Like most of us, Co Clare suckler farmer Sean Hayes always thought that getting attacked by an animal was something that happened to somebody else.
Somebody perhaps older or younger than him, someone that wasn’t experienced with livestock, or somebody that didn’t know the animal or what they were doing. This wasn’t the case for him.
It’s been a month since the attack and thankfully he is doing well. But he is lucky to be alive. And it’s only now, upon reflection, that the seriousness of the incident is starting to hit home.
“The doctor told me at the check-up last week that I am a very lucky man.
"The damage to my chest-bone and ribs had damaged the wall of my heart and my lungs. He said one more blow to the chest and it was lights out.”
Saturday morning, 21 September
Sean runs a tidy operation. His suckler herd is made up of 70 top-quality continental suckler cows. Bulls are slaughtered under 16 months, some heifers are kept for breeding and surplus cows are fattened. Forty five cows calve in the spring, another 25 calve in the autumn. This breaks up his workload and affords him more time with his off-farm job.
The scene of the accident: Sean was attacked 15 yards out from the hedge, but the bull pucked him the whole way to the hedge and under the electric fence.
On Saturday morning, 21 September, at around 7.30am, Sean was bringing in five maiden heifers and his vasectomised bull.
The breeding season was about to begin and Sean had his local vet booked to carry out a pre-breeding scan on the heifers. It was a routine task, one he has done many times before.
“Everything was going grand,” Sean recalled. “I threw a few nuts on the ground and the heifers and the bull started coming towards the gate.
"I walked around behind them to turn them into the yard. I had a stick with me.”
I let a good shout at him and he gave me the impression he was going to go out the gate
However just as the heifers made their way through the gate, Sean said the bull hesitated. “He stopped for a minute and turned back his head.
"I let a good shout at him and he gave me the impression he was going to go out the gate. Within a split second he was on top of me.”
The electric fence on Sean's Co Clare farm. He woke up under the fence after his three-year-old bull pucked him across the field.
The attack happened about 15 yards from the hedge bordering the yard.
Without knowing how, Sean found himself lying beside the hedge, close enough to pull himself under the double-strand of electric wire.
He can only assume the bull pucked him the whole way over.
Looking back now, it was the speed of the attack that Sean is still struggling to comprehend.
“It’s hard to believe, but I never saw it happening. I never even got time to swing the stick.”
Scramble
But getting to the safety of the electric fence was only half the battle.
“I knew I could have closed my eyes and just lay there. But I honestly thought I was punctured internally and that I probably needed a hospital fast.”
He should have had a phone in his pocket, but it wasn’t there. It was later found lying in the field where the attack happened.
She reacted quickly, called Sean’s wife Marica and within 25 minutes he was in the back of an ambulance
Sean managed to make his way through the hedge, across a nearby stack of wrapped silage and eventually struggled to his mother Ena’s house about 200m away.
She reacted quickly, called Sean’s wife Marica and within 25 minutes he was in the back of an ambulance on his way to University Hospital Limerick.
The attack left him with five broken ribs, a fractured chest bone, internal bruising and a busted nose for good measure
Sean spent five nights in hospital – three in the High Dependency Unit (HDU) and a further two in a general ward.
Sean says that the care and attention he received from all medical staff was second-to-none.
The attack left him with five broken ribs, a fractured chest bone, internal bruising and a busted nose for good measure. He received no serious head injuries.
Aftermath
One month on from the injury, Sean’s activities are limited to walking around the farm counting the cattle.
He can sit up on the tractor, but even closing the door is an agonising task. Lifting bags of meal is out of the question for a good while longer.
He owes a great deal of gratitude to his local farming community and friends, particularly his cousin Eoin Hayes and his neighbour Pete Considine.
Since the day of the accident, they have kept the show on the road, feeding and herding livestock daily, all while balancing their own farms and jobs.
He also gave a special word of thanks to his wife Marica and son Charlie for their “care and pateince”.
“Unfortunately it can take something like this to make you really appreciate how important your neighbours, friends and family are. They’ve kept everything going and for that, I’m extremely thankful.”
