This is truly a story of fact stranger than fiction.

We lost out bull, “Red”, recently. We are sad that he is gone. He had a calm demeanor and was a beautiful animal.

It had been a thought to have a bull of our own for some time. We primarily use Artificial Insemination practices to breed our cows. In recent years we have also had an arrangement to keep a bull from another farm for a few months of the year. This allowed for the bull to take care of our girls naturally if the A.I. didn’t work out. It also allowed the other farm to free a bit of pasture space and reduce some hay consumption on his farm. It was a mutually beneficial agreement that had worked for a few years.

In a visit last spring to a farm to purchase a heifer, my husband spied a young red bull. The farm did not have immediate use for him and was hoping to find a buyer for him. My husband purchased him and brought him to our farm.

I was very excited to have this beautiful red animal. I had raised red cattle in my high school days and have a fondness for these red creatures. He put on a thick coat for the winter and had some curls. While we are cautious with a bull, he did have a nice personality. For a young bull, he did seem to know why he was here and made his attempts with the females. We shall see this fall how successful he was.

Now for the stranger than fiction part….

On a Thursday afternoon at the beginning of May, there was a weather event. My husband came home around 2:30pm in the afternoon and saw Red grazing in the pasture by the road in his favorite spot. Then, the rain and thunderstorm move in. About an hour later, the neighbor called letting my husband know he should check the bull. After a lightning strike, Red was on the ground on his side. My husband drove out to him. He was gone.

The whole family and our farm crew are still in the disbelief of such a freakish accident. We hope he did not suffer. We take pride in the care of our animals. We truly believe this was his only bad day on our farm. Rest in Peace Red.