In Missouri, lightning strikes and thunderclaps are frequent during this time of year.
The region has suffered serious damage as a result of the recent harsh weather and flooding.
Jared Blackwelder, a Springfield farmer, and his wife Misty heard loud crashes on a Saturday morning after feeding the dairy cows, but they chose to ignore it.
But when Blackwelder went back to the field at night to gather the cows for the milking, he saw the horrible scene: his thirty-two dairy cows were dead and lying in the mulch on top of one another.
According to CBS News, Stan Coday, president of the Wright County Missouri Farm Bureau, said, “He went out to bring the cows in and that’s when he found them.”It frequently occurs. It does occur. The enormous quantity of animals impacted by this problem was its worst feature.
The local veterinarian who was doing the inspection informed Coday that lightning was the real cause of the cows’ deaths.
Maybe the cows timed their retreat under the trees while the storm raged overhead.
Coday remarked, “You’re at the mercy of mother nature,” adding that he had lost a cow to lightning a few years prior.
Farmers are aware of the potential outcomes, but according to Coday, suffering a loss like this is extremely rare.
They are not at all like pets. However, I’ve grown all of the ones I’m milking,” Blackwelder said to the Springfield News-Leader.The fact that you work with dairy animals twice a day makes them a little different. It gives you a strong knock.
It’s also a financial catastrophe.
The News-Leader questioned if Blackwelder’s insurance would be sufficient to compensate for his losses, despite his claims to the contrary.
He estimates that each certified organic cow is worth between $2,000 and $2,500, for a total of approximately $60,000.
“The majority of producers don’t have insurance,” claims Coday.”Everything is lost when you lose a cow.”
To address inquiries from nearby residents, Coday, a breeder of beef cows, would like to make it clear that no meat could be obtained from Blackwelder’s animals.
“Those animals are damaged, and it was evident when he found them that they had been there for a few hours,” the man remarked.An animal must go through a certain procedure in order to be processed. Eating them by humans would not have been appropriate.
Coday added that because Missouri has a gentler climate than other states, most people there do not possess a separate cow barn.
