lightning struck twice

[Chris H]

About 7 years ago we lost 2 good(of course!) cows in a pasture due to lightning strike. Last night we lost 2 in almost the same spot in the same pasture. It was a 7 year old former show cow and her 3 year old granddaughter. Both were due in September. The 7 year old probably weighed 1500 at FS 5.5, she was broad!

I've got the 5 year old daughter/mother of those two, a 2 year old daughter of the 7 yr old, and a fall heifer from the 3 year old. So I guess the line will continue. I was debating real hard about selling the 7 year old this year anyway. I hated having the decision made for me this way.

 

[hillsdown]

That is awful , sorry to hear that . I wonder if you could put a lightening rod up somewhere where the cows do not have access to if that would help .

We lost our main clean up bull for the 3 years and up last summer to a lightening strike . Got him right on the noggin, luckily no one else around him was struck though .

I had him all lined up to collect semen from the next month when we pulled him from pasture .

 

[branguscowgirl]

Wow, that is really bad luck! Sorry that you lost your cows.

 

[Deepsouth]

Sorry to hear that Chris. I hate lightning. The other night it was so bad here that the thunder shook a deer head off the wall. I was really worried about the cows. my pasture is the highest ground right around here. I was very relieved the next morning to not see any dead.

 

[Jogeephus]

Sorry to hear that. I lost some recently. If it wasn't bad enough to lose them to lightning I had one that ended up with half its body on one side of the fence and the other half on the other. Removing the carcass from between the wires of the fence without tearing the fence down proved pretty complicated.

 

[3waycross]

Sorry to hear this Chris. Been there seen it. It ain't pretty.

Out here when a thunder storm comes up the cows will walk the fences. When I was a kid we were headed to my Grandpas ranch and came over a hill and saw over 20 head graveyard dead lined up nose to tail along a fence.

I am very sorry for your loss., and not just the money.

 

[bigbull338]

sometimes you loose cows to lighting strikes.we lost 3 cows years ago under a tree.

 

[Chris H]

I called the ins co this morning because the adjuster had not gotten back with me yesterday. I was told I needed to have a vet confirm it was a lightning strike. I told them they should have told me yesterday. Lightning hit cattle seem to blow up real fast and it was 87 yesterday & today. It's bad enough to lose a favorite cow like that, it's worse to see the body blow up. I never saw blood leak through the animals pores like these two have. I saw lines of blood seeping down their bellies this morning and that's what happened, blood seeping through the skin and slowly dripping toward the ground.

After I complained about not being able to get our vet until this evening and giving them a description of how they were found, they OK'd skipping the vet and calling the dead wagon. Of course that was almost noon so they can't make it until tomorrow.

 

[GMN]

About 7 years ago we lost 2 good(of course!) cows in a pasture due to lightning strike. Last night we lost 2 in almost the same spot in the same pasture. It was a 7 year old former show cow and her 3 year old granddaughter. Both were due in September. The 7 year old probably weighed 1500 at FS 5.5, she was broad!

I've got the 5 year old daughter/mother of those two, a 2 year old daughter of the 7 yr old, and a fall heifer from the 3 year old. So I guess the line will continue. I was debating real hard about selling the 7 year old this year anyway. I hated having the decision made for me this way.

I lost 3 animals last Thursday, probably the only lightning bolt around and of course it hit my animals-a recent fresh second calf, and 2 pregnant 7 months first calf dairy Holsteins-I couldn't believe it!Lucky I have insurance so at least that will help

 

[GMN]

I called the ins co this morning because the adjuster had not gotten back with me yesterday. I was told I needed to have a vet confirm it was a lightning strike. I told them they should have told me yesterday. Lightning hit cattle seem to blow up real fast and it was 87 yesterday & today. It's bad enough to lose a favorite cow like that, it's worse to see the body blow up. I never saw blood leak through the animals pores like these two have. I saw lines of blood seeping down their bellies this morning and that's what happened, blood seeping through the skin and slowly dripping toward the ground.

After I complained about not being able to get our vet until this evening and giving them a description of how they were found, they OK'd skipping the vet and calling the dead wagon. Of course that was almost noon so they can't make it until tomorrow.

Thats hard to believe they let u skip the vet, that's a mandatory practice-the vultures starting eating the eyeballs that night, by the time the vet did get here the next day-they were bloated and without eyeballs-she just said it is as it is, and that was that

 

[hillsdown]

If it is a lightening strike the area around them will show tell tale signs . Anyone with a brain will figure it out . :tiphat:

 

[Chris H]

We had the dead wagon driver make a note on the receipt about what he saw. He noted one had burn marks on her belly, one had burn marks going down one leg and that hoof fell off. I also took pictures 24 hours after the hit so they can see the size of the cows. They were papered, so I've got an accurate age, pictures show their tag number for ID.

I was kind of miffed that they had not told me to get the vet to examine them when I called in the report about 8 hours after the hit. The agent could have told me and the person who took the claim report could have told me. That put off the dead wagon pick up by a day, I was really unhappy about that.

The agent said she couldn't remember the last time they had a claim on livestock due to lightning.

 

[branguscowgirl]

GMN and Chris, that is really sad about your cows. I am sorry for your losses.
Chris, I have lost special cows and special horses and had to wait for either pick up or burial. I can't bear to see them like that, so I always cower them with a tarp. It helps.

 

[GMN]

If it is a lightening strike the area around them will show tell tale signs . Anyone with a brain will figure it out . :tiphat:

They don't always have burn marks and the area is not always scorched, In my case, this was a freak lightning bolt, the neighbor saw it hit, and wham, 3 of my animals were dead-instant, no marks anywhere-but they were in a line-in the middle of the field-they started bloating wihin 30 minutes which is a tell tale sign of lightning-

Last one I had was by the barb wire fence, one before that was in the barnyard, so its not always in the middle of the field or by any fence or under a tree-sometimes its just wherever. The vet told me its most common in the middle of the field-it just happens