WARNING: This story contains images and descriptions that some readers may find disturbing
A family in Mankota, Sask., Says they lost 28 cattle last Friday due to lightning.
“It’s a big loss, but it could have been a lot worse,” Glen Briere told the CBC afternoon edition.
The Briere family was not at home in Mankota, about 270 miles southwest of Regina, when lightning struck. They suspect the cattle were trying to get away from the storm and they reached the fence of their pasture where it passed.
Among the dead were 14 cows, 13 calves and a herd father.
“I couldn’t believe why these cows had their heads on the fence or half of their bodies were on the fence,” he said.
“A calf we found there was right through the fence and pointed 40 feet to the other side. It dropped it in half.”
The Briere family lost 28 cattle due to lightning last week on their farm near Mankota, Sask. (Submitted by Darla and Glen Briere)
Glen said finding his cattle in that condition was a hard pill to swallow.
His wife, Darla Briere, said farming is always a risky business prone to losses.
“But you never think you’ll lose so many at once. It’s so shocking. In a second, things can change that way,” he said.
They had 160 cattle, so it was a “big cut” to lose 28 animals.
“The 14 dead cows, all were raised. We lost mothers and babies inside,” Darla said.
“Mothers who are left behind look for their babies and babies who are left behind look for their mothers. It affects the whole herd.”
LISTENING Darla and Glen Briere spoke with host Gath Materie in the afternoon edition:
The Evening Edition – Sask8: 34Mankota Sask Family. they lose about thirty of their cattle due to lightning
This summer has produced many storms in areas across the province. Some places have seen strong winds, tornadoes, hail, heavy rain and lightning. Glen Briere and his wife Darla returned home and found that 28 of their cattle had died due to a storm. Glen and Darla joined the show to tell us more.
He said the family was lucky enough to have livestock insurance, but that the lost calves also mean they will be missing animals for sale next March.
In addition to the economic impact, having to dig a hole and bury the animals had an emotional impact.
“I was dragging them out of that horrible fence to the hole. It smelled really disgusting.”
Glen Briere said there were 14 cows, 13 calves and a father of a herd dead along a fence in their pasture after lightning struck the fence. (Submitted by Chelsey Briere)
This summer has produced many storms, strong winds and 15 tornadoes so far in Saskatchewan.
Chris Vagasky, meteorologist and lightning application manager at Vaisala, a company that assesses environmental patterns, said they detect 2.5 billion lightning bolts worldwide each year.
Vagasky said there are five main ways in which lightning can kill or injure a person or animal, and direct lightning is not always common.
“In this case, all the cattle were standing against the fence and the fence was struck by lightning,” Vagasky said.
“The electric charge went down the fence and hit every one of the cattle that was standing against the fence and that’s called driving.”
Vagasky said animals are harmed by driving relatively frequently around the world.
“Any type of animal is more at risk for lightning because its four legs are further apart than humans,” he said. “When lightning strikes, it crosses a set of legs, crosses its body and then exits through the other pair of legs.”
Vagasky said there has recently been a lot of lightning in the Prades.
“We detected thousands of lightning strikes in southern Saskatchewan just over the weekend when these cattle were killed,” he said.
Vagasky said the high-pressure system on the central plains of the United States and the Rocky Mountains is pushing storms further north in Canada, raising lightning.
He said up to 24,000 people die each year from lightning, with nearly 250,000 injured.
He advised seeking refuge when preparing for a storm.
“When the thunder roars, go home.”
He said don’t touch any plumbing or anything connected to the wall when lightning strikes.
“In general, the risk of being struck by lightning is low, however, the problems arising from being struck by lightning are very high.”