Lightning and cows

[AGRIMAN]

I had a 4 year old registered black angus bull that I have been raising for a replacement bull. I had him in a small pasture directly behind my house for the last year or so. Yesterday afternoon we had a line of severe thunderstorms roll through. High winds, heavy rain and severelighting.

I was in the house when lighting struck something behind the house. It was close enough that it rattled the house and knock out the power. I was surprise when they got the power back on that everything still worked as I was sure that it probably got something.

Everything in the house was fine, but I found my bull today laying behind the house dead. I know it happens, but this is the first time for me.

 

[MossRoad]

Sorry for your loss. Lightning is nasty stuff. Glad you weren't hit.

 

[Argonne]

Sorry to hear that. I've been thinking about insuring my livestock against hazards like that and theft.

 

[AGRIMAN]

It could have always been worse. If it had hit on of the other pastures, i could have lost one than one.

 

[Bird]

I, too, have seen news stories about such happening to livestock, but fortunately never experienced it.

 

[oosik]

I've heard of such events but not in this area. Sorry about the loss. One good point - you were not out there in the storm.

Actually, the only "hits" in the immediate area have been on my large/tall Ponderosa pine. Around here we are told - stay low and don't stand under a large tree. In this area we seldom get lightning - I was in Nebraska long ago - now they get real lightning storms. In any case, when I see/hear anything like that coming our way - its always from inside the house.

 

[coolreinfarm]

My wife's horse got hit by lightning, waited for the storm to clear, went out horse was still steaming, bad day. Dog was in the field when it happened, she was ok but is terrified of storms to this day.

 

[dmccarty]

In the All Creatures Great and Small books, which were written by a UK vet, he had a story about a family farm that had insured their livestock. The coverage included death by lighting and the family had several cows hit and paid for by insurance. There was another farmer who said some livestock was hit by lightning and was trying to get the claim processed but it was fraud and the vet would not sign off.

Never seen it happen though I came close to being hit but that is another story.

Later,
Dan

 

[Snobdds]

Happens often out here in the high plains.

 

[David Wayne]

I grew up on a dairy farm milking 50 head in the 60s and 70s. Old fashion type, no pipeline, gutter cleaner... Dad named each cow. After a bad storm we had one that when she came in she was slow and unsteady, look at the stanchion but had a hard time turning to enter it. Vet figured a close strike got her. She lived through it but it took months before she regained somewhat normal motor skills. Dad renamed her lightning, and her next calf was named thunder.

David

 

[charlton289]

I worked on a dairy farm in CT. Growing up used to milk 225 head every night. One night we had a nasty t storm and the cows were ready to be milked and the power went out and by the time I got the generator hooked up one of the cows was down in the holding area so I had to chase them out of the way and drag the cow out. In the am the vet did an autopsy it was because of a lighting I think went thru the ground and up one of the steel pipes she was leaning against and it went up her leg and cooked her from the inside it was a weird happening but if I didn't see it or was part of it I would not have believed it.

 

[stuckmotor]

My mother lost a calf to lightning in her youth. She's now 91. I guess we're due for another loss.

 

[MossRoad]

I'm not a big fan of lightning.

When I was a kid, about 8 years old, two friends of mine and I were out stomping a creek in a snowstorm. Lighting smacked a sycamore tree about 20-30' from us, blew chunks out of it, knocked us down and blew me across the 8' wide creek. Well, it didn't blow me across the 8' wide creek.... I jumped it from fear!!! :laughing: We ran all the way home. It snowed for three days. We went back a few weeks later and the tree was burned out. Lotta good stories told while sitting under that tree for years to come.

There was also a couple high-tension power towers in our neighborhood. Talk about lightning rods! They'd get hit several times each summer. LOUD! when its only a hundred yards from the house.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

Wow sorry to hear about your bull .

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Sorry for your loss. You would never think of something like that happening.