Like most of us, Co Clare suckler farmer Sean Hayes always thought that getting attacked by an animal was something that happened to somebody else.
Somebody perhaps older or younger than him, someone that wasn’t experienced with livestock, or somebody that didn’t know the animal or what they were doing. This wasn’t the case for him.
It’s been a month since the attack and thankfully he is doing well. But he is lucky to be alive. And it’s only now, upon reflection, that the seriousness of the incident is starting to hit home.
“The doctor told me at the check-up last week that I am a very lucky man.
"The damage to my chest-bone and ribs had damaged the wall of my heart and my lungs. He said one more blow to the chest and it was lights out.”
Saturday morning, 21 September
Sean runs a tidy operation. His suckler herd is made up of 70 top-quality continental suckler cows. Bulls are slaughtered under 16 months, some heifers are kept for breeding and surplus cows are fattened. Forty five cows calve in the spring, another 25 calve in the autumn. This breaks up his workload and affords him more time with his off-farm job.
The scene of the accident: Sean was attacked 15 yards out from the hedge, but the bull pucked him the whole way to the hedge and under the electric fence.
On Saturday morning, 21 September, at around 7.30am, Sean was bringing in five maiden heifers and his vasectomised bull.
The breeding season was about to begin and Sean had his local vet booked to carry out a pre-breeding scan on the heifers. It was a routine task, one he has done many times before.
“Everything was going grand,” Sean recalled. “I threw a few nuts on the ground and the heifers and the bull started coming towards the gate.
"I walked around behind them to turn them into the yard. I had a stick with me.”
I let a good shout at him and he gave me the impression he was going to go out the gate
However just as the heifers made their way through the gate, Sean said the bull hesitated. “He stopped for a minute and turned back his head.
"I let a good shout at him and he gave me the impression he was going to go out the gate. Within a split second he was on top of me.”
The electric fence on Sean's Co Clare farm. He woke up under the fence after his three-year-old bull pucked him across the field.
The attack happened about 15 yards from the hedge bordering the yard.
Without knowing how, Sean found himself lying beside the hedge, close enough to pull himself under the double-strand of electric wire.
He can only assume the bull pucked him the whole way over.
Looking back now, it was the speed of the attack that Sean is still struggling to comprehend.
“It’s hard to believe, but I never saw it happening. I never even got time to swing the stick.”
Scramble
But getting to the safety of the electric fence was only half the battle.
“I knew I could have closed my eyes and just lay there. But I honestly thought I was punctured internally and that I probably needed a hospital fast.”
He should have had a phone in his pocket, but it wasn’t there. It was later found lying in the field where the attack happened.
She reacted quickly, called Sean’s wife Marica and within 25 minutes he was in the back of an ambulance
Sean managed to make his way through the hedge, across a nearby stack of wrapped silage and eventually struggled to his mother Ena’s house about 200m away.
She reacted quickly, called Sean’s wife Marica and within 25 minutes he was in the back of an ambulance on his way to University Hospital Limerick.
The attack left him with five broken ribs, a fractured chest bone, internal bruising and a busted nose for good measure
Sean spent five nights in hospital – three in the High Dependency Unit (HDU) and a further two in a general ward.
Sean says that the care and attention he received from all medical staff was second-to-none.
The attack left him with five broken ribs, a fractured chest bone, internal bruising and a busted nose for good measure. He received no serious head injuries.
Aftermath
One month on from the injury, Sean’s activities are limited to walking around the farm counting the cattle.
He can sit up on the tractor, but even closing the door is an agonising task. Lifting bags of meal is out of the question for a good while longer.
He owes a great deal of gratitude to his local farming community and friends, particularly his cousin Eoin Hayes and his neighbour Pete Considine.
Since the day of the accident, they have kept the show on the road, feeding and herding livestock daily, all while balancing their own farms and jobs.
He also gave a special word of thanks to his wife Marica and son Charlie for their “care and pateince”.
“Unfortunately it can take something like this to make you really appreciate how important your neighbours, friends and family are. They’ve kept everything going and for that, I’m extremely thankful.”
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