Lightning strikes twice

ONE in 1.6 million.

Those are the odds of being struck by lightning.

For two cows at Yarraman, it was an unlucky day.

On Sunday Mac Norgaard found two cows on his property had died during the night.

His wife, Barbara, looked out of their house in the morning to see the cows on the ground beneath a bunya nut tree.

The Holstein and Murray Grey cows had died from a single lightning strike in Saturday night's severe thunderstorm. And it's not the first time Mr Norgaard's cows have been struck.

"About 25 years ago we had two show cows struck by lightning," Mr Norgaard said.

"The difference was they were in the middle of the paddock, but they must have been the highest point."

The Yarraman man has been farming for 60 years and said he couldn't believe what had happened.

"They were all huddled beneath the tree so we could have lost 10 or 15," he said.

Mr Norgaard's daughter, Sandra Fitch, said the loss was terrible.

"It certainly does leave a bitter taste in your mouth," she said. "You spend all this time rearing them and registering them and this happens," she said.

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