This happened day before yesterday when the storms rolled through. The farm where this happened was in the adjoining county to the one where I live. We had some watches and warnings, a little rain, and a lot of wind, with thunder and lightning, but no real damage. We have been in this pattern of scorching days and afternoon thunderstorms for over a week. The loss of the cattle was very costly. My family has experienced four lightning strikes that killed 6, 4, 3, and 3 over the years. One of my earliest memories was of seeing four or five of our neighbors cows killed by lightning laying dead in the woods. The cows were "striped" where the lightning had raced all over and exited over their bodies. In some places they were actually busted open with visible tissue. They were all smoking (possibly steam from the temp inversion cool woods after the rain hot carcasses from being struck). I also recall back in the early nineties there was a farmer on the west side of our county that lost 60 head in one strike. As a note: I have always taken thunderstorms/lightning very seriously. LOL. To read more, click HERE.
I first saw the story HERE, but as most know, sometimes their link doesn't work after trying to repost.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/alabama-lightning-strike-kills-dozens-cows
Question: is the carcass still edible?
ReplyDeleteI mean if you jumped right on it, a few hours after the strike, the meat couldn't have gone rancid yet... like harvesting the back straps off fresh road kill?
Yes, but there is meat loss through the electricity path. Back on the farm we lost 4 due to a lightening strike. We had all 4 cows at abattoir within an hour of the strike and only 2/3rds of the beef was worth anything.
DeleteLightning superheats the meat (50,000 degrees F). While I guess some could be eaten at the cow, the meat isn't worth salvaging as tsquared stated.
DeleteDown here in St. Clair county we are in the summer weather pattern. Just repeat the forecast everyday.
ReplyDeleteMy family is from Cullman, and at the moment I'm down from Kentucky for the Fourth. I am sitting about two miles east of Berlin right now.
ReplyDeleteBack when I was a kid, my oldest brother got knocked cold by a bolt of lightening hitting the field we were working. It tingled the rest of us pretty good, but he was barefoot, so out went the lights.
For the unwashed heatherns out there, it's pronounced "Bur-lun" (and it's just down the road from Arab, pronounced "Ay-Rab").
Why, we are practically "branch kin" Uchuck the Tuchuck. I was raised up near Inmanfield (just south of Upshaw) a few miles north of Addison. I know where "Burl-Lynn" (spelled Berlin), Arab, and Boaz are. I played baseball in Berlin many moons ago as a kid. Another line of thunderstorms is moving through as I type this late Monday.
DeleteThat happened over to The Farm, about ten years ago. It wasn't a dozen, more like six or eight, but still a significant loss.
ReplyDeleteLeigh
Whitehall, NY
Working on boats I'm always around lighting rods, sailboat masts, outriggers & tall tuna towers. When it starts getting cloudy I pay attention. Couple of years ago a lighting strike actually started a pair of diesel engines on a sport fisher. Down here on the coast there hasn't been any rain in a couple of weeks. Just hot.
ReplyDeleteis this true (only under trees) of all cattle sheltering from the storm?
ReplyDeleteIf they pick the tallest tree...
DeleteNo. They will use trees as shelter from rain and sun sometimes. They will get in thickets are close timber if its available when a cold front moves through. Sometimes, cows will run to the south end of a pasture and turn their rumps towards bad weather approaches. Often times they will just stand around during a light rain. There is an old Appalachian tale that goes like this, "if cows are laying down during the day, expect rain that day or night". It is true, especially if most of the herd is laying.
DeleteSaw one get struck in Orlando a couple of years ago. Blew him open. Looked like fresh cut hay piled in him, all undigested grass. Kind of weird. Eod1sg Ret
ReplyDeleteThat's going to hurt that farmer. I'm betting insurance will NOT cover them.
ReplyDeleteTrees attract lightning and cows. Did the cows change the electrical conductivity of that ground?
ReplyDeleteThat would make a good Science Fair project for a teenager!
DeleteI don't think anybody knows...