Rob Abbott

Safety upgrades improve efficiency

‘Now, the cattle move better, people stay out of danger zones, and there’s less stress on the animals and on us. We get the work done quicker instead of finishing in the dark,’ Rob said.

When Rob Abbott thinks about safety on farms, he doesn’t think about a long list of rules or extra paperwork – just the moment he came close to not returning home.

The fifth-generation cattle producer was drafting bulls on his Willaura property when he was briefly distracted by someone asking a question from the other side of the yard. As his attention shifted, 2 bulls – weighing about 850 kilograms each – began fighting.

‘One bull smashed the other straight through a chained gate,’ Rob said. ‘The chain blew off, and the bull slammed into a rail beside me, knocking me over.’

‘Thankfully it wasn’t a huge knock, but if I’d been standing a foot to the left, I would’ve been crushed. The fact that I was standing exactly where I was – that was pure luck and I’ll never forget it.’

Rob manages the cattle operation at Mount William Station, a property his family has farmed for more than 100 years. As part of our agriculture campaign ‘Safety – it does more than keep you safe’ Rob’s sharing his experience with the benefits safety provides, such as improved efficiency, increased productivity, staff retention, peace of mind, legacy-building and most importantly, protecting the lives of everyone on farm.

Since upgrading his cattle yards to include modern races and crushes, raised working platforms, slam latch gates and cattle-free zones, Rob has noticed big improvements.

He found it was about ensuring safety was built into the design of the yard.

‘We’re glad we’ve upgraded to slam latch gates. If you have an animal that’s getting agitated, the few extra seconds it may take to put a chain around an old gate and latch it as opposed to just pushing the gate shut could be the difference between that animal breaching the gate or being contained safely.’

‘Older cattle yards relied a lot on experience, reflexes and manpower to manage risk,’ Rob said. ‘But you can never fully trust cattle, no matter how calm they appear. Things can go wrong in seconds, and you need a yard that protects you.’