Life’s fragility was painfully illustrated for Jared and Misty Blackwelder, dairy farmers from Springfield, Missouri, who suffered a rare and devastating loss in 2017.
One Saturday morning, believing recent flooding had passed, the couple fed their 32 dairy cows and left them grazing despite distant storm clouds. Hours later, they returned to a shocking scene: all 32 cows had been killed by a lightning strike.
The Wright County Missouri Farm Bureau confirmed the cause, noting that while lightning deaths do occur, the scale of this incident was highly unusual. A veterinarian said he had never seen more than six cows killed at once, suggesting the herd may have been huddled together during the storm.
Beyond the emotional toll, the financial impact was severe, with each cow valued between $2,000 and $2,500, totaling losses of over $60,000. Jared said that while the cows weren’t pets, raising and caring for them daily made the loss especially hard.