I was about 4 or 5 years old, sleeping in a bed with the window open (and the attic fan going). Lightning struck just above the window where the ac service entered the house leaving charred marks. I distinctly remember coming to, about 3 or 4 feet above the bed, then crashing back down. Holy cow that was loud. Maybe 8 feet away. I guess I'm fortunate to be here.

 

[AGRIMAN]

I'm not a big fan of lightning.

When I was a kid, about 8 years old, two friends of mine and I were out stomping a creek in a snowstorm. Lighting smacked a sycamore tree about 20-30' from us, blew chunks out of it, knocked us down and blew me across the 8' wide creek. Well, it didn't blow me across the 8' wide creek.... I jumped it from fear!!! :laughing: We ran all the way home. It snowed for three days. We went back a few weeks later and the tree was burned out. Lotta good stories told while sitting under that tree for years to come.

There was also a couple high-tension power towers in our neighborhood. Talk about lightning rods! They'd get hit several times each summer. LOUD! when its only a hundred yards from the house.

I have had more than my share of close calls. Last year, we were changing a bearing on the combine header when the lightning from an approaching thunderstorm got too close. We just made it inside the shop door went it hit a big oak about 50' in front of shop. It blowed pieces of bark against the shop and inside the roll up door on us. It was just bark, but at time it did matter, we were diving behind anything we could fine.

To make matters even better, when we sneaked back to the door to take a look out, it pop a tree on the other side of the shop and sent us diving again. Not my best John Wayne moment.

They say lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place, well it wasn't exactly the same spot, but close enough for me.

 

[MossRoad]

Sorry for your loss. You would never think of something like that happening.

I was about 4 or 5 years old, sleeping in a bed with the window open (and the attic fan going). Lightning struck just above the window where the ac service entered the house leaving charred marks. I distinctly remember coming to, about 3 or 4 feet above the bed, then crashing back down. Holy cow that was loud. Maybe 8 feet away. I guess I'm fortunate to be here.

I had a friend that said when he was a little kid, maybe 6-7 years old, he was sleeping in his bed. Thunder woke him up. He got up on his knees and looked out the window. He saw a round flash coming at him. He said it looked like a ball of fire. The next thing he remembered, he was laying on the floor, his family was shaking him, and his mattress and bed springs were smoking!

He said it was like something out of a movie special effects department (the ball of fire). Said it was the most vivid memory he's ever had.

 

[FatTire]

Sorry about losing your bull. That was bad luck for both you and the bull.

In 1999 my wife and I and another couple hiked up to a spot in the Mt. Evans Wilderness (west of Denver) to see where 56 elk had been killed by lightning. They had been bedded in a shallow bowl up above treeline on a north-facing slope. There were a few, about 6 or 8, that were scattered some distance from the others, it appeared to us they had moved off after being struck and then died. On our way out the coyotes were yipping.

A few weeks later we took a look at that area with a spotting scope from up on Mt. Evans. The sky was thick with ravens, probably more than 200 in the air. It was too far to be able to see how many birds were on the ground, I imagine some eagles were in on it too.

The takeaway for me was the little "bowl" that contained most of the elk --- don't get into a ditch or depression in the middle of an open area to escape lightning. (Or a high spot. So what's left?)

DEAD ELK / LJWorld.com

 

[PILOON]

a number of years ago 4 of us were in the neighbors living room when lightening struck and it traveled down the chandelier, scared the s--- out of us and naturally blew all the bulbs.

Where my present house is was a previous house that got hit and burned down.
Just hope the saying that lightening never strike twice is for real.

Had an old B&W VDT type TV that got turned on from lightening arching the AC switch. Funny thing was that the VDT was all like a photo negative, blacks were white a and whites black.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

a number of years ago 4 of us were in the neighbors living room when lightening struck and it traveled down the chandelier, scared the s--- out of us and naturally blew all the bulbs.

Where my present house is was a previous house that got hit and burned down.
Just hope the saying that lightening never strike twice is for real.

Had an old B&W VDT type TV that got turned on from lightening arching the AC switch. Funny thing was that the VDT was all like a photo negative, blacks were white a and whites black.

I would be investing in lightning rods lol