A FARMER has slammed a “complete farce” that saw 35 firefighters, four fire engines and three specialist crews called to rescue a bullock from a slurry pit.

Freddie Barnes, who runs Crow Tree Farm at Leck, near Kirkby Lonsdale, said he ended up pulling the beast from three feet of water himself using his tractor.

Crews from Kirkby Lonsdale, Hornby, Lancaster and Fleetwood, along with the rope-rescue team, water-rescue team and aerial ladder platform attended. The urban search and rescue team was put on standby and a vet was called.

Mr Barnes said: “The rescuers never did a thing and I just pulled the bullock out myself in the end. There were too many chiefs, far too many fire people there, and they didn’t understand country life.

“It got totally out of hand — it was a complete farce.

“I called the fire brigade because I needed the belts to lift the bullock out.

“In the end that’s what I did myself. I strapped one belt around his front legs and one around the back and pulled him out with the tractor.”

Mr Barnes said the 15-month-old bullock has shown no ill-effects from its two-hour ordeal, which started around 10.30pm on Monday at the farm off the A65 in Leck.

He added: “On farms this sort of thing happens all of the time but the response from the fire service was totally over the top.”

A resident who contacted The Westmorland Gazette said: “There were a lot of people watching and everyone was laughing. It seemed such a ridiculous situation.”

A spokesman for Lancashire Fire and Rescue, which co-ordinated the rescue, said they received a call that a bullock was in a slurry pit measuring 10 metres by three.

He said: “The response was deemed suitable to the nature of the call.”

Lighting was put in place, a vet was called and animal rescue equipment was taken to the scene.

He said the rope-rescue team from St Annes that attended recently worked on the big dipper accident at Blackpool Pleasure Beach.