An Oklahoma farmer was attacked and killed by two water buffaloes he had just bought the day before.
Brad McMichael, 45, died Friday when he was attacked at his farm in the small town of Jones, around 15 miles northeast of downtown Oklahoma City, by the animals he had just bought at auction, his family said.
“He loved his livestock and as tragic as this, as he died doing something that he loved,” his girlfriend, Jennifer Green, told KOCO.
McMichael was an experienced handler of exotic animals, and saw the water buffaloes as “an opportunity” for the meat, Green said.
Exactly why they attacked is unknown, but “livestock can be aggressive at any moment if they’re stressed, when they’re in an auction environment, when they’re traveling, or when they’re with a new owner,” the grieving girlfriend said.
“He loved to laugh. He loved to make other people laugh. Those that really knew him know what a huge loss and a huge void that is to fill,” Green said.
Both animals were euthanized after one showed aggressive behavior towards officers, police said, with the investigation ongoing.
Green’s ex-wife, Amy Smith, remembered him as the “hardest working man that I had ever known.”
His son, Rylan, said his dad “taught me everything I know.”
“I know farming from him. I know many other things,” the grieving son told KFOR.
The investigation is ongoing, officials said.
