Two inquests highlight dangers of farming
© Tim Scrivener Inquests into the deaths of two Welsh farmers in separate incidents have underlined the dangers of working in agriculture.
Dewi Owen Jones, 68, suffered major abdominal injuries and died after he was pinned against a wall by a JCB digger driven by his older brother, John.
Paramedics and an air ambulance doctor tried to save Mr Jones, but he was certified as dead in the ambulance at their farm, Ty’n y Celyn, Llanfwrog, near Ruthin, on April 21, 2020.
See also: Dying to Feed You: Rob was attacked by a cow after calving
In a statement read at the Ruthin inquest, John Jones described how a Limousin-cross cow being kept in a special unit had given birth that morning and had been aggressive towards him.
He was joined by Dewi as he was using the Bobcat digger to take straw into the unit for bedding, and Dewi opened the gate for him.
“The cow tried to go for Dewi to protect the calf and I moved the Bobcat forward to protect Dewi by putting it between them,” he said.
However, the corner of the Bobcat caught Dewi and pinned him against a wall, and though he managed to walk out of the unit he then collapsed in the yard.
“There’s not a day goes by when I don’t think about my brother and what happened,” John told police. He said he and his brother were close friends and ran the 162ha farm in partnership.
The jury returned a conclusion of misadventure.
Second tragedy
A second inquest, also held at Ruthin, heard how 81-year-old farmer Heddwyn Lloyd Davies, Bryn Cnap, Llansannan, near Denbigh, died in a farming accident.
His son, Llion Davies, went to look for his father on a quad bike after he did not return home for lunch on 27 August last year, having been towing a pasture cropper, to cut grass and weeds on the family’s land at nearby Heskin Farm, Bryn Rhyd-yr-Arian.
He spotted his Massey Ferguson tractor on its side in a field and found his father alongside with his legs trapped under a rear wheel.
He raised the alarm with emergency services and applied CPR for 20 minutes, but he could not revive his father who died at the scene from his injuries.
It is believed the tractor veered off the track and down a short bank before entering the field and overturning.
A report by the Health and Safety Executive found Mr Davies may have been trying to escape from the vehicle, which was not fitted with a seatbelt.
The jury returned a conclusion of accidental death.