Lightning kills 45 cows!

[Tellico]

http://www.weather.com/video/lightning-kills-45-cows-51517?collid=/weather/twc-weather

Rancher pretty much wiped out by one bolt a few miles south of here. Has about 11 cows left. Sad.
Fred

 

[Jim Puke]

About 20yrs ago, something similar happened pretty close to me, although, I think that only 20 odd head were killed.

That is a bad deal...

 

[Ruger Packer]

http://www.weather.com/video/lightning-kills-45-cows-51517?collid=/weather/twc-weather

Rancher pretty much wiped out by one bolt a few miles south of here. Has about 11 cows left. Sad.
Fred

Were their organs surgically removed??

 

[Colonialgirl]

Did anybody have a couple gallons of BBQ sauce handy ?

Sorry to hear about the farmer's loss; I guess there is no such thing as life insurance on cows.

 

[Poco Oso]

An "Act of God". No insurance on anything. :wink: Very sorry for his loss.

 

[Number9]

Did anybody have a couple gallons of BBQ sauce handy ?

Sorry to hear about the farmer's loss; I guess there is no such thing as life insurance on cows.

Yes, you can!

 

[Rancher Will]

The farmer should check his Ranch Insurance Policy. Our's would have coverd this type of loss.

 

[gramps]

I still say it is time to fill your freezer and all your friends freezers, and the freezers of the Harvest Bank too!
gramps

 

[bobski]

45 tons of meat. holy cow what a task. itll be bad by the time they move it. back hoe time.

 

[contender]

It's not the first time I've heard of such happenings. I feel for the rancher. I do hope he did have insurance on the cows. Still, like most insurance claims,,, he won't get back what he had. But,,, hopefully,, he can recover some of it.
We often see an outpouring of donations from all over the country when something happens to somebody. I wonder if this rancher will receive as much support,,, outside his own community,,,,! I know that if I had a herd of cattle,, and lived close to him,,, I'd deliver a few to help.

 

[welder]

I was thinking the same thing Ty. I bet we see that if he didn't have insurance.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

That must have been one powerful bolt of lightning. Never heard of that much death from one bolt.

Florida has more lightning strikes than any other state. We have thunderstorms nearly every afternoon during the summer. My nephew was struck by lightning doing construction, lucky to be alive. I have had bolts land close enough to me to give me a jolt. 8)

 

[Ruger Packer]

Now that I think back on it, I remember when I was about 7-8 years old, my granddad lost a steer to lightening. You could see where the bolt hit this big hickory tree and went down the side and followed some roots in the ground and zapped that steer. I remember him and my dad hooking up a log chain to the steer and dragging it to a little hollow and pushing it in, piled some brush from a nearby brush pile on it along with an old tire and set it a fire.

Bein' a kid I didn't understand why they were doing that, so I asked him and he told me it would rot and stink for days if he left it.

Funny the things that come up in one's memory that had long been forgotten.

 

[bobski]

the way it is up here in mo farm country is, cows drop kids for free. so the cow doesnt cost the farmer...its the feed, labor, and shots he invests in. he gambles, it lives and is healthy come auction day. then he makes back some income by the pound.
and he will alrady have next generation dropped and growing.

if the bolt killed 2 generations and all the females...that would hurt.

 

[toysoldier]

Lightning can be profitable. Check out the Wiki article on fulgurites
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulgurite
then look at the fulgurites offered for sale on eBay. :shock:

 

[welder]

Now that I think back on it, I remember when I was about 7-8 years old, my granddad lost a steer to lightening. You could see where the bolt hit this big hickory tree and went down the side and followed some roots in the ground and zapped that steer. I remember him and my dad hooking up a log chain to the steer and dragging it to a little hollow and pushing it in, piled some brush from a nearby brush pile on it along with an old tire and set it a fire.

Bein' a kid I didn't understand why they were doing that, so I asked him and he told me it would rot and stink for days if he left it.

Funny the things that come up in one's memory that had long been forgotten.

Your post made me have a flashback.
I was probably 8-10 years old when a sow my dad had on a little farm died giving birth to piglets that were all dead as well. We stacked several railroad cross ties on the sow and lit it. All gone by the next day. Dad said the same thing, it would be a real problem if left to decompose. I remember how big a fire it made but it worked well.

 

[Gaffer]

When I was a young man on the farm lightening came into the buildings and destroyed the entrance panel and shorted everything out, set fire to the milking machine vacuum pump motor and killed two cows in their stanchions. We put out the fire and after the vet looked over the cows we hauled them to the butcher and at least saved a lot of meat. Had to have an electrician redo the entrance panel and some wiring. It was lucky that we didn't lose the whole building. It was a very exciting few minutes!