hail and cows

[bird dog]

So how big does hail have to be before it will harm cows out on the open? How about young calves?

They are calling for some areas to have baseball size tonight.

Thanks

 

[Nesikep]

I'd say baseball size would hurt them.. I'd think anything over 1" would be cause for concern.. just using my best guess.

 

[slick4591]

I'm in that baseball size area and I'm pretty worried about now. They say it'll be around 9 tonight when those storms get here. I do have a couple of good tree lined fence lines on the south and west and I have two open barns they can go to. I just hope they get to them if it hails.

 

[TCRanch]

Just got a couple text alerts from the County & we have the potential for golf ball size with 60-70 gusts, rain & tornadoes. I'd think golf ball size would do a number on a calf. We have a lot of woods & a barn for shelter but with gusts like that it's just as dangerous. Batten down the hatches!

 

[W.B.]

Hope things went well for everyone.

 

[slick4591]

All we had was about an inch of rain. Winds only average 10 mph over the last 24 hours and no one close to me reported any hail. The weather people got on FB this morning apologizing for getting everyone so worked up.

 

[M.Magis]

I recall having some nasty wind and hail some years back and being worried about a week old calf. Not huge hail, maybe 1/2" or so, but it was heavy and moving fast. It got bad enough I could only see about 50 yards. It came out of no where and they were all out in the open, but when it was over they all acted like nothing happened, calf included.

 

[bird dog]

Nothing bad for us either. The weather guys tend to sensationalize everything it seems. It appears even the radar folks are on the bandwagon. It used to be when you saw red on the radar, it was some nasty stuff. Now it is just a moderate rain and the green stuff doesn't even reach the ground.

It seems they are setting us up for a boy who cried wolf moment.

Back to the original question, has anybody had their herd hailed on by some big hail like golf ball size?

 

[TCRanch]

Nailed it on sensationalizing the Next Big Storm! Pea size hail, 1.5" of rain, no damage.

And no with the large hail (thankfully!). Although my heard has survived 2 tornadoes.

 

[greybeard]

I've never had any problem with hail injuries to cattle, and when the big hail storm hit Tom Green county back around 1994, I don't remember any livestock being injured or killed, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen..
http://www.thecattlesite.com/news/45346/freak-hail-kills-500-cattle/
https://wmo.asu.edu/content/world-highest-mortality-hailstorm
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/830065/Freak-summer-storm-masssive-hailstones-northern-spain-kills-sheep-destroys-property
Where: Russia (formerly the Soviet Union)
When: 1923
In Rostov, 23 people and even more cattle were killed by hailstones weighing up to 2 pounds each.
Where: India
When: 1939
A hailstorm over a 30-square-mile area in the southern part of the country killed cattle and sheep and damaged crops. Some of the hailstones were said to weigh 71/2 pounds.

It is thought by some biblical scholars, that the passage in Exodus 9 referred to all of Egypt's cattle and sheep being killed by hailstones in one of the plague/pestilences brought upon the Pharaoh's people .

 

[1982vett]

All we had was about an inch of rain. Winds only average 10 mph over the last 24 hours and no one close to me reported any hail. The weather people got on FB this morning apologizing for getting everyone so worked up.

:lol: saw that. Not much wind here this time. The one that came through on the 7th broke a lot of tree limbs. Must have damaged Rise Broadbands tower as we started having issues after that. We did get 2 inches of rain and a lot of lightening which must have finished off the internet. Hasn't worked all day.

 

[Redgully]

I remember talking to an old man in my younger days and he went through a vicious hail storm that killed two cows. Some woman was caught and busted up pretty bad. It happened in the 1950s about 15 minutes from where i am and he said there was rumours a person was killed but he doesn't believe that. He was working a a citrus orchard at the time and he said there wasn't a leaf left on the trees and scarred the bark really badly.