DANGEROUS---- PLEASE HANDLE WITH CARE

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 19, 15 October 1937, Page 31 (Supplement)

DANGEROUS---- PLEASE HANDLE WITH CARE

Bulls, like cinema stars, are temperamental. The bull ring, pole and chain are cheap insurance policies that will prevent loss of life and injury.

WE: 'VE rearod him ourselves from • .-the time he was a calf, and he's always been as quiet as a kitten, the farm'pet, in; f act. Oh^ no! He wouln't ever give trouble — we can do anything we like witb him. 1 ' ,'Whenever anyone talks like that to me about a bull, be he never so docile looking, I make up my mind to keep near the fence line, and have a weather eye always as to which is the shortest route to that fence, for once bitten is twiee shA and in the days of my youth — more years ago than I like to remember — I was once chased .by one of those dear, quiet, docile creatures that was the farm favourite, says a writer in the Dairy Exporter. After . forty years among stock of all softs, my advice to every farmer is,/.' Never trust a bull, and never let yoUr family take any rislts. ' ' Never trust any bull, even if you have reared. his mother and father aud his grandmother. The quieter they have been the more careless you are likely to be, and therefore the greater the danger. No Rough Treatment. When I say, don't trust a buli, I don't mean that you have got to treat him roughly, as though he were a eriminal, but rather that you should always be on your guard against his being too playful. Above all else, discourage playfulness in a bull, for you may be certain that some day that playfulness is likely to lead to trouble —and it may be one of your family that is injured. This aTticle is prompted by the numerous repoTts there have -been this season of people -being killed or injured by bulls. I have read of several deaths.

and cases of injuries, and it is pretty certain that there have been other cases of minor injuries and some narrow escapes as well. Life is too precious to risk it at the end of a bull 's- horns and it gives me the horrors when I see young children chasing the bull out of the paddock. Bulls, like motor-cars, are sources of potential danger, and, as With motor-cars, accidents are all too frequent, largely because of carelessness. If the bull was always treated with respect praetically every accident would be averted. Ring Every Bull If I had my way, it would be compulsory for every bull to be rung and led from paddock to paddock, either by a short chain or the bull-pole. A bull ring costs a couple of shillings, and an attachment for a pole about 3/-. Why risk your life for 5/6? Bulls are notoriously fiekle and subject to moodiness, especially at certain times of the year, and the bull you trust to-day may let you down to-morrow. There 's a popular notion that Jersey bulls are worse than any others^ but I doubt it. I've noticed that the casualties are pretty evenly spread out, and because you've a Friesian or an Ayrshire is no reason for deciding that tliis advice isn't any use to you. Years ago when on a station I remember that we used both Polled Angus and Hereford' bulls, and, although it seemed that the

former were dirtier tempered, the Hero-, fords took a bit of handling sometim.es." It is just the same with dairy bulls:, remember it 's the nature, not the breed, that is responsible i'or the danger. If a bull is at all touehy it is a good idea: to have a short length of chain always attached to the nose.' This makes it easy — and comparatively safe — to get hold of him at any time, and by attach- ' ing the pole you have a pretty flrrn eontrol. Train the Children. A great deal of good can be done by Iraining children to have the greatest respect for bulls. Teach them always to treat the young bulls kindly and take them quietly, but always to repress any sign of playfulness. One of the very reai dangers is that a bull which has been reared on the farm, and has always been a bit playful, will be sold. to someone who doesn't understand his habits. One day the bull decides to play, knocks his new owner oveW and — still, perhaps, in playfulness — tosses him again and again. No assistance is handy, and one more name is added .to the tragedies of the bull. Life is too short as it is to have it abridged by the playful bull, particularly when a little care and thought, plus an absolute minimum of expenditure, will prevent accidents. If you aro still persuading yourself that it is only Ihe Jersey bull that plays these tricks,

let me remind you that there have been plenty of accidents with every breed of bull .there -is. -Probably. the reasoh for the Jersey 's reputation is that there are so many more of them in New Zealand than any other breed, that there are a great number of accidents, even though the percentage of accidents to total number of bulls is no higher — or even less — than that. for other breeds.. If you still f eel that your bull is saf e so far as you are coneerned, remember your- children and give them a chance. They've no right in the bull paddock^ of course, btrtr they often go to places where they've no right to be, and if the bull is ringed with -.a chain attached, they've a lot more chance of coming off all right if he does become playful. The bull ring and the pole and chain are cheap insurance policies, and the premiums once paid don't return. Take my tip and buy them at once.