Joe and Cindy Schulte arrived at their farm last Tuesday morning to find a cow and two large calves dead in the middle of their land.
They believe the cattle were killed by lightning.
In more than 40 years of farming on their farm about 13 kilometres northeast of Athabasca, Joe has never had such an event happen before. The couple manages 110 Simmental-Charolais cross cow-calf pairs on their beef farm.
“They’re not all there, though, thank God,” said Joe of the pasture where he found his dead animals. “The was about 60 there. Another 50 were on another pasture.”
Joe believes the incident took place around 8 p.m. Monday night during a thunderstorm.
The exact cause of death of the three animals has not been confirmed by a veterinarian, although Joe said, “It had to have been (lightning); it couldn’t have been nothing else. That’s how it happens. They’re all in a circle — they’re all in one place.”
Losing three head of cattle will set the Schultes back by about $3,000. They will not replace the cattle.
“It just shows that you’ve got to take cover, boy, if it’s ever lightning like that,” said Joe. “Imagine what it’ll do to a human if it kills cows.”
