For Matt Nolan, Tuesday morning's round of storms proved devastating for his livestock, though it took him several hours to learn how.
"I fed them at eleven o'clock, put the bale out, and i went to the house because it started storming again," he said.
Nolan said that storm brought heavy rain and intense lightning. One strike sounded like it hit just outside his home.
Hours later he learned it did and the proof was what he found around this bale feeder.
"They have hay still in their mouths, so it knocked them out quick," Nolan said.
Nolan believes that lightning strike hit the bale ring and each cow feeding from it.
In total, he found eight dead, close to $14,000 worth of cattle.
"I was thinking, what bad luck," He said. "Then i thought, what good luck that i wasn't right here with them."
Nolan hopes there's a lesson to be learned for every farmer out there.
"I know a lot of farmers, we feed, work right through the weather, but this is one occasion, when it's lightning, that you should stay in the house."
Nolan plans to call Boyle County's dead wagon in the morning to take the carcasses. He hopes insurance will help cover some of the costs.
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