‘$80,000 to $100,000 damage’: Prakash kills 28 cattle on southwest Sask. farm | Globalnews.ca

Emotion was heard in Glenn Briar’s voice as he spoke to Global News about losing nearly a fifth of his herd of cattle For a weekend storm.

“It’s kind of, um, I think a disaster — what we had here the other night,” said Briar, pausing to wipe the tears neatly behind his sunglasses.

“It takes years to get you cattle Grouped where you want. And one day you come here and find out- 14 Cows13 calves, and one calf (killed) in a lightning storm.”

fourth generation farmers south west saskatchewan On Monday, the pasture swayed slowly under the bright blue sky. He told Global News that the scene at his Mankota-area farm on Friday night was far less calm.

“My son was sending me Snapchats. The wind was crazy and the lightning was unreal,” he said of the storm. He said he was at Wood Mountain when the weather turned bad. “According to what my son said, it was a pretty electric show.”

It was not until Sunday morning, however, when his brother-in-law discovered that 28 of his animals had been killed, scattered along some 570 feet of barbed wire fence. Briar said the storm’s wind had pushed the cattle up along the fence when the lightning struck.

He said there were 10 calves bulls, which were destined for the Briar family’s bull sale which takes place annually in March.

“Every mother here should have brought up a new child in her,” he said, referring to the dead animals. “This will be another kick off for us. Some of our top cows are lying here.”

Briar said bull calves fetch about $5,000 on average. Top-end cows can cost up to $8,000. Overall, he estimates the value of the damage in the range of $80,000 to $100,000.

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“I remember my grandfather living here, my dad and me. I could count on one hand how many cattle I have seen die of lightning,” he said.

“It will affect us for a few years.”

On the other side of a nearby hill, where the “lucky”, as Briar calls them, gather, a mother calls a calf that will never return.

Some calves, meanwhile, roamed the grass in search of mothers who would never feed them again.

Briar said orphaned calves likely won’t grow as much as they would have, leading to losses.

Only the bulls were insured, Brier said, because insuring the entire herd would be too expensive.

“Maybe that’s the only one we’re going to get any money from,” he said. “I guess I never thought about insuring all my cows or having that happen to us.”

Briar’s son Shay, who plans to take over the business one day, was at work on Monday afternoon digging holes to bury dead animals.

“It’s heartbreaking and devastating. You come up the hill and look at it. It’s not something you want to see,” Shay said.

“In winter when it’s -30 you’re trying to save these calves. Anything you do for them so they can grow up and we can sell them at our bull sale.”

Yet, despite the overwhelming tragedy, Brears is confident he will overcome it with difficulty.

Glenn said the damage could have been worse had 80 pairs of cows and calves been in the area when the lightning struck.

He said his family members’ phones are off the hook with friends and neighbors asking what they can do to help.

“We had to get our local vet out to see our insured bull and she told me it was 25 years ago when she last saw something like this. She thought she would never see it again, but yesterday she It did that,” he said.

“At the end of the year we’re going to be short. But we’ll bounce back. We’re tough Saskatchewan people.”