Tale of survival: Australian farmer held his head after fracturing neck

Cattle farmer Jim, 73, was leaning over the front of his bike, checking his West Gippsland property for hatching grasshoppers when he hit a hole. Photo / File / 123RF

A Victoria cattle farmer who fractured his neck twice in a motorbike crash has held up his own head by his hair as he rode for help.

Jim, 73, was leaning over the front of his bike, checking his West Gippsland property for hatching grasshoppers when he hit a hole, banging his head on the ground and breaking his neck, he told 3AW on Monday.

"I cracked my head on the ground but I don't think I was knocked out," he told the radio station.

"I got to my feet, I knew there was something seriously wrong. My head wouldn't stay up."

He then got up on his bike, held his head up by his hair, and rode 500m to his house to call for help, before being taken by ambulance to the Dandenong and then the Austin hospitals.

"The pain, it hurt so much, so I just held it up by my hair," Jim said.

He is expected to make a full recovery from the December 8 accident.

"I'm wearing a halo, I've got four bolts in my skull," he said. "I'm a lucky fella, that's for sure."