Farm deaths double in a year and 12,000 accidents reported
Trapped under a two-tonne cattle feeder, I thought I’d been paralysed
– Farmer Graeme MacLeod
Graeme MacLeod was lucky to survive when a two-tonne cattle feeder crushed him on his Borders farm.
The cattle farmer from Gordon was cleaning out the container when it fell on him in May.
“I was pinned to the ground, couldn’t move and honestly thought I had been paralysed. By chance I had my mobile phone in my pocket – lucky really as I normally leave it in the cabin in case it falls out my pocket and into the muck.”
He called his partner, Tara Gray, who rushed home and managed to lift the cattle feeder off with a fork lift truck: “But I still couldn’t move and we both feared I would be unable to walk again ever.”
MacLeod, 42, was airlifted by Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance, and flown to hospital.
“I was never so glad to see a helicopter in my life and will thank them every day of my life,” said MacLeod.
Incredibly, scans of the injuries showed nothing more than bruising to his ribs and legs: “The Edinburgh Royal Infirmary A&E doctor said I was one of the luckiest patients he had treated and he discharged me 10 hours later. I was extremely glad to survive but it was a reminder of the dangers of farming.
“Farming is now the most dangerous job in the country and many of us have other jobs to make ends meet. We could not survive on the income from a herd of cattle. Our meat is sold directly to the public in the Borders.
“I also work as chief operations officer at Digi-Haul transporting food and freight around the country so I know the demands of both food production and supply.
“What makes farming especially risky is that many of us work on our own because of the economics of the job and the prices meat, dairy, sheep and other produce fetches today.”