Running of the bulls: Cattle make bid for freedom

The cattle were on the loose after the trailer they were in rolled. Photo / Greg Bowker

Nineteen bulls on their way to the meatworks made a brief escape for freedom, after the trailer they were in rolled off the road in Upper Hutt.

The cattle were on the loose, running around Upper Hutt's Elmslie Cres after a truck rolled on Blue Mountains Rd yesterday afternoon.

A farmer, Luke Wood said it was a miracle all bulls were herded by this morning with the help of 22 neighbours.

"It was all very dramatic.

"It was a real miracle all 19 bulls weren't hurt or killed."

Blue Mountains Rd was a steep and narrow road and the truck driver had "judged it wrong" and the trailer, carrying the cattle got caught in a drain and rolled down a hill.

He said six bulls were still stuck in the trailer and he and another man helped get the beasts out.

"We were all battered and bruised from the cows.

"Somehow we got them back up to Blue Mountains Rd and back on the farm," he said.

The beasts would be sold to the meatworks in three weeks, he said.