‘Pretty sickening’: Sask. family devastated after lightning strike kills 28 cattle

It was a call that Glen and Darla Briere never thought they would get.

The Brieres weren’t at their ranch near Mankota when a severe storm hit Friday.

“My brother-in-law phoned me on Sunday morning and said he was going to come down and check on the cows,” Glen recalled Tuesday. “An hour or so later, he phoned me back and said, ‘We have some bad news.’ ”

After a huge storm passed over the Brieres’ pasture, 28 of their cattle were killed after lightning struck too close to the herd.

“I didn’t know how many had been hit until my brother-in-law phoned me back and told me the number,” said Glen. “Then it was … pretty sickening.”

“It was disbelief,” Darla added, describing her reaction when she heard the news. “It’s devastating to us as small producers. It’s a big hit for the numbers that we have.”

(Chelsey Briere/Submitted)

The couple have been living on their farm for the past 30 years. Glen is a fourth-generation farmer whose family established themselves in Mankota in 1912.

Now, the pair own Glendar Angus and have worked with cattle for many years.

They put their heart and soul into their work, and said they were “devastated” after seeing the pasture.

The cattle are turned on their sides, scattered near and on the barbed wire fence. Glen explains cattle will go in the direction that high winds are blowing, and believes the cattle travelled to the end of the pasture.

It’s not clear what occurred, but once the cattle reached the edge of the pasture, lightning struck near or around the area the cattle were standing.

Glen’s first visit to the pasture was his last. All of the cows’ eyes and udders exploded during electrocution, and one of the calves blew in half. The smell of the pasture was enough to keep him from returning.

“I have never seen anything like that and I never want to see anything like it again,” said Glen.

Out of the 28 cattle that were electrocuted, 14 were cows, 13 were calves and one was a herd sire. Darla said only two cow-calf pairs died together.

“There’s a few that don’t have their mother or their calf by their side right now,” said Darla. “All of the mothers that were killed were bred and had babies in them.”

The Brieres previously had 160 purebred Angus cattle. With the Brieres’ small company, Darla said losing that many will be “a big hit” to their operation.

“It’s genetics that you lose in the purebred business that you cannot replace,” said Darla. “It takes years to build up your genetics to have good quality animals, and just like that … it’s gone.”

Glen said although the circumstances are not ideal, he still feels “very fortunate” that more of the cattle were not hurt. In the field struck, they have 80 cow-calf pairs. More or all could have been hit.

Out of the 28 cattle, only the herd sire was covered by insurance. The financial impacts will be steep but Darla said it will take a lot more than money to replace the cattle.

“I hate to say a number, because how can you say a number in agriculture?” said Darla. “It’s significant, but I couldn’t put a value on it and I wouldn’t want to.

“There’s things that were lost that cannot be replaced within our herd.”

On Monday, Glen and some family members spent the day digging two large holes to bury the carcasses. The Brieres said the support from the community has been immense.

“There’s people we haven’t seen in years and people we don’t even know reaching out and trying to support us,” said Darla. “The cattle industry is a good industry to be in because we support each other like a family, and family comes together when times are tough.

“We are thankful for what we have and our health, and things could be a lot worse.”

The Brieres raised three kids on the farm who have all grown up now, but they still come back to the farm to help out with the cattle.

“We just love it,” said Glen. “It’s the only place to be, the best place for your kids to grow up.”

All of their kids had cattle in 4H, and soon one of the Brieres’ grandchildren will be old enough to partake in some of the family traditions.

“She has got to do that,” Darla said with a laugh. “She gets it from both sides of the family.”