Dying to Feed You: Corrine’s eye socket was fractured by a cow

Welsh farmer’s wife and nurse Corrine Mathias suffered a fractured eye socket after being attacked by a cow. 

Watch her tell her story in the video and read the report below.

See also: Dying to Feed You: Grace suffered multiple broken bones

It started as a normal Saturday. There was a local football match on. My husband, Robert, and my son, Geraint, went to watch it.

The farm work was up to date, so I decided to walk the dogs in the afternoon.

We farm upland beef and sheep at Bryn Farm, Howey, near Llandrindod Wells.

We’ve about 550 ewes and 45 head of cattle on about 120ha in the Brecon Beacons, mid-Wales.

I set off and went up by the shed. I could see there was a cow just about to calve. She calved and I waited a second to make sure they were both ok.

The calf wasn’t moving, so without thinking I went in to see if I could help.

As I did, the calf took a breath – everything was good. But there was another cow in the shed with a week-old calf.

She came over and butted me hard in the face with her head. She sent me flying. I tried to get up but she kept hitting me back down again.

Concrete wall

The cow sent me backwards across the shed until I was against the wall.

I couldn’t go any further backwards, so when she was hitting my head, the back of my head was hitting the concrete block wall behind me.

I was probably knocked out for a few seconds. When I came to, she had obviously trodden on me somewhere because my leg was injured too.

Then something took her attention and she turned round and I saw my chance to escape.

I got out through the feed barrier at the front of the shed. I sat there thinking about what had just happened – trying to decide what was hurting most.

My face was stinging. My leg was stinging. My nose was bleeding.

Robert and Geraint hadn’t arrived back home – but I still had my phone in my pocket.

So I phoned them and said: “How far away are you? You’d better come home because the cow has had me.”

Battered and bruised

We went to the local hospital – to the minor injuries department at Llandrindod hospital. It’s where I work – I’m a nurse as well as a farmer’s wife.

The nurse who met me didn’t recognise at to first because my face was so swollen – then she realised.

They referred me to Hereford hospital. They X-rayed my face and my leg. I had fractured my eye socket.

Over the next few days, a lot of bruising came out. I was bruised from head to foot – my whole body was battered.

I had to lie flat on my back, and that was it. I couldn’t move. I didn’t do any lambing that year at all.

I couldn’t even visit the lambing shed because I couldn’t walk that far. I was off work for six weeks and then went back on a phased return.

You think it’s not going to happen to you. But it can, and when you least expect it.

Sometimes farmers think they are immune to getting hurt; they don’t think the farm can be a dangerous place.

Hopefully, Geraint will think twice after seeing what happened to me.

We have visitors to stay in the farm holiday cottage and I try and point out places where they can walk safely, too.

If I had not rushed in that day without thinking – if I had just stopped and given it a couple of minutes – I could have probably prevented the incident.

When cows are calving, it pays to stop and think.

My message is to do just that. Assess the situation a little bit longer. Take your time – and think ahead.