A man suffered serious injuries when his hands caught in a hay feeder in rural Southland yesterday morning.
Firefighters from Waikaia and Lumsden were called to a Hurley Rd property about 9am, following reports the man had his hands caught in a hay feeder.
Lumsden firefighter Rob Scott said the St John paramedics were ''doing a bloody good job when we arrived keeping the man calm and sedated''.
The injured man's hands were not ''too far in, but far enough to keep him stuck''.
The man was conscious throughout his ordeal, ''and maintained his sense of humour ... he was a real hardy Southlander''.
Volunteer firefighters were going to cut up the equipment to free him, but ''we weren't sure how to attack it that would cause him the least amount of pain''.
A nearby machine, similar to that which entrapped the man, was examined and a plan was hatched on how to free him.
''We used one of our rams and managed to pull it off [his hands] that way.''
The man was flown by the Otago Regional Rescue Helicopter to Dunedin Hospital with serious hand injuries.
WorkSafe New Zealand would investigate the incident.
