Farm worker crushed by bull suffered punctured lung and broken ribs after beast panicked during 'blow-dry'

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A Perthshire farmer who thought she was going to die while being crushed by a bull has urged livestock workers to take extra precautions.Carol Rettie – who farms just outside Perth with husband Richard – was left unable to see, with five broken ribs and a punctured lung when a bull she was blow-drying ahead of a sale turned on her.The normally quiet beast panicked when she dropped the dryer and repeatedly slammed Carol into a gate, crushing her body.

Carol, who runs a bull livery service with Richard, said she thought “this is it, I’m not getting out of this” before passing out.Richard heard the struggle and raised the alarm and a Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA) crew flew Carol to Ninewells where she underwent surgery to her eyes and ear.

The couple shared their story to raise awareness of dangers and urge more farmers to take care.Recalling the incident, Carol said: “I’d washed the bull and was getting him ready for blow-drying when things changed completely in just a matter of seconds.

All I did was flick the drier flex to get a little more length to work with but that simple action startled him, leading to me dropping the hose of the blower.“The hose then started to snake underneath him because I couldn’t turn it off, which startled him even more and I got slammed into the side against the gate multiple times.’’Fortunately, there was a split second when the bull turned – allowing Carol to free herself – the next thing she remembers is lying on the concrete, unable to see and struggling to breathe.Richard, who was feeding some cattle nearby at the time, said: “The air ambulance arrived shortly after and they were brilliant.