LOGAN COUNTY, KY (WBKO/CNN) - A farmer discovered a horrible scene over the weekend. Lightning struck his herd of sheep.
Crist Byler is down 31 sheep after a lightning struck a tree nearby Saturday morning, killing 15 of his ewes and 16 lambs.
"And this was all just covered in sheep right here, dead," he said.
It was a tragic turn of events for this sheep farmer.
"The only thing you could do is clean the mess up," Byler said. "I mean, it's gruesome."
The strike also damaged property.
"It split the fence right here," Byler said. "You can see the ends right here where it burnt."
The odds of getting struck by lightning in a year alone are about 1 in a million.
"Maybe I should just go buy a lottery ticket," he said.
Byler said he is trying to figure out what to do next.
"I guess I have to replace them. I want to replace them, one way or the other," Byler said.
He said he's also worried about the survivors.
"There was a couple lambs that I was kind of worried about," he said. "They were hit. They were wobbly. So I've been trying to keep an eye on them, and they seem to have made it through."
The lightning strike not only took out more than two dozen sheep but also leaving behind its mark on the base of the tree, a daily reminder to Byler of Mother Nature's deadly strike on the early morning hours Saturday.
"You just have to continue on, just part of farming," he said.
Byler is a retired truck driver who says he's been sheep farming since 2015.
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