A well-known farming couple is looking forward to attending The Farmers’ Choir performance this month at Perth Concert Hall for a particularly poignant reason.

Carol Rettie, who runs a bull livery service with husband Richard, sustained very serious injuries when a startled bull charged causing her five broken ribs and a lung puncture. She also needed surgery on her eyes and ears.

Carol described the bull as one of the quietest she had handled but it all changed when she was blow drying him ahead of a visit by a prospective buyer.

“I’d washed the bull and was getting him ready for blow drying when things changed completely in just a matter of seconds,” said Carol. “All I did was flick the drier flex to get a little more length to work with but that simple action startled him leading to me dropping the hose of the blower.

“The hose then started to snake underneath him because I couldn’t turn it off which startled him even more and I got slammed into the side against the gate multiple times. I remember slipping down the gate and thinking, this is it, I’m not getting out of this.”

Fortunately, there was enough time when the bull turned, allowing Carol to get out. All she remembers after that was lying on the concrete unable to see and struggling to breathe.

Richard was feeding some cattle nearby when he heard Carol, ran round and immediately called 999.

“The air ambulance arrived shortly after and they were brilliant. Given the discomfort Carol was in there was no way she could have travelled to the hospital in an ambulance and being flown there also cut down the travel time considerably on a busy Friday afternoon,” said Richard.

The couple are incredibly grateful for the medical support they received at Ninewells to aid Carol’s recovery.

“I ended up being known as ‘the bull lady’ in Ninewells and I couldn’t have been treated any better by the doctors and staff there. I am so grateful to them all.”

The couple is looking forward to The Farmers’ Choir concert, sponsored by United Auctions and compered by Jim Smith, on Sunday, February 25 at Perth Concert Hall.

Tickets are available at the Perth Concert Hall Box Office. Priced at £20 plus booking fee with funds raised going to RSABI and Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance.

Carol and Richard urge people to assess risks when working with livestock.

“Anything can happen within just a few split seconds,” said Richard. “Just try to assess situations to see if there’s a safer way you can do things and avoid putting yourself in potential danger, even if it's something you’ve done a hundred times. Just be careful, don’t do anything unless it's necessary and please don’t take a chance.”

RSABI offers free practical, financial, and emotional support including counselling services, delivered quickly after receiving the initial enquiry. Its free confidential support service is available 24 hours a day, every day of the year, by calling 0808 1234 555 (calls won’t show up on phone bills) or through a confidential webchat service, available on RSABI’s website www.rsabi.org.uk.

For more information about farm safety and the work of the Farm Safety Foundation please visit www.yellowwellies.org.