Dave Ellwood said a bull attack that left him in intensive care for a couple of days is exactly why he stays wary around livestock, and he told the story again in the latest instalment of Reuben Owen: Life in the Dales. The episode showed Ellwood helping get a bull ready to surprise his daughter Jess, who is dating Reuben Owen, while he explained that his earlier accident had been serious enough to put him in an air ambulance to Middlesbrough.
Ellwood said the animal "rung me into some girders, didn't it, and threw me about a bit," before adding, "A couple of days, weren't I? I went in the air ambulance to Middlesbrough. They found out, what was it, nine broken ribs and a ruptured spleen." He also said of the bull, "Yeah, he had made a good job." The remark landed with extra weight because the narrator had already noted that Dave had good reason to be cautious with a new bull after a frightening accident 15 years ago.
That earlier injury was not a minor scare. Doctors found nine broken ribs and a ruptured spleen, and Ellwood said he was in intensive care for a couple of days after the incident. In the show, the memory came as he handled another bull on a day meant to end with a surprise for Jess, giving the scene a mix of rural routine and old fear. Reuben Owen, who found fame on Our Yorkshire Farm alongside Amanda Owen and Clive Owen, now fronts the Channel 5 spin-off that carries his name.
The episode also cut to a separate bit of farm trouble when Reuben, Sonny and Capper were digging a pond and Capper became trapped in a bog. "I can't get out!" he shouted, before adding, "I'm 6ft 6", and now I'm two foot tall." Owen summed up the whole scene with a line that fit the mood of the episode: "I don't understand how you two have survived to the ages you are!"
For all the comic chaos, the older bull accident is the story that explains Ellwood’s caution. The latest episode answers that plainly: he is still thinking about the day a bull sent him to hospital, and the memory is still part of the way he works around animals now.
