On Saturday morning in Springfield, Missouri, farmer Jared Blackwelder and his wife Misty were feeding their dairy cows.
The joyful couple had no clue that this would be their final encounter with the herd of animals.
Although recent flooding was a result of heavy spring rains, the worst of it appeared to be over. When Jared and Misty heard some rumbling in the distance, they weren’t alarmed.
Up until their evening milking, they allowed the tiny herd to forage on their own in the pasture. When they came back a short while later, the Blackwelders were distraught.
Blackwelder explored the barren meadow and discovered all 32 dairy cows lying dead just within the tree line. Lightning had hit the entire herd.
The Blackwelders are in need of prayer, so the Wright County Missouri Farm Bureau uploaded pictures of the dairy cows on their Facebook page. It’s not unusual, according to MFB President Stan Cody, who spoke to CBS News. It does occur. The sheer number of impacted animals is what made this situation worse. A cow was also struck by lightning and lost to Cody, who breeds meat cows. He answered, “You’re at the mercy of Mother Nature.”
A nearby veterinarian examined the cows and determined that lightning was the cause of their deaths. The veterinarian has never before witnessed lightning kill more than six cows. He thinks the herd gathered under the trees to stay safe from the storm.
Jared was in complete heartbreak. “They’re not like pets, either. However, I’ve reared each and every one of the cows I’m milking, he said in an interview with the Springfield News-Leader. The fact that dairy cattle are handled twice a day makes them a little different. It strikes you firmly.
A dairy cow might be purchased for between $2,000 and $2,500. The Blackwelders have determined that the overall loss exceeds $60,000. The farmers have insurance, but they don’t think it will be sufficient to cover such a huge loss.
Cody affirmed that the animals’ meat couldn’t be used again. “Those animals are damaged, and of course, they had been there for a few hours when he found them,” he stated. “There is a protocol that has to be followed while processing an animal. They wouldn’t have been suitable for ingestion by people.
Local Farm Service Agency representatives have contacted the MFB. The loss of a herd can completely destroy a dairy farm, but the FSA offers a Livestock Indemnity Program to help farmers recover from a natural disasters like flooding, lightning, or blizzards.
People outside of the farming community criticized The Blackwelder for not providing enough shelter. Cody instantly defended them by pointing out that the majority of farmers in Missouri do not have a separate structure for their dairy or meat cows. Cody remarked, “He had no control over any of this.”