Bull gored farmer who drove it from cows, inquest told
A bull gored its owner to death in a rage at being driven out of a field of cows, an inquest heard today.
Wesley Forster, 73, was flung into the air and stamped on as the animal went berserk.
His wife Violet and grandson watched in horror as the veteran farmer was attacked at their home in Newtownbutler, Co Fermanagh, last August.
Mrs Forster told Enniskillen Coroner’s Court today: “What’s in my memory is the bull just butting him up and him falling down.
“Then I maybe looked away. In my torment I mightn’t have watched when the bull went back at him. But there’s something in my memory that I can still see him being thrown into the air.”
The Charolais bull was the most aggressive they had dealt with in over 40 years of farming, the inquest was told.
Its agitation was shown by regular bouts of digging the ground, snorting and shaking its head. On one occasion it also head-butted a tractor wheel.
But its temper erupted with deadly consequences after Mr Forster discovered it had gone in with a herd of his neighbour’s cows.
He forced the bull out, beating it with a stick as he tried to drive it back down a lane to his own Kilmore Farm.
But when they passed the farmer’s own cattle in an adjacent field the bull attacked.
Health and Safety officer Brian Pryce agreed with Corner Brian Sherrard’s assessment that this contributed to the goring.
“The bull was probably angry at being moved from a field of cows in the first place,” Mr Sherrard said. “Then driving down a pathway, going past more cows, would further have agitated the bull.”
Mrs Forster, who had come out to see what was taking her husband so long, thought he was already dead when she ran to his side.
Blood was pouring from his head, the damage caused by striking the concrete laneway.
But after her grandson saw his leg moving an ambulance arrived to take him to the Erne Hospital from where he was transferred to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.
Mr Forster’s condition deteriorated rapidly and he died the next day.
The goring had inflicted multiple injuries, including rib and skull fractures, along with bleeding and bruising to the brain which caused fatal swelling.
Although the farmer was a diabetic who had undergone heart bypass surgery to replace a valve, a pathologist said the attack would have killed even the healthiest of men.
The bull was put down immediately, but Mr Pryce warned farmers they may have to take drastic action with any dangerous animals among their herds.
He said: “There needs to be consideration taken about whether (aggressive) bulls should be destroyed,” he told the hearing.
“With regard to the movement of bulls, obviously every situation is different and needs to be assessed, but maybe further assistance by other individuals is required or the use of vehicles. Animals by their very nature are unpredictable.”
In his findings Mr Sherrard said the animal, with a reputation for aggression, was distracted by being taken away from the herd of cows and then passing more cattle.
The bull struck Mr Forster, causing his head to hit the concrete path.
Offering his sympathies to the dead man’s family, he told them: “We owe a great debt of gratitude to the farming community who often work in uncomfortable and dangerous conditions for the benefit of the rest of society.
“Mr Forster devoted his life to farming and this showed that even the most experienced of farmers should be constantly alert to the risks that go with that profession.”
