Broken arm after steer attack

A steer being dropped off at the meat works turned on the man delivering it and put him in hospital with two broken ribs and a broken arm.

Bruce Stephenson, the director of Hawkes Bay-based Stephenson Transport, said the driver, aged in his late 60s, had been unloading cattle at the Silver Fern Farms meat works in Hawera when ‘‘a steer turned on him and knocked him around the crate’’.

He said some of the workers around the truck heard the commotion and distracted the steer while the man was rescued.

The man spent five days in Taranaki Base Hospital and was discharged on Sunday.

‘‘He walked into my office this morning and sat down and had a cup of tea with us,’’ Stephenson said on Monday.

‘‘He was pretty philosophical about the whole thing.’’

Stephenson said he couldn’t speak highly enough about the medical professionals that had looked after his employee while in Taranaki.

Stephenson said they had alerted WorkSafe as soon as the accident happened and had also completed their own safety review. ‘‘It’s just one of those things.’’ He said the man was home recovering with his wife and family before he returned to work.

A WorkSafe spokesman said they had been notified of the incident at the meat works but were not investigating.

Taranaki Community Rescue Helicopter crewman Andy Cronin said they were called to the incident in Hawera at 10:40 on Tuesday evening and flew the man up to Taranaki Base Hospital.

St John spokesman Roger Blume said the man was in a moderate condition following the incident.

It’s not the first time a rogue cow has put a man in hospital in South Taranaki.

In September 2015, an elderly man was seriously injured after being gored by a bull.

It is understood the 75-year-old was working on his farm at Manawapou Rd, Hawera, when he was attacked by his Friesian cross bull with horns.

The farm worker was taken to Hawera Hospital by ambulance and later flown to Waikato Hospital with chest, spinal and leg injuries.

Silver Fern Farms was approached for comment but had not responded by deadline.