A Wicklow farmer suffered fatal injuries after being crushed by a cow that crashed through a holding pen after it reacted to seeing a dog in a farmyard, an inquest has heard.

Peter Byrne (52), a father of four of Ballymaconey, Rathdangan, Co Wicklow died at the Mater Hospital in Dublin on April 16, 2019 – five days after he received traumatic crush injuries after the animal and metal barriers fell on top of him in an accident on his farm.

A local vet, John McHugh, told a sitting of Dublin District Coroner’s Court that he had called to Mr Byrne’s farm on April 11, 2019 to take blood samples from a cow and her calf.

READ MORE:Irishwoman killed in Texas crash after car struck by driver fleeing police

Mr McHugh said the animals had been placed in a holding pen with the cow at the front where her head was placed in a crush gate.

The vet said Mr Byrne had gone away to fetch equipment to dehorn the calf.

As the farmer returned to the shed, Mr McHugh said the cow made “a sudden lunge” forward as it appeared to have reacted to the presence of Mr Byrne’s collie dog.

The inquest heard the strength of the cow appeared to tear the crush gate and other metal side rails from their foundations in a shed.

Mr McHugh said the cow and the other equipment fell on top of Mr Byrne, while the animal struggled to get back on her feet.

He recalled that the animal, whose weight he estimated at 900kg, appeared to be lying on the farmer for several minutes.

The vet said there was no response from Mr Byrne after he fell to the ground and he appeared unconscious.

Together with another man, Eric Dunne, who was carrying out some on the farm for Mr Byrne, Mr McHugh said they managed to pull the farmer away from beneath the animal but he appeared pale, limp and unresponsive.

After he had made a 999 call to the emergency services, the vet described giving CPR to the farmer.

Mr McHugh said he also sedated the cow and subsequently put the animal and its calf asleep with lethal injections for safety reasons.

In response to questions from the coroner, Cróna Gallagher, the vet said he had no worries about the equipment being used to hold the cattle and he knew the deceased as an experienced farmer.

“There was nothing that alarmed either of us. The animal seemed very well restrained and everything proceeded as planned,” he added.

Mr McHugh said the farmer’s dog had not barked but he believed the presence of the collie had sparked the cow’s reaction.

An advanced paramedic, Anna May Tiernan, said Mr Byrne was in cardiac arrest with no sign of a pulse when an ambulance crew arrived at the farm.

Mr McHugh’s partner, Clodagh Daly, described how she “felt sick” after being alerted to what happened and arriving at the farm to find a machine pumping oxygen into him in an ambulance and being told that an Irish Coast Guard Helicopter was coming to airlift him to hospital due to his injuries.

The inquest doctors at the Mater Hospital said Mr Byrne was very unstable due to suffering a cardiac arrest and low blood pressure which meant it was too dangerous to carry out surgery on his spine.

A post-mortem concluded he died from spinal shock due to several fractures in his neck vertebrae resulting from the crush injuries caused by the cow.

The coroner said Mr Byrne may well have died at the farm but for the efforts of Mr McHugh and ambulance crew who attended him.

Dr Gallagher also praised the generosity and courage of Mr Byrne’s family for donating his organs which she said had helped save the lives of several other individuals.

An inspector with the Health and Safety Authority, John Dempsey, said there were no obvious visual defects with the crush gate as corrosion in its mountings only became apparent “after the fact.”

“They had appeared absolutely fine,” said Mr Dempsey.

A jury of four men and two women returned a verdict of accidental death.

They also issued a recommendation that a system of audit and inspection on the use of farm equipment should be put in place for health and safety reasons.

The coroner said she would notify the relevant authorities including the HSA and representative bodies of farmers and farm workers about the jury’s finding.

Get breaking news to your inbox by signing up to our newsletter