As someone involved in pursuits agrarian I shall shed some light here:
1) It's definately NOT delibrate. So how do I know?:
Any rancher who pays to have round bales wrapped in plastic (white things in the distance - photo 3) has a chute with a head gate at the end of it - that stuff is expensive and it shows they care for the nutritional value of the hay in which case they care about their animals.
It's a beef animal (could be a heifer - but most likley it's a cow) so therefore it's unlikely to have the close tame and trusting nature a dairy cow would have to enable YOU to get her head in there voluntarily.
Even with her head in that "gate" you still can't work on her - legs kick.
She is currently worth anout $1000 give or take - why put her in a device that would allow her to break her neck when she panicks. Head gates restrain but they also protect the animal from injury.
The angle iron on the pylon makes for a very sharp cutting point - just apply 1400lbs of weight.
The obvious salve (antiseptic wound type) demonstrates that rancher cares about the fate of his/her animal, it's not a lubricant - her head would have been doused in mineral oil (readily avail. on most ranches) for that.
She hasn't been there that long (max less than 12 hours) - pile of manure is not nearly big enough.
In anycase she has followed the basic law all animals follow - if what they do suprises you, you underestimated what mischief they can get up to, in which case you are dummer than they are.
Dont know if they could get her out (possibility of unbolting some of the struts) but if she was destroyed there is a good possibility the POCO would have to foot her replacement bill (their product did the damage). In anycase she is probably insured.
Anyway thought you might like a little farming perspective.
