote]

Thanks but a bit of a myth- cattle are handled regularly and sometimes weekly for parasite and other preventative programmes so they quite used to people around, noise, being herded and the races.

It also then makes sense to have proper facilities like head clamps and tilt tables and the worst work as in U.K. is the ‘plottie’ (smallholder) or hobby farmer with some bailing twine as equipment.

But there injuries- human vs cow moving at speed isn’t a contest

RE: Farmer Killed TB testing

Arlo Guthrie — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 07:53:11 GMT

[quote userid="20100" url="~/001/nonclinical/f/life-in-practice-discussions/30432/farmer-killed-tb-testing/239320#239320"]It's also about restraining the animal.[/quote]

Coopers Wamae - When you posted this, your first sentence was formatted as a heading (I have changed it now), and so it looked like part of the restraint guidelines you shared, which you also didn't make clear that you were sharing from another site: https://www.ukfrs.com/guidance/search/physical-control-or-restraint-animal

That made it look kind of weird and rather confusing! Could you please make sure that when you post, your text is just normal size and font, and that anything you paste from elsewhere is referenced. In this case, you could have posted "It's also about restraining the animal, as per these guidelines from the National Fire Chiefs Council ... Thanks.

RE: Farmer Killed TB testing

cairncross — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 06:37:21 GMT

History.and economy of scale

Our farming systems and husbandry were of managing small numbers with individual hands on approach, not huge herds semi wild on the plains or pampas.

Much of the facilities I used to TB test In did not belong to the cattle owner but were built by a farmer now retired or deceased 1 or 2 generations ago and now them or the family rent the land and facilities out to a more "progressive farmer" whom we followed from one location to the next with ever decreasing standards

I am equally guilty in that I have a small herd of 30 BGAs and test them through a facility built 50 years ago , I can at least set it up to keep the vet clear of the cattle but have to get in the pen with them myself. The economics of building a new system don't remotely add up.

RE: Farmer Killed TB testing

Coopers Wamae — Wed, 28 Sep 2022 13:19:23 GMT

It's also about restraining the animal.

----------------------------------

It may be necessary to control or restrain the animal using physical methods; this may need to be carried out in conjunction with chemical restraint methods.

Physical control or restraint may be essential in some situations, for example:

To prevent worsening of an incident, especially if human life or safety is involved
To enable an entrapped animal to be released
To remove the animal from a place of danger to a place of safety
To prevent injury to emergency responders
When administering first aid to the animal

Before attempting to physically gain control or restraint of an animal, the activity should be risk assessed, including the following considerations:

The species, size and behaviour of the animal
The impact on the animal in terms of potential injury or distress
The environment
The resources and equipment available

Physically controlling or restraining an animal may include using equipment such as:

Muzzles

May be purpose-made or improvised, and often used for dogs
Assessment of the animal will determine the type of muzzle required
Slip leads
Can be used to control a non-aggressive dog
Can be used as a pair, one from each side of the animal, (known as double leading) to provide additional control
Rigid leads or graspers
Should be used if the behaviour of a dog is unknown
Can be used for some wild animals, such as foxes and badgers
Can be used as a pair to provide additional control
Snake tongs or graspers
Can be used to capture and restrain snakes and other animals, such as cats

Nets

Can be used for many species of smaller animals, but need to be suitable for the size and strength of the animal
May be of a traditional hoop, triangle or square type
Other types, such as throw nets or ‘walk toward’ nets can be used
Extension poles
Lightweight, interlocking, aluminium poles that can provide additional reach when controlling or restraining an animal
Capture or restraining equipment, such as graspers or nets, can be attached to the extension poles
Towels, cloths or blankets

May be purpose-made or improvised, and can assist with the capture and control of a range of smaller animals and deer

Covering the head or eyes may calm some species.

Halters

May be purpose-made or improvised, and are mainly used to control the head of larger domesticated animals, or if the animal is being chemically restrained

Can be used for smaller livestock such as goats, sheep and young bovines

Head collars

Purpose-made devices, in a range of sizes, primarily for the head control of equines

RE: Farmer Killed TB testing

lisashaul — Wed, 28 Sep 2022 13:00:29 GMT

How awful.

The article mentions chest injuries, so only body armour might have helped.

I've witnessed a similar serious attack back in 2002, it was terrifying trying to get the cow to leave off the farmer and pray the ambulance was quick.

My tolerance for cattle handling injuries (mainly from TB testing) finally deserted me when I got horned in the abdomen when pregnant. I found I couldn't face cattle practice after that maternity leave. I'd had too many near misses during a difficult pregnancy and my subconscious brain refused to forgive.

Joing the SVS (now APHA) was an eye-opener.

An expectation to only handle cattle through safe and safely manned systems. Having said that, we still racked up injuries when unwary.

It may have changed in the last 7 years, but I just could never understand the British bodge-job approach to cattle handling systems compared to the wide-spread, no-brainer, safe US and commercial southern African approach.