No bull: Bruised Fonz is my hero

As James Hemopo lay injured and helpless while a bull charged at him, Fonz, his farm dog, fended off the beast.

The father-of-two was mustering on his horse Black Betty at his farm near Taihape when the steer leaped up and dragged them both to the ground.

The horse bolted.

Mr Hemopo, 29, was about an hour's ride from home when the attack happened on Thursday.

The bull had been eyeballing him the whole way out, he said.

"It did this quite a few times. I thought, 'This cow's all shit'.

"Before I knew it, he was right there and I thought, 'Shit, he's not taking any prisoners'.

"I can't remember anything from there. I'd been dragged about 10m," he said.

Mr Hemopo believed he was knocked out for a few seconds. The nine working dogs he was with initially jumped in to help, some sitting on top of him, shielding him.

"They just held on to the bull and stopped it from charging at me again," Mr Hemopo said. "If it hadn't been for my dogs I would've been smoked.

"It could've turned real bad, I could've been killed."

But the battle wasn't over.

A junior shepherd had to go back to the house to call for help, a more than two-hour round trip.

That left Mr Hemopo waiting for the rescue helicopter, while the bull was still lurking. His dog Fonz got into a standoff with the bull, keeping it at bay each time it approached.

"He was in on it big time, he's the man, old Fonzy," Mr Hemopo said.

"A man and his dog, you can't beat it, you forget how valuable they are."

Mr Hemopo, who has been a shepherd for 13 years, was airlifted to Wanganui Hospital by the Palmerston North rescue helicopter.

He was "very badly bruised and battered up and down his body" but has been discharged and returned to Siberia Station yesterday. He expects to be off work for a few days.

Black Betty was found some distance away.

Later that day, a farmer in his 60s was charged repeatedly by a bull while fencing at a rural property near Eketahuna.

Rescue helicopter pilot Chris Moody said the man suffered serious injuries to his upper body and was flown to Palmerston North Hospital.

- additional reporting: APN