Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe BRISBANE, Australia, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- An Australian farmer lost 13 of his Friesian cows when lightning hit a tree they were sheltering under during a storm this week. "There was two big claps of thunder and when I went to get the cows, there were 13 of them dead under the tree," David Potter of Fernvale told the Brisbane Courier. "You could see where the lightning had hit the tree. I've never heard of anything like this. It's ... just unlucky -- unlucky 13." Advertisement Potter, who runs a farm of 300 milking cows, said the dead cattle, all of them under 6 years old, were uninsured. A neighbor and former dairy farmer Geoff Beatty said he felt sorry for Potter, who leased the land from him. "Those cows would have been worth $1,000 each," he said. "The cows died where they stood -- all in an area of about 15 meters (approximately 50 feet). They were very close to each other."
