Farm Animal Safety

Soundguy · Oct 7, 2006

Ok.. I'm posting this as much for your enjoyment, as for a serious warning.

For those of us that raise animals.. just because we are handling domestic animals.. always be mindfull that any animal can injure you.. even small and seemingly 'harmless' ones.

That's right. souNdguy had to have 1" of rooster spur removed from his back.. had to go in today to get my tetanus shot and pick up some antibiotics, and let the doc look at how the puncture was healing. ( healing well ).

I have some pretty big rhode isle red roosters, as well as some game and other variety. i generally keep the roosters in seperate pens, down the row of my hog pens.. however I do leave one rooster in my big coop.. I've found a big rooster will kill snakes and run mice away from the grain tubs.

I guess I adjatated this one... he had about 3" spurs...

Anyway.. after your done laughing.. do think about safety. My doc reminded me that the last time I was in was also from an animal induced injury.. a horse kick to the shoulder.. lets be safe on our farms... most of us think about tractor safety.. but lets watch that livestock too.

Soundguy

3RRL · Oct 7, 2006

Couldn't help laughing Chris, ...LOL...I bet you don't feel too "cocky" around them chickens anymore?

I hear you about taking for granted being around domestic animals though. I had a friend who moved up to Apple Valley and got himself 2 horses. Somehow he managed to get "bit" by one on the back of his arm. He told me it almost bit a chunk off!!

BTDT · Oct 7, 2006

Biting horses. There is a place in Kaufman that's been in the news lately for horses that bite.

browns40 · Oct 7, 2006

Sorry to hear it Soundguy...

If that were me I'd have been "spurred" to have a nice chicken dinner... oh, sorry, that was bad...

When I was a kid we had one that just loved my older sister's head (she was too scared to punt the rooster)... one day he got her pretty good... Dad taught me the finer points of axe use & plucking later that night!

roxynoodle · Oct 7, 2006

Roosters can be mean. So are geese. There are reasons people use geese as "guard dogs". When horses graze, they clamp onto the grass with their teeth then use their head and neck to rip it out by pulling away. They have incredibly strong necks, which is what makes their bite bad. I experienced an awful horse kick that will cause me problems for the rest of my life. My ex MIL bought a horse she had no business buying. She had never had horses and just went out and bought an Arab mare that definitely needed an experienced handler. She also bred the horse with no advice. Needless to say, she couldn't handle the horse and brought it to my house. About a month before the mare foaled she colicked, layed down and rolled and got cast in her stall. I didn't think I was even anywhere close enough to get kicked but apparently I was wrong. I was just looking at her trying to figure out where we could get a rope on her to move her away from the wall. Well I never saw it coming but she kicked me right in the face. I did a backflip in the air, and hit the front of the stall about 10 feet from where I had been standing. I broke the right half of my upper jaw right off my skull, my nose, only one tooth somehow, my cheekbone, and pretty much shattered my maxillary sinus. I have had a sinus infection for nearly 10 years now that surgeries and antibiotics have failed to cure. So, yes, despite how much experience you have, you can miscalculate and be seriously injured. The only good things I can say are that I'm alive and look amazingly uninjured. You would never guess from looking at me that this happened. Just remember that many farm animals are much stronger than people. Horses, cattle, goats, pigs and sheep can all injure you pretty easily. And I guess I should add roosters to that list.

AndyMA · Oct 7, 2006

Chris sorry to hear about your problem. Hope it heals quickly. When I was a kid I agot 2 easter chicks. They both turned out to be "mean" large roosters. I couldn't get near theircage with out getting pecked (and my fingers bleading). Being a kid, my Dad gave them to someone who could take better care of them. I wonder how long it was before they were on the dining room table for dinner?

Andy

Bird · Oct 7, 2006

Andy, there is a way to break roosters of attacking. See my post in this thread.

QRTRHRS · Oct 7, 2006

Might as well add my horse incident to this thread.

One of our barns has only a six foot wide aisle with stalls on both sides. The stall doors swing open like a normal entry door rather than slide. My normal habit was to swing the doors into the stalls after letting the horse out.

For non horse folks, you need to be careful about letting horses out because they may charge once you unlatch that door. Some more than others and while you might be able to work on this bad habit, often as not it does not happen. With a lot of horses to tend to, you move quickly and at the right moment.

Anyway, as I unlatched the door on the last horse out one day, she took off as soon as she heard that click. She flung the door against me, throwing me acrossed the aisle, into the opposing stall where upon I bounced off of the wall. I guess because she burst out so fast, she did not turn to go out rather, she followed me in, turned around on me then went right back into her stall and stood there confused.

I got up, assessing my situation, got her door closed and managed to make it to my house even though I was blacking out. My wife called the EMS people and we managed to get my pants and sweatshirt changed because I was covered with manure.

After a some testing and three or four hours of resting, the doctors decided that I did not have a concussion, that I had simply hit the wall so hard she knocked me silly. Beyond that, I was black and blue from one end to the other but had nothing broken.

Soundguy · Oct 8, 2006

Yikes. .. I'm just waiting to get 'really' hurt by one of my larger animals.. I've already had a cow push me over a couple times, and been kicked by my horse... I've had one shoot into a stall I just opened and walked in to clean, and then the horse gets all turned around and the whites of it's eyes start to show. Makes ya think pretty hard there for a few seconds. Glad yours turned out to be just bruising.

My back seems to be healing up pretty good. It stopped draining, and the doc said there was alread some 'exhudate' tissue forming.. I probably misspelled that.. but that's what it sounde dlike he said.. anyway.. he made it sound like that stuff was a 'good' thing... so I'll take his word on it.. etc.

I guess the tetanus shot and 1500mg/day of cephalexin are doing their job.

Soundguy

roxynoodle · Oct 8, 2006

I hope you feel better soon.

Had an elderly woman who lived across the road tell me a story about a cow picking up her father and throwing him against a wall. He cut his head open on some tool that was hanging there. Horses and stall doors can always be an issue. Two of my horses are blind in one eye so doorways can be interesting some days. So can out in the open in the pasture! The little mare came running up to me, misjudged and her front leg got tangled up in one of my legs and we both fell down. BTW, I think sliding doors are safer and when I built my new barn, sliders went on every stall. I also have a friend that raises goats and she didn't used to dehorn the billies until one came running up to her, jumped up and one of his horns went through her upper lip! Now all goats are dehorned. Sometimes just due to their size and strength they can hurt you when they don't mean to.