DANGEROUS BULLS.

Shannon News, 27 September 1929, Page 3

DANGEROUS BULLS.

SEVERAL FATALITIES OCCUR. 4 s ________ ' Several fatalities caused by badr tempered bulls have occurred recently. An experienced farmer says that th« crop of accidents is a sign of the val of the breeding season. All bulls become bad-tempered and difficult t« J handle during t<he breeding season,/ which is just the time when more work-/ had to be done with them. The best plan was to provide a small,-well-fenced bull paddock with a yard in.:, one corner and a race. By this cow's could be put in the yard and the’, bull admitted without anyone having - to be-sin the with him at all.' This plan had been successfully adopt- 1 ed by a welll-knowm breeder in Marl-' borough. The bull should also be pro- - vided with a shelter shed where he , could be fed during the winter when grass wa3 scarce. Another safety method was to plant.;, in all cow paddocks single trees. If a man kept his head no bull had a hope ?■ of getting him once he was behind a tree. The man could go round the - tree three times to the bull’s once, but, as a matter of fact, a bull would-;: not try to follow round the tree. HE PLANTED TREES. Many years ago the owner of a form not far from Christchurch had a nar- v row escape from being eaught by a .- bull. He made a resolve not to have the occurrence repeated, and at once planted a single willow tree in the een- •' tre of each padock. The property frem.'£ that time opwards got the name of } ( * One-tree Farm. ” When told of another man’s experience of dodging a charging bull in an open paddock, the farmer interviewed': admitted that was possible, but said”, that few people could keep their heads * sufficiently to stand still, until the ■■ charging animal had almost reached them. The public were not likely to 1 encounter bulls on public roadways be-. : cause the law was very strict in that.-f direction, and inflicted a heavy penalty ■; on the owner of a bull found at large.In nearly every case a bull that had once gored a man was shot, for the animal w-as always unsafe afterwards, said the farmer. There was no doubt that the subae- '!• quent temper of a bull was greatly -af- " fected by the treatment received &9 % calf. From the calf stage onwards, a young bull should be carefully and firmly haudled, without being abused.' Above ali he should not be handled about the head, for that provoked the -" fighting instinct, which might develop ■; dangerously in the' fully grown animal. '• ‘