The CSIRO has partnered with farmer and inventor Edward Evans to prevent farmer death and injury by helping to produce a new, safe cattle gate.

 

Gate related accidents have seen some 211 farmers injured between 2000 and 2005, while accounting for around 0.5 per cent of deaths among agricultural workers in Australia per year.

 

To assist Mr Evans in the development of his SaferGate technology, the CSIRO constructed a 60 kg test cow, complete with authentic hrons and hide, to simulate the force of a bull or cow charging a cattle gate, used on farms, feedlots, in trucks and abattoirs around the country.

 

After suffering a broken leg from a cattle gate related injury, Mr Evans put himself to work designing a new cattle gate that would swerve away from a farmer in the event of a cattle charging it.

 

Using a swinging pivot system, the gate is split into two different segments when struck, allowing aprt of the gate to swing away from the operator, while the other segment folds back on itself and away from them.

 

Mr Evans first came to national prominence when his design won ABC’s New Inventors grand final in 2011, and was awarded a testing and evaluation grant by the CSIRO.

 

More information can be found here