Cow kick breaks both farmer's legs

A farmer broke both legs after being kicked by a cow. Photo / File

Hawke's Bay farmer Gary Quinn says he is lucky he wasn't left paralysed after a cattle beast "lashed out" at him, breaking both his legs.

Mr Quinn, 63, was working in his cattleyards near Haumoana last Friday with his wife Raewynne when the incident happened.

The couple were drafting their "quiet heifers" when a cattle beast weighing more than 600kg approached him.

"She was trying to get into the pen with the others. I went to knock her back on the nose. She got pushed [by another cow] and she lashed out at me, kicked me with both barrels on my left thigh."

He was thrown two metres through the air by the kick, receiving a fractured left tibia and a fractured right femur.

Raewynne called emergency services after saving her husband from being crushed by the other cows.

"I had to keep the cattle from trampling him as he was lying in the gateway," she said.

Despite his injuries, Mr Quinn still managed to drag himself several metres across the ground to close the cattle gate.

He was thankful to escape paralysis or even death.