The Nationals leader, Barnaby Joyce, has revealed he was butted by a sheep on his NSW property on Tuesday, sustaining a knee injury that has left him hobbling.

“The dorper ran and lined me up in the yard and ... hit me once in the knee,” he told 2GB radio on Wednesday.

Instead of saying a “whole heap of profanities”, Joyce admitted he probably should have then got out of its way.

“All it did was hit me again and now I’m hobbling around like an old geriatric.”

Joyce was due to sit down with the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, on Wednesday, with the pair’s deputies, Fiona Nash and Julie Bishop.

“I was going to wander down after lunch but [Turnbull] wants me there sooner so I’ll jump on a plane and try and get down there sooner,” Joyce said.

On Tuesday Nationals MPs and senators met to discuss a new Coalition agreement and expectations for more ministers after picking up an extra MP at the 2 July election.

Joyce said not much could be done until next week, when the governor general returns to Australia.

“It’s like marriage – marry in haste, repent at leisure,” he said. “Make sure you get the agreement right, and that’s what I intend to do.”





