This is the moment a frightened calf kicks a man in the face when he tries to grab its hind leg to brand it.

The incident was filmed in the city of Boise, in the US state of Idaho, on 19th March, and the footage has been widely shared on social media.

Australian agricultural clothing company Fare & Dinkum shared the video with the message: “Earned that one bloke…”

Jason Butts, the man who recorded the video, told Newsflash: “I filmed it while we were branding calves (an annual spring occurrence).”

In the footage, two men are seen approaching the calf by a fence before one of them bends down to grab its leg.

However, anticipating the move, the calf kicks out a hind leg and seemingly smacks the brander in the face.

The man flies backwards and lands hard on the ground as the cameraperson laughs and the bleating calf charges around.

Netizens had a lot to say about the video, with ‘Jenblanes’ commenting: “Poor babies are so scared… he is literally screaming because he is scared.”

Netizen ‘Deniseoneill61’ wrote: “My god, leave them alone! Imagine if someone was grabbing you by the legs, putting you down, and wrapping rope around your legs!”

‘Thetiptap’ said: “Well deserved.”

Some netizens claimed that the people in the footage were not just branding the calves, but also castrating them to make them less aggressive